Figures released by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) yesterday show that 22 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) election candidates have been detained on suspicion of illegal campaigning methods, while six from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have been detained.
The ministry yesterday released the latest figures on cases of bribery and intimidation under investigation by local prosecutors related to next Saturday’s local government elections.
Ministry statistics showed that a majority of detained candidates were from the KMT (22 people), followed by 10 candidates whose party membership was still unclear, six candidates from the DPP and six others who had no party affiliation.
Of the candidates who have been issued with indictments, 19 were not attached to any party, three were from the KMT and there were three whose party affiliation is unclear.
In the mayor and county commissioner elections, 25 new bribery allegations have been added this week, bringing the total to 128. Three allegations of violence have been reported so far.
In the city and county councilor elections, 220 new bribery allegations surfaced this week, bringing the total to 807 cases, while four new allegations of violence were added to a total of 50 existing cases.
As for the township chief elections, 518 allegations of bribery are currently being investigated (114 of them are new) and 15 allegations of violence have been reported (three new).
People reporting information about alleged illegality could be eligible for rewards of up to NT$5 million (US$154,800) for tips involving mayoral and county commissioner elections, NT$2 million for councilor elections and NT$500,000 for township chief elections, the ministry said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
The Republic of China Army Command yesterday relieved Kinmen Defense Battalion commander after authorities indicted the officer on charges connected to using methamphetamine. The Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday detained Colonel He (何) after the Coast Guard linked him to drug shipments and proceeded to charge him yesterday for using and possessing crystal meth. The man was released on a NT$50,000 bail and banned from leaving Kinmen, the office said. Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Chen Chien-yi (陳建義) told a news conference yesterday that He has been removed and another officer is taking over the unit as the acting commander. The military
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