Prosecutors yesterday dismissed charges against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) in a defamation case stemming from the alleged speculative acquisition and sales of military dependents’ housing by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Jennifer Wang (王如玄).
Wang became embroiled in allegations over her real-estate dealings during the heated election campaign in November last year. Her pairing with KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) lost the Jan. 16 election.
Wang filed a defamation suit against Tuan on Dec. 2, after Tuan accused Wang and her husband, former Judicial Yuan Department of Government Ethics director Huang Tung-hsun (黃東焄), of using their connections to acquire and to sell military housing units, which have restrictions on transactions.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that Tuan had requested the details of Wang’s real-estate transactions from the Control Yuan and the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office, and that the documents had formed the basis of his allegations.
Prosecutors ruled that Tuan had not defamed Wang, because he had checked and verified the information he obtained, while the details indicated that Wang had been involved in deals over 14 military housing units.
Prosecutors said that according to their investigation, Wang had purchased 12 military housing units from 1995 to 2009, and was involved in two other units without completing a deal.
The prosecutors said that there was no illegality involved in any of Wang’s real-estate transactions.
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
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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