Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Chen Cheng-sheng (陳振盛) yesterday accused Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) of sending gangsters to threaten to kill him unless he withdrew from the Nantou County commissioner election.
Chen yesterday went to a local police station to put on record the encounter, which he said happened at his house at midnight the night before he was due to register as a candidate last Wednesday.
“The chief of the baidao [白道, law enforcers] sent a representative of the heidao [黑道, gangsters] to give me his orders, saying that if I dared to register the next day, gangsters would do me in,” Chen said.
Chen said the person talked to him in a threatening manner.
Calling Wu “the chief of the country's baidao,” Chen said he wanted to let Wu realize the seriousness of the problem as it happened in Wu's hometown, where Wu had served as commissioner from 1981 to 1989 and three terms as lawmaker.
The KMT has nominated the incumbent commissioner, Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿), for re-election and expelled Chen from the party.
Fielding a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) during the question-and-answer session, Wu said he “had no comment” on the allegations made by Chen.
Wu said he didn't need to react to political rhetoric made by candidates, adding that Chen should register a complaint with the police or prosecutors if he had solid evidence.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it