A day after his election as a Greater Kaohsiung City councilor, former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son spoke about his jailed father and an alliance of municipal council members who insist that Taiwan and China are separate countries.
Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), 31, won 32,947 votes, more than any other candidate running in the Greater Kaohsiung City Council election on Saturday.
As a member of the new “one side, one country” alliance, a political group dedicated to promoting Taiwan’s independence, Chen Chih-chung claimed that victory for him and other like-minded candidates signified an endorsement by voters.
More than 30 members of the alliance won council seats in the election, with nearly one-third becoming councilors in Greater Tainan, a municipality merging Tainan City and Tainan County.
Most members of the alliance are also members of the Democratic Progressive Party.
Chen Chih-chung attributed his big win to voters’ support for his father and said he would fight “for his father’s innocence.”
Earlier this month, the former president and his wife were each sentenced by the Supreme Court to a total of 19 years in jail on a series of corruption charges.
The younger Chen has his own share of legal problems. In a money-laundering case, he was sentenced by a higher court in June to 14 months in prison and fined NT$30 million (US$937,500). His appeal is pending in the Supreme Court. In July a tabloid magazine linked Chen Chih-chung to a prostitute. Although Chen filed libel lawsuits against the magazine and a rival politician, a district court ruled against him in both cases.
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
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