The attorney for the president's embattled son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming (
The seven `men in black' raised eyebrows on Thursday when they abruptly appeared and acted as Chao's bodyguards during the hearing, and the local media has been rife with speculation about their identities.
Chao's attorney Ku Li-hsiung (
Ku made the remarks yesterday on the sidelines of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) national convention.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) yesterday quoted an anonymous source at a Taipei City police branch station as saying that Lo had asked a volunteer surnamed Cheng (鄭) at the Taipei police's Sungshan Precinct headquarters to hire the men as bodyguards for Chao.
The men were hired to prevent Chao from being jostled when appearing in court, the report said.
Local media, including the TV stations TVBS and FTV, yesterday reported that the men worked as nightclub bouncers.
Ku yesterday said his client had asked for Lo's help because Chao no longer has a personal driver and bodyguards.
Given the public uproar and suspicion stirred up by the mysterious identity of the "men in black," Ku said that he would advise Chao to keep a lower profile.
He would also advise Chao to be more careful when seeking assistance from friends, Ku added.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
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