The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the Stalking and Harassment Prevention Act (跟蹤騷擾防制法), which makes stalking a crime that is punishable by up to five years in prison.
The bill focuses on eight major kinds of stalking and harassment behaviors that repeatedly target a victim against their will: surveillance and monitoring, stalking and tailing, threatening and insulting, harassment through electronic communications, unwanted advances, anonymously sending mail, slander, and identity theft.
After the police receive reports of such behavior, they can initiate an investigation, arrest suspects and advise a court to detain them, the Ministry of the Interior said in a news release.
Police can issue written warnings and if they find that a suspect has committed the crime again, they can ask a court to issue a protective order for the victim, it said.
The court can detain suspects as a preventive measure if they are found in possession of weapons or dangerous items, or are considered likely to commit the same crime again, it said.
Offenders would face a jail term of less than one year or a fine of NT$100,000. If they are found in possession of a weapon or other dangerous items, their penalty can be increased to five years in jail or a fine of up to NT$500,000, it said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Those who contravene a court-issued protective order for a victim would face a prison term of up to three years or a fine of NT$300,000, it added.
The law is to be implemented six months after it is promulgated, the ministry said.
Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) in the statement thanked lawmakers, as well as civic groups, for their efforts in pushing for the bill’s passage over the past six years.
The bill makes stalking and harassment crimes, as in many other countries, the ministry said.
To hasten the implementation of the act, the ministry would soon complete training for police officers nationwide, as well as set up regulations related to the bill, it said.
The ministry would also present assessment reports on the act’s efficiency three years after it is implemented to keep improving social safety, it said.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS