President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) sense of humor was on show again yesterday when he joked that investigators should not smoke when they interrogate suspects to elicit confessions from them.
“How did the investigating agent torture you? Did he beat you? The suspect said no, adding that it was the agents chain-smoking that made him nearly choke to death,” Ma said, recalling a conversation he had with a suspect when he was minister of justice.
“If [investigators] are smokers, remember that [you] should smoke outside and not inside during the interrogation process,” Ma told the 46th graduating class of agents at the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau in Sindian (新店).
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The average age of the graduates was about 27 years old. There were 41 men and 35 women.
Ma said that the bureau’s top priority was obtaining information concerning national security. However, he also urged agents to probe irregularities and corruption involving government officials to help establish clean government.
He told law enforcement personnel to exercise their powers cautiously because “infringements of human rights are mainly caused by the government and the overexertion of public power.”
Ma said there were fewer illegal wiretapping cases since he took office, adding: “It’s not that I was asking you to forget such measures, but that they should only be conducted when necessary and legal … Only when these principles are abided by can we say that we are a democratic country ruled by law.”
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
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
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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