According to paragraph two of Article 89 of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), anyone caught following somebody without reasonable cause and who fails to stop when asked could face a fine of up to NT$3,000 or be reprimanded. In Constitutional Interpretation No. 689, the Council of Grand Justices recently ruled that this paragraph is constitutionally sound. As a member of the team representing the Ministry of the Interior in what has been called a battle between the right of the individual to privacy and the freedom of the press, this result is pleasing.
Of the 15 grand justices, 11 expressed an opinion on the interpretation, with some agreeing with it; some partly agreeing and partly rejecting it; and others just partly rejecting it. The full text is more than 80,000 words, much longer than the 10,000-word 1973 verdict by a US federal court on the Galella versus Onassis appeal between the paparazzi photographer Ronald Galella and Jacqueline Onassis, former wife of assassinated US president John F. Kennedy.
The grand justices said that when journalists are reporting on a case that can be determined to be a matter of public interest, and one which concerns the public and is considered newsworthy, they should be permitted to pursue an individual with impunity, if said pursuit is deemed necessary to ascertain facts pertinent to the story, and if the behavior in which the journalist engages does not violate norms of acceptable social behavior.
Examples of such cases include reporting crimes or misconduct; issues concerning public health and safety; the governance of the country; the official duties and implementation of policy by civil servants; matters of trust involving politicians and their conduct; and the behavior of figures in the public eye which could have an impact on society. Essentially, this points out under which circumstances a journalist can follow the subject of their story without fear of being persecuted under the Social Order Maintenance Act.
The grand justices also said that the guarantee of press freedoms refers to the freedom to elicit information and is not restricted to journalists working for media agencies, in that it also extends to private individuals providing newsworthy information to the public, or any behavior involving seeking information that will promote public debate through the monitoring of the government. This means that a journalist does not necessarily need to be affiliated with any particular media group and that they could be members of the public or freelance journalists.
Taiwan will soon hold presidential and legislative elections. Considering the continued ubiquity of corruption and vote-buying, something particularly virulent in remote and poor areas, it makes sense to encourage unaffiliated or freelance journalists and, if necessary, organizing teams to search out, closely pursue and catch vote buyers. This will create an environment which will make candidates who are toying with the idea of vote buying to think again.
Yu Ying-fu is a lawyer.
Translated by Paul Cooper
US President Donald Trump has gotten off to a head-spinning start in his foreign policy. He has pressured Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States, threatened to take over the Panama Canal, urged Canada to become the 51st US state, unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” and announced plans for the United States to annex and administer Gaza. He has imposed and then suspended 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for their roles in the flow of fentanyl into the United States, while at the same time increasing tariffs on China by 10
As an American living in Taiwan, I have to confess how impressed I have been over the years by the Chinese Communist Party’s wholehearted embrace of high-speed rail and electric vehicles, and this at a time when my own democratic country has chosen a leader openly committed to doing everything in his power to put obstacles in the way of sustainable energy across the board — and democracy to boot. It really does make me wonder: “Are those of us right who hold that democracy is the right way to go?” Has Taiwan made the wrong choice? Many in China obviously
About 6.1 million couples tied the knot last year, down from 7.28 million in 2023 — a drop of more than 20 percent, data from the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. That is more serious than the precipitous drop of 12.2 percent in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the saying goes, a single leaf reveals an entire autumn. The decline in marriages reveals problems in China’s economic development, painting a dismal picture of the nation’s future. A giant question mark hangs over economic data that Beijing releases due to a lack of clarity, freedom of the press
US President Donald Trump last week announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on eight countries. As Taiwan, a key hub for semiconductor manufacturing, is among them, the policy would significantly affect the country. In response, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) dispatched two officials to the US for negotiations, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) board of directors convened its first-ever meeting in the US. Those developments highlight how the US’ unstable trade policies are posing a growing threat to Taiwan. Can the US truly gain an advantage in chip manufacturing by reversing trade liberalization? Is it realistic to