A folk ritual event sponsored by CPC Corp, Taiwan, in Hualien County in December was used as a campaign event for a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative candidate, which could constitute a violation of election law, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator said yesterday, vowing to file a lawsuit.
State-owned CPC provided NT$200,000 to sponsor a religious ceremony organized by Cheng An Temple in Sincheng Township (新城), Hualien County, on Dec. 15, but the ceremony was used to campaign for KMT candidate Timothy Wang (王廷升) and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a press conference in Taipei.
The sponsorship amount actually exceeded the company’s internal regulations on sponsorship, which limits local folk event sponsorships to a maximum of NT$30,000, Hsiao said, adding that the ceremony became a campaigning event for a specific party and candidate — another violation of corporate regulations.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Wang defeated DPP candidate Lie Kuen-cheng (賴坤成), while Ma was re-elected in the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections.
Vote buying in Hualien County has been notoriously rampant for a long time, said Lie, who has also filed a complaint with the Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office against several borough chiefs for vote buying for Wang.
Lie said he had reported the Cheng An Temple case to the Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office before the election, but the office had yet to open an investigation.
Lie said he would file a lawsuit in a bid to invalidate Wang’s victory.
The DPP candidate had previously said he was confident Wang’s win would be voided and that there would be a by-election required in Hualien because he had concrete evidence of vote buying and illegal campaign acts.
Speaking at the same press conference, Julius Chen (陳容), CPC’s director of industrial relations, said the company always offered greater sponsorship amounts for events in Sincheng Township, where one of the company’s large oil depots is located.
The company had provided NT$200,000 for the event instead of NT$30,000 because the ceremony was changed from a one-day ceremony to a three-day event, Chen said.
Prosecutor Hong San-feng (洪三峰) denied any suggestions that the local prosecutors were ignoring the case, saying investigations into possible vote buying were usually harder than people imagined because of the difficulties involved in gathering evidence.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS