Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused the National Security Bureau (NSB) of monitoring hundreds of students, academics and activists involved in protests over land expropriation in Dapu Borough (大埔), Miaoli County.
“[The monitoring] is a modern-day White Terror. We ask the national security agencies to immediately stop such monitoring,” DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) told a press conference.
Chen said the watch list included film directors Yang Ya-che (楊雅吉吉), Leon Dai (戴立忍) and Ko I-cheng (柯一正), university student group leaders Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) and Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and several professors, including Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮), Liao Pen-chuan (廖本全) and Frida Tsai (蔡培慧).
Photo: CNA
The people on the watch list were either being wiretapped, spied upon or investigated by police or bureau investigators, and anyone on the list who shows up at events attended by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) or Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) would be closely watched and removed, if necessary, Chen said.
The NSB has “instructed” the military, the military police, the police, prosecutors, the Ministry of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation and the Ministry of Education to gather information about people who were active in the protests, the lawmaker said.
However, on Monday, the National Police Agency denied the accusation by Lala Lin (林羿含), a singer who performed at an Aug. 16 rally in Miaoli, that she had been put on a watch list and police officers had visited her home in Greater Tainan.
DPP Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) said the NSB’s actions have violated the public’s freedom of speech and right to assembly. Students should not be placed on a watch list just for attending protests, Wu said.
The NSB issued a press release yesterday denying the accusations. The statement said the bureau was in charge of intelligence gathering and the planning and execution of special tasks.
“The bureau does not engage in those practices that go beyond its authorization,” it said.
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday released the first video documenting the submerged sea trials of Taiwan’s indigenous defense submarine prototype, the Hai Kun (海鯤), or Narwhal, showing underwater navigation and the launch of countermeasures. The footage shows the vessel’s first dive, steering and control system tests, and the raising and lowering of the periscope and antenna masts. It offered a rare look at the progress in the submarine’s sea acceptance tests. The Hai Kun carried out its first shallow-water diving trial late last month and has since completed four submerged tests, CSBC said. The newly released video compiles images recorded from Jan. 29 to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips in Japan, stepping up its semiconductor manufacturing roadmap in the country in a triumph for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s technology ambitions. TSMC is to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fab in Kumamoto, company chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. That is an upgrade from an original blueprint to produce 7-nanometer chips by late next year, people familiar with the matter said. TSMC began mass production at its first plant in Japan’s Kumamoto in late 2024. Its second fab, which is still under construction, was originally focused on
DETERRENCE EFFORTS: Washington and partners hope demonstrations of force would convince Beijing that military action against Taiwan would carry high costs The US is considering using HMAS Stirling in Western Australia as a forward base to strengthen its naval posture in a potential conflict with China, particularly over Taiwan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. As part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, Washington plans to deploy up to four nuclear-powered submarines at Stirling starting in 2027, providing a base near potential hot spots such as Taiwan and the South China Sea. The move also aims to enhance military integration with Pacific allies under the Australia-UK-US trilateral security partnership, the report said. Currently, US submarines operate from Guam, but the island could
The partisan standoff over President William Lai’s (賴清德) proposed defense budget has raised questions about the nation’s ability to adequately fund its own defense, the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in a report released on Tuesday. The report, titled Taiwan: Defense and Military Issues, said the government has increased its defense budget at an average annual rate of 5 percent from 2019 to 2023, with about 2.5 percent of its GDP spent on defense in 2024. Lai in November last year proposed a special budget of about US$40 billion over eight years, and said he intends to increase defense spending to
RSS