Lawyers for Vice President Annette Lu (
Before ruling on the the magazine's request to allow testimony from secret witnesses, Taipei District Court Judge Lai Yung-hua (
The Journalist continued to insist on a court order to prevent three witnesses -- who it says were crucial sources for the article at the center of the suit -- from being identified.
According to The Journalist, the three witnesses will prove that the magazine had carried out thorough investigations before publishing the contentious article, which accused Lu of spreading the rumor that President Chen Shui-bian (
Lawyers for Lu, however, argued that the request would interfere with the vice president's right to a fair trial and should not be granted.
Lu's lawyers said she is willing to attend court in person to confront the alleged sources.
Yu Ying-fu (尤英夫), an attorney for Lu, said that they suspected the The Journalist made up the existence of the sources to evade any liability arising from the article.
Yu said the vice president had indicated her willingness to be cross-examined along with the alleged sources.
But any such cross-examination must be conducted in public in accordance with normal procedure, Yu said.
Wang Chien-chuang (王建壯), president of The Journalist, said that the magazine would welcome the vice president's attendance but reiterated its position that the sources must not be identified.
"It's not a question of a public or secret hearing, but that The Journalist is ethically obliged to protect its news sources," Wang said.
"If the attendance of the vice president has to be made at the cost of disclosure of our news sources, I think that shows the vice president's knowledge on journalistic practices is very limited."
Judge Lai said after the conference that the impact his eventual decision would be such that he would have to contemplate it thoroughly.
The judge said he would rule on the matter on Monday.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS