A cropped image of Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) pointing to a blackboard that says: “Year-end bonus... Every resident gets NT$40,000 [US$1,337]... Taichung has a NT$12 billion surplus... Academics urge the government to return the money to the people,” has been circulating online for several days.
After the Taichung City Government reported it to the police, an investigation was launched and the public was warned that under Article 63 of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), those who engage in “spreading rumors in a way that is sufficient to undermine public order and peace” could be detained for a maximum of three days or fined up to NT$30,000.
The term “rumor” refers to information that is fabricated or lacks factual basis.
Changhua District Court judgement No. 147 states that for a rumor to be “sufficient to undermine public order and peace,” it must cause “fear, panic or actual disturbance.” Therefore, merely spreading false content is not enough to meet that criteria.
The graphic’s use of the word “urge” implies that the measure has not been implemented. In other words, it is precisely because the city government has not yet used its surplus to distribute NT$40,000 cash handouts to residents that academics are calling on the government to do so. Where is the wrongdoing here? How is this considered “spreading rumors”?
Furthermore, the public did not experience feelings of “fear” or “panic” upon seeing the graphic — on the contrary, many expressed excitement or anticipation. Some even said: “Let all residents feel it — feel Lu’s love for the people of Taichung” and “NT$40,000 could relieve residents’ hardships.”
The graphic does not contravene the law, yet Lu reported it to the police, leading to citizens being investigated. Could this be an attempt by Lu to instill fear and restrict Taichung residents’ freedom of speech?
Yeh Yu-cheng is a secretary at the Pingtung County Public Health Bureau.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
“History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes” (attributed to Mark Twain). The USSR was the international bully during the Cold War as it sought to make the world safe for Soviet-style Communism. China is now the global bully as it applies economic power and invests in Mao’s (毛澤東) magic weapons (the People’s Liberation Army [PLA], the United Front Work Department, and the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]) to achieve world domination. Freedom-loving countries must respond to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), especially in the Indo-Pacific (IP), as resolutely as they did against the USSR. In 1954, the US and its allies
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) on Thursday last week urged democratic nations to boycott China’s military parade on Wednesday next week. The parade, a grand display of Beijing’s military hardware, is meant to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. While China has invited world leaders to attend, many have declined. A Kyodo News report on Sunday said that Japan has asked European and Asian leaders who have yet to respond to the invitation to refrain from attending. Tokyo is seeking to prevent Beijing from spreading its distorted interpretation of wartime history, the report
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in China yesterday, where he is to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin today. As this coincides with the 50 percent US tariff levied on Indian products, some Western news media have suggested that Modi is moving away from the US, and into the arms of China and Russia. Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation fellow Sana Hashmi in a Taipei Times article published yesterday titled “Myths around Modi’s China visit” said that those analyses have misrepresented India’s strategic calculations, and attempted to view
When Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) stood in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa on Thursday last week, flanked by Chinese flags, synchronized schoolchildren and armed Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops, he was not just celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the “Tibet Autonomous Region,” he was making a calculated declaration: Tibet is China. It always has been. Case closed. Except it has not. The case remains wide open — not just in the hearts of Tibetans, but in history records. For decades, Beijing has insisted that Tibet has “always been part of China.” It is a phrase
RSS