Two suspected gangsters were released on bail yesterday after being questioned by Taipei prosecutors over their involvement in an alleged assault on Tainan City Councilor Wang Ting-yu (王定宇).
Huang Ju-yi (黃如意) and Wu Yi-wei (吳奕偉) were released on bail of NT$300,000 and NT$100,000 respectively. They have been listed as defendants in the investigation.
Huang had tried to leave the country via Kinmen on Tuesday but was blocked and detained.
Wang held a press conference earlier on Tuesday, saying he had been held hostage, threatened and assaulted by Huang and his associates last Thursday as part of an alleged plot by pro-China gangsters.
Wang said the gangsters wanted revenge for his involvement in an incident involving Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing (張銘清).
Zhang fell to the ground after being jostled by independence supporters led by Wang during a visit to the Confucius Temple in Tainan on Tuesday last week.
“Prosecutors decided to list them both as defendants, even though Wang said only Wu threatened him,” said Lin Chin-chun (林錦村), spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
Taipei Prosecutor Deng Ding-chiang (鄧定強) talked to Huang, Wu and Wang on Tuesday but made no detentions.
Huang was then detained in Kinmen later on Tuesday after he was caught trying to board a ferry to Xiamen, China. Huang told reporters he had not been told he must stay in the country.
The two men were detained for more questioning but released on bail and barred from leaving the country.
“What they said in their statements and conversations with prosecutors did not match up, so we still need to figure out who was lying,” Lin said.
Lin said Wang told prosecutors he had only met Huang about three times, while Huang said they had been friends for at least seven years.
In his account, Wang accused Wu of threatening that if he did not publicly apologize to Zhang, he might be killed by a “single shot.”
But Huang told prosecutors that Wu only said he would “beat Huang up” and not that he would shoot him.
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) yesterday urged Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Vanessa Shih (史亞平) to condemn news channels that aired the footage showing Huang demanding an apology from Wang.
Lin said showing the footage violated journalistic ethics.
In response, Shih said the GIO was against broadcasting violent footage, but it was the National Communications Commission’s responsibility to deal with the matter.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
RSS