Hundreds of additional police officers are to be deployed to safeguard public security in the buildup to a recall vote against Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Saturday next week, National Police Agency (NPA) Deputy Director-General Tsai Tsang-po (蔡蒼柏) said yesterday, amid reports of gangsters planning to cause disruptions and dissuade people from voting.
“We are deploying additional law enforcement units and upgrading the alert level, with the NPA to deploy 500 officers to Kaohsiung to prepare for the recall vote,” Tsai told lawmakers at the legislature in Taipei.
“The NPA and the Kaohsiung Police Department have established a task force led by Kaohsiung prosecutors to coordinate efforts and any investigation,” he said. “There will be rolling reviews in the coming days to make adjustments for new developments in Kaohsiung.”
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
The additional officers’ duties would include patrolling polling stations to uphold regulations against filming, violence and other illegal activities, to prevent voter intimidation, Tsai said.
He agreed with lawmakers that police must remain impartial in their work and uphold the democratic system to ensure eligible voters can cast their ballots, regardless of their political inclination.
NPA Director-General Chen Ja-chin (陳家欽) on Tuesday traveled to Kaohsiung to coordinate police efforts, saying that authorities had received information about criminal elements planning to interfere in the recall vote by filming voters, disrupting lines at polling stations and other possible intimidation tactics.
“We will not tolerate activities that interfere with voting. I have demanded immediate action if there is any violence by gangsters at polling stations,” Chen said.
Asked about gangsters’ purported plans yesterday, Han said: “I am very shocked. If this is true, then the police chief should set up a task force immediately to investigate.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Shao-ting (黃紹庭) questioned the need for additional police resources.
“We do not know where the police chief got his information. He should not speak about unsubstantiated reports, which stoke public anxiety and fear,” Huang said. “If police see criminals preparing to take illegal action, then they should investigate, but they should not speak about unsubstantiated rumors.”
Democratic Progressive Party Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) told reporters that “we have residents telling us that criminal elements are preparing to film at polling stations to ‘monitor’ voting.”
“It has led to people worrying about their safety and feeling threatened,” he said. “Others have said that they are afraid of violence breaking out at polling stations.”
“The police chief has ordered a strong law enforcement presence by deploying additional units for the recall vote. What is wrong with that? Why have Han and KMT officials opposed this and accused the police chief of speculation?” he added.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
‘REALLY PROUD’: Nvidia would not be possible without Taiwan, Huang said, adding that TSMC would be increasing its capacity by 100 percent Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday praised and lightly cajoled his major Taiwanese suppliers to produce more to help power strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI), capping a visit to the country of his birth, where he has been mobbed by adoring fans at every step. Speaking at an impromptu press conference in the rain outside a Taipei restaurant, where he had hosted suppliers for a “trillion-dollar dinner,” named after the market capitalization of those firms attending, Huang said this would be another good year for business. “TSMC needs to work very hard this year because I need a lot
RSS