A group of independent journalists gathered outside the National Police Agency (NPA) yesterday, demanding an interview with NPA Director-General Wang Chuo-chiun (王卓鈞) on an incident last week in which two independent journalists were asked to leave the scene of a protest.
“We would like to interview NPA Director-General Wang today on our right to record and report news events as civilians and as independent journalists,” Sun Chiung-li (孫窮理), an independent journalist affiliated with news Web site Coolloud, told police officers blocking the entrance to the building.
LOSHENG PROTEST
On Dec. 3 police ordered Losheng Sanatorium activists staging a demonstration outside the Sherwood Hotel — where President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was holding a press conference with the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents Club — to disperse. Two reporters affiliated with Coolloud and one affiliated with the Shadow Government Web site were asked to leave, Sun said.
“The independent journalists were asked to leave by a man in plainclothes who claimed to be the Songshan Precinct police chief, but he did not show any proof of identity,” he said.
Around 20 other independent journalists, each carrying a video camera, were also present yesterday.
The NPA rejected the request, but invited the journalists to sit down and talk with agency representatives in a reception room.
The journalists turned down the invitation and reiterated their request.
“If you are not a real reporter, we are not obliged to take your questions,” NPA public relations director Tsai Yi-meng (蔡義猛) told the group. “But we sincerely invite you to sit down and talk to us about any questions you may have.”
ORDERED TO LEAVE
As the police and the journalists failed to reach an agreement, the police said their presence outside the building constituted a demonstration and they were ordered to disperse.
“The mainstream media doesn’t care much about human rights issues and that’s why we — independent journalists and regular civilians — have to record such issues ourselves,” Taiwan Association for Human Rights member Chiu E-ling (邱伊翎) said. “I don’t know which law we have violated just by taping what goes on.”
When asked for comment, Media Watch chairman Kuang Chung-hsiang (管中祥) said: “It is an outdated concept to consider only reporters affiliated with traditional media as ‘real reporters.’”
“After all, the government does not issue official reporter passes. How do you define who’s a ‘real’ reporter and who’s a ‘fake?’” Kuang said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS