Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday criticized President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration for not accepting a request by a Hong Kong murder suspect to turn himself in to Taiwanese authorities, saying that the move has undermined the nation’s sovereignty.
“Has the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] administration lost its mind? How can it do a thing that is equivalent to castrating our sovereignty?” Han, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, said during a visit to Chiayi County’s Singang Fengtian Temple.
By rejecting the request by Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳), the Mainland Affairs’ Council (MAC) is limiting its own jurisdiction and setting up precedent with “unimaginable consequences,” he said.
Photo: CNA
From now on, people can avoid punishment for committing manslaughter or arson in Taiwan by simply leaving the nation, he said.
“I believe most Taiwanese are infuriated by this,” Han added.
Chan is suspected of killing his pregnant girlfriend, Poon Hiu-wing (潘曉穎), when they were visiting Taiwan in February last year, before fleeing back to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong police on Saturday informed the Criminal Investigation Bureau that Chan, who is scheduled to be released from prison tomorrow after serving a 29-month sentence related to the theft of Poon’s belongings, is willing to surrender himself to Taiwanese authorities.
The MAC on Sunday said that it would only allow Chan to come to Taiwan if Hong Kong authorities agreed to share all evidence related to the case.
The Hong Kong government had previously ignored Taiwan’s request to turn over Chan and cited the lack of an extradition agreement as a reason for a now-shelved extradition bill, which has since triggered protests in the territory.
“I have always supported the anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong and Hong Kongers’ fight for true democracy and freedom, but Taiwan and Hong Kong are different,” Han wrote on Facebook earlier yesterday.
The DPP administration is constantly criticizing China for disregarding human rights and using fear to manipulate the public, but it would not even handle a simple extradition case, he said.
“A government that is afraid of exercising its jurisdiction is disqualified from speaking about human rights,” he added.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS