Two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday clashed with former New Party legislator Elmer Fung (馮滬祥) over whether he should remain a counselor to the Legislative Yuan now that he has been charged with sexual assault.
According to Legislative Yuan regulations, former lawmakers can be hired as unsalaried counselors, who may enter the Legislative Yuan freely.
Fung was accused of raping his former Filipina maid on Nov. 1, and a decision on the case is pending.
Two DPP female lawmakers, Tang pi-o (唐碧娥) and Chou Ya-shu (周雅淑), yesterday expressed unhappiness that Fung was continuing to enjoy the status of counselor and demanded that regulations be amended so that a person with a criminal conviction cannot serve as a counselor to the Legislative Yuan.
Tang said a counselor to the Legislative Yuan could move about within and use the resources of the legislature.
"But there are no restrictions within the regulations, and even the fugitive Wu Tze-yuan (伍澤元) retains his title of counselor. This is pretty strange," Tang said. "Do we need a rapist as our counselor?"
Chou said that female legislative employees may feel uncomfortable or even frightened when "people like Fung" were walking around the Legislative Yuan.
"To prevent former lawmakers involved in criminal cases from continuing as counselors to the Legislative Yuan, we should amend the regulations so that criminals cannot be hired as counselors, or else if counselors commit a crime, then their title should be removed," Chou said.
Fung later entered the Legislative Yuan to hold a press conference in his defense. When he ran into Tang, the two yelled at each other, later joined by DPP Legislator Cheng Chao-ming (鄭朝明), who was holding his own press conference nearby.
DPP lawmakers demanded that Fung leave the Legislative Yuan, and he was escorted out by police.
Speaking outside the Legislative Yuan, Fung said the DPP lawmakers were violating his rights because his case was still being heard by the court.
"I believe in my own innocence and the impartiality of the judges, so I won't make any assumptions," Fung said, when asked about the DPP lawmakers' demand that his counselor status be revoked.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS