Two Taipei mayoral hopefuls have united to assemble a voluntary legal team in preparation for potential legal battles against former Taipei EasyCard Co chairman Sean Lien (連勝文).
Lien, who is a son of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Taipei mayoral hopeful, boasted a strong legal team as part of his campaign office.
Independent candidate Neil Peng (馮光遠), an award-winning screenplay writer, and lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who is vying for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) nomination, announced the establishment of what they called the “submarine legal team” of almost 30 lawyers yesterday.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The team’s name, submarine, was in response to Lien calling his legal team his campaign’s “aircraft carrier.”
Lien was quoted as saying that the team would file defamation lawsuits against anyone, including the media, who makes false allegations about his wealth, background and character.
“Our team will defend people who are sued by Lien during the election campaign, so that freedom of speech can be protected,” Peng told a press conference at Jiancheng Circle (建成圓環) market of Datong District (大同), also the location for Lien’s bid announcement on Monday.
Peng and Koo, who will serve as the leader of the team, noted that Lien’s threat of a legal war could violate human rights principles.
Lien is obligated to be scrutinized by the public now that he has officially thrown his hat in the ring, Koo said.
He added that the massive wealth that the Lien family had accumulated despite his father and grandfather’s occupations as public servants was “a public affairs issue rather than a personal issue.”
Sean Lien’s spokesperson, Chin Hui-yuan (秦蕙媛), said he would accept criticism and would only take legal action if an allegation was groundless and seen as “character assassination.”
Meanwhile, Taipei mayoral aspirant Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that a Chinese university had canceled an invitation for him to speak there.
Ko, a National Taiwan University Hospital surgeon who has expressed his desire to run for the capital’s top post, said that he was invited by Xiamen University’s Taiwan Research Institute to give a speech at the university today and to attend a forum.
However, Ko said he received an e-mail from the institute on Feb. 8 in which his invitation was rescinded. Ko said he was unaware of the reason.
The DPP has listed five potential nominees — former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Koo, lawmakers Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) and Pasuya Yao (姚文智), and Taipei Council Deputy Speaker Chou Po-ya (周柏雅) for the mayoral election.
Opinion polls since late last year have shown that Ko, who has yet to decide whether to join the DPP, is the front-runner among possible non-KMT candidates.
Additional reporting by CNA
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS