The Council of Grand Justices said yesterday that Article 2 of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), which stated that civic groups or gatherings should not advocate communism or national disunity, violates the Constitution and should be scrapped immediately.
The council ruled that the regulation authorized government agencies to attack civic groups based on the political stances of private individuals and that this violated the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and association.
The Article is therefore invalid, the council said.
REQUEST
Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), former chairman of the Goa-Seng-Lang Association for Taiwan Independence (GATI, 外省人獨立促進會) had requested the constitutional interpretation.
Established by a few Mainlander pro-independence activists in 1992, GATI applied to Taipei City’s Bureau of Social Affairs for registration as a local civic organization in 1998.
TAIPEI CITY
The Taipei City Government rejected Chen’s application, saying that the proposed organization violated Article 2 of the law because it advocated Taiwanese independence from China.
The justices ruled yesterday that political stances could not be a basis for encroaching on freedom of association.
Connie Lin (林育卉), a member of the association, welcomed the ruling yesterday and said it showed that Taipei City under then-mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had been wrong to bar Chen’s organization.
Chen was not available for comment as he is in the US and will not return until September.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-feng
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS