Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) yesterday filed a lawsuit against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Secretary-General Lee Shih-chuan (李四川) for “making arrangements under the table” to replace KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱).
Flanked by members of the TSU Youth Organization, Chou filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office accusing Chu and Lee of conducting so inn a teng (搓圓仔湯, kneading to make rice ball soup), a Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) term that often refers to political schemes involving coaxing a candidate to drop out of a race by offering money, a post-election government position or other enticements.
That would violate Article 84 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法), which stipulates that “anyone who asks for an expected promise or asks a candidate or a person having the qualification of candidate to abandon the campaign or conduct certain actions on by offering bribes or other undue benefits” is punishable by law, Chou said.
Photo: Chien Lee-chung, Taipei Times
“Chu and Lee met with Hung several times to persuade her to withdraw from the presidential election while presenting some conditions for exchange,” Chou said. “Since [Hung said that] all the meetings have been recorded, I am filing a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, hoping that prosecutors would start an investigation as soon as possible.”
Chou said that although Hung has not registered as a presidential candidate with the Central Election Commission, she has been officially nominated by the KMT national congress and completed all due procedure for party nomination, and thus should be considered “a person having the qualification of candidate” as stipulated in the law.
“It does not matter whether Hung has accepted offers from Chu and Lee. As long as they made the request to persuade Hung to withdraw, they are in violation of the law,” Chou said.
According to the law, violators could be condemned to fixed-term imprisonment of between three and 10 years, and fines of between NT$2 million and NT$20 million (US$60,882 and US$608,828).
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
RSS