Former death row inmates Su Chien-ho (蘇建和) and Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳) yesterday appeared at a press conference to support lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who is seeking the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) nomination as its candidate for the year-end Taipei mayoral election.
Su, Chuang and Liu Bin-lang (劉秉郎), dubbed the “Hsichih Trio,” had been embroiled in a case spanning two decades in which they had been accused of robbing and murdering Wu Min-han (吳銘漢) and Yeh Ying-lan (葉盈蘭) in March 1991. The three were represented by Koo in court and were found not guilty on Aug. 31, 2012, marking the end of the case.
Su yesterday said he has known Koo for more than 13 years, adding that Koo is a good man who is serious and careful in his actions, who always keeps an eye out for the disadvantaged and supports social causes.
Photo: CNA
Koo helped the disadvantaged and the poor voluntarily, Su said, adding that he was not the only person who had received Koo’s kind-hearted help.
Su said that as a Taiwanese, Koo felt he should also pay attention to political issues, adding that he felt that Koo would be an excellent mayor.
At the press conference held to introduce his campaign advisers, Koo screened three campaign videos criticizing the Taipei City Government’s urban renewal project.
He said that the city government had “been all hot air and no action” under both President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), when he was Taipei mayor, and Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌).
Koo said the city government’s decision to spend NT$200 million (US$6.6 million) to remove and rebuild what is now Jiancheng Circle (建成圓環) in 2001 was a bad one, referring perhaps to the subsequent shutdown of the area’s commercial activities due to a lawsuit, and their eventual reopening in 2012.
Koo promised that if he was elected, he would solve the problem of buildings standing empty and derelict, and make well-planned housing policies.
He said that he would let residents of the city live with dignity in a quality environment.
Koo also said he would rebuild the Jiancheng Circle and again turn it into a favored tourist hotspot, as well as demolish bus-only lanes on Zhongxiao West Road to restore safety and traffic convenience.
Among the first people named to Koo’s team of advisers are Alliance for Handicapped People secretary-general Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Humanistic Education Foundation chairman Shih Ying (史英), former minister of finance Lin Chuan (林全), former Judicial Yuan secretary-general Fan Kuang-chun (范光群), author Ping Lu (平路), Academia Sinica research fellow Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正), Human Rights Covenants Watch convener Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠), former Public Television Service Foundation president and chief executive Sylvia Feng (馮賢賢), Consumers’ Foundation chairwoman Joann Su (蘇錦霞), feminist activist Chen Chao-ju (陳昭如) and National Health Insurance Civic Surveillance Alliance spokesperson Eva Teng (滕西華).
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods