Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters yesterday said it would organize a special team to investigate a media allegation against DPP Legislators Gao Jyh-peng (
The Director of the DPP's Department of Culture and Information Super Meng (孟義超) told a press conference that DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lin Yi-cheng (林宜正) and Central Standing Committee member Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) will be in charge of investigating whether the three attended late-night gatherings with female escorts.
Meng said the men's memberships would not be suspended for now but did not specify if they would be referred to the DPP's Central Review Committee for disciplinary action.
Gao yesterday also told DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (
Whether he will be referred to the Integrity Committee depends on the party's decision which may be made during tomorrow's Central Executive Committee meeting.
According to DPP guidelines, party members are liable to punishment if their behavior violates the party's resolutions or damages its image.
If the wrongdoing is a violation of members' integrity or involves conflicts of interest, the matter is referred to the Central Review Committee after being investigated by the Integrity Committee first.
The party instigated its crisis management after a front-page report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily on Sunday alleged Gao, Yu, Lee and presidential aid Kuo Wen-pin (郭文彬) enjoyed escorts' company in separate late-night gatherings held in a Taipei guesthouse.
The report showed pictures of Gao, Yu and Lee leaving the location alone before dawn while a series of four pictures showed Kuo giving a woman a ride in his car.
DPP legislators were divided over how to deal with Gao, Yu and Lee. DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) told the media that as long as they did not violate the law or damage the party's image when visiting the guesthouse, the incident should be regarded as "a matter of one's personal upbringing and ability to control oneself."
Any speculation before facts are established would harm the individuals, he said, urging DPP members not to "make something out of nothing."
DPP Lawmaker Tsai Chi-fang (
"It is all right as long as they were not involved in wrongdoing," he said.
DPP Legislator Lin Chung-mo (
DPP Legislator Wang Shu-hui (
She said Gao, who also acts as the convener of the Central Review Committee, should ask the party headquarters for a period of leave in order to avoid a conflict of interest and that the party caucus' Discipline Committee should then propose an investigation to the party headquarters' Central Review Committee.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to