Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of proposing changes to a draft commutation bill that were tailored to benefit a KMT legislator in prison.
In a draft bill submitted by the Cabinet, prisoners serving sentences of up to one year may qualify for an amnesty.
The KMT on Thursday said the cut off point should be extended to include prisoners serving up to 18 months.
"It's clear that the KMT has changed its stance from against the bill to for it, only to help [KMT Legislator] Chiu Yi [
Chiu is serving a prison sentence for violent acts during a protest in Kaohsiung following the 2004 presidential election. Chiu was sentenced to 14 months in prison and started his prison term last month.
Acting on President Chen Shui-bian's (
"The KMT was originally opposed [to the draft bill] ... However, during a cross-party negotiation session yesterday [Thursday], the KMT decided to accept the bill all of a sudden" and suggested changes to the draft, Lai said.
Lai then showed the minutes of a meeting that he said was a closed-door KMT meeting held on Wednesday.
"[We] agree to allow commutation to prisoners serving jail time of up to one year and six months, so that Chiu Yi can be a beneficiary. However, Chiu Yi's name should not be directly mentioned," the meeting log read.
KMT spokesperson Su Jun-pin (
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
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