Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said he welcomed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to rule him out of any commutation it might grant next year to mark the Republic of China’s (ROC) 100th anniversary, his son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) said.
The former president began serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence at Taipei Prison on Dec. 2 after being convicted of accepting bribes in connection with a land deal and a personnel appointment.
After visiting his father, Chen Chih-chung, who was elected as a Greater Kaohsiung City councilor late last month, made a public pledge outside of the prison — alongside several other city councilors-elect who are members of a new political group called “One Side, One Country” (一邊一國連線) to uphold the alliance’s goals.
PHOTO: CNA
More than 30 members of the alliance won council seats in last month’s special municipality elections, with nearly one-third becoming councilors in Greater Tainan (resulting from the merger of Tainan City and Tainan County). The group is dedicated to promoting Taiwan’s independence.
Chen Chih-chung said his father found it comforting that the alliance members chose to make a pledge outside the prison and he hoped the group would get bigger.
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
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
REWRITING HISTORY: China has been advocating a ‘correct’ interpretation of the victory over Japan that brings the CCP’s contributions to the forefront, an expert said An elderly Chinese war veteran’s shin still bears the mark of a bullet wound he sustained when fighting the Japanese as a teenager, a year before the end of World War II. Eighty years on, Li Jinshui’s scar remains as testimony to the bravery of Chinese troops in a conflict that killed millions of their people. However, the story behind China’s overthrow of the brutal Japanese occupation is deeply contested. Historians broadly agree that credit for victory lies primarily with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led Republic of China (ROC) Army. Its leader, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a
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