The anti-corruption campaign headquarters yesterday announced it would donate NT$17 million (US$300,000) that remains from donations it received to charity groups, and said it is planning new rallies on Sept. 9 and Double Ten National Day.
Yao Li-ming (姚立明), deputy director of the campaign, told a press conference that the donations received from a fundraising campaign last year totaled NT$111 million, and that the group would invite former legislator Chi Cheng (紀政) and six other academics and professionals to form a committee and decide which charities should receive the remaining NT$17 million.
LAST YEAR
Shih Ming-teh (施明德), who was DPP chairman between 1994 and 1996 before leaving the party in 2000, launched the anti-graft campaign on Sept. 9 last year with a round-the-clock sit-in in front of the Presidential Office to call on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to step down.
While vowing not to end the sit-in until Chen stepped down, the campaign ended last October after the police clamped down on its "seige" protest on the Oct. 10 holiday.
Shih, speaking at a press conference yesterday, accused the Ministry of Justice's Bureau of Investigation of bugging the group since March.
SPYING
"I was spied on and investigated by special agents before, but it pains me to learn that the party I once led treated me the same way," Shih said.
Shih claimed the bureau had bugged the campaign office's phones and the mobile phones of key officials in the campaign, and had also tried to pressure the Certified Accountants Association not to certify the group's donation records.
Shih urged President Chen to respect the group's human rights.
CELEBRATE
Jerry Fan (范可欽), a campaign spokesman, called on the public to celebrate the one year anniversary of the campaign on Sept. 9 in Ketagalan Boulevard and to join a rally on Double Ten National Day.
"President Chen wanted to expand the scope of this year's Double Ten Day celebration and the red army will not be absent from the event," Fan said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS