Chinese prosecutors have issued a new indictment against jailed China-based New York Times researcher Zhao Yan (
The news comes as an activist who set up an environmental group after studying village efforts to fight pollution went on trial yesterday charged with illegally obtaining state secrets.
"There has been a new indictment in Zhao Yan's case," lawyer Mo Shaoping (莫少平) said.
Mo said he had not yet been informed whether authorities have laid new charges against his client, nor has he been informed about whether authorities have found new evidence.
"This is very regrettable," Mo said. "This is quite wrong ... there is no legal basis for doing that at all."
He said the prosecutors had used a term of "resuming criminal investigation and prosecution" to describe the move, but it had no legal basis.
"Even they admitted they could not find an article of law to cite for the re-transfer of the case," Mo said.
Zhao had been expected to be released within days after the Intermediate Court agreed to a request by the prosecution to withdraw the case on March 17, but he remains in custody.
"It is definitely a prolonged and illegal detention now," Mo said.
Zhao's disappearance into police custody in September 2004 caused a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing.
He was formally charged on Oct. 20, 2004, with "divulging state secrets," a charge that carries the maximum penalty of death, although the Chinese authorities have never said explicitly what Zhao's alleged crime was.
The researcher was detained days after the New York Times reported that former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (
At the time of the report, Jiang's plan to retire was a closely guarded secret.
Meanwhile, the environmentalist involved in a mass protest against chemical pollution went on trial yesterday facing charges of illegally obtaining state secrets, his lawyer said.
The case of Tan Kai (譚凱), of the banned "Green Watch" environmental group, was heard at the Xihu District Court in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, lawyer Li Heping (李和平) said.
"He pleaded innocent," Li said. "We said that the whole hearing was illegal because the court refused to reveal the evidence of any crime."
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
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