The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday announced that it has dropped defamation cases against the Financial Times, Central News Agency (CNA) president Chang Jui-chang (張瑞昌) and others after Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時集團) suddenly rescinded its lawsuits.
The group in 2019 filed a lawsuit against the London-based newspaper, the state-run news agency and two others over a July 17, 2019, report by Financial Times reporter Kathrin Hille.
In the article, Hille quoted anonymous journalists at Want Want-owned media outlets the China Times and CtiTV (中天電視) as saying that editorial staff took daily orders from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on how to handle news relating to cross-strait affairs and China.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
CNA and other news outlets subsequently quoted the article, drawing ire from the group and a vow to sue for slander all that cited the report.
Lawyer Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌), who at the time represented Want Want in announcing the lawsuits, yesterday said that he no longer works for the conglomerate and did not know about the decision or the reasoning behind it.
Hille during questioning provided her handwritten notes from interviews as evidence and attested that she fulfilled her obligation to verify information before publication.
However, she declined to reveal the identities of her sources, citing her duty to protect them.
Earlier this year while the office was investigating the case, Want Want abruptly rescinded its lawsuits, the office said.
Since defamation suits in Taiwan require a complaint by a victim, investigators decided to end their probe, it said.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS