Lawmakers victimized by acts of violence of independent lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (
People First Party Legislator Diane Lee (
"The legislature shouldn't be out of the reach of law and order. Violence is not allowed in our society and the legislature should not tolerate behavior such as physical attacks on others," Lee said.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Lee said it was regretful that the televised violent incident made Taiwan's democratic development the laughing stock of the international community.
Lee said she believed the prosecution decided to charge Lo with being a hoodlum because of the repeated acts of violence he has committed.
"The fact that Lo never attended the investigative hearing held by prosecutors shows that he feels no remorse at all for the incident," Lee said.
Lo is one of several legislators who has resorted to fisticuffs in disputes with colleagues.
On March 2, Lo was sentenced to 59 days in detention by the Taipei District Court for assaulting DPP legislator Yu Jan-daw (
Yu is dissatisfied with what he called a light sentence and has appealed to the Taiwan High Court.
Yu said both Lee's case and his own are evidence of Lo's habitual violence.
"Authorities concerned should continue their investigation as long as there is evidence," Yu said.
Chien Hsi-chieh, another DPP legislator who was slapped by Lo after a quarrel erupted during a committee meeting in the legislature on Jan. 3, 2000, said all acts of violence should be punished and that no lawmaker should be threatened with violence while performing their duties.
"These threats of violence make lawmakers fear for their safety even in doing their job," Chien said.
Independent lawmaker Liao Hsueh-kuang (廖學廣), who blames Lo for his abduction in 1996 -- wherin he was blindfolded, gagged and put in a cage -- said Lo should be put in jail for an extended period of time.
No criminal charge was brought against Lo in Liao's case due to a lack of evidence.
"He [Lo] will be arrested as long as the victims are willing to testify against him. He has been involved in too many cases of violence," Liao said.
Before deciding to refer Lo to police authorities on charges of being a hoodlum, investigators obtained the testimony of a number of Lo's victims, prosecutors said.
In addition to Lee, Yu and Chien, six other lawmakers have been physically attacked by Lo, including DPP legislators Chang Chin-fang (
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS