A quarrel erupted between the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of the Interior yesterday over anonymous accusations that the minister of the interior failed to defend the Cabinet's decision to abandon a national fingerprinting policy in the legislature last week thereby delaying the introduction of national ID cards.
One of the nation's leading Chinese-language dailies yesterday quoted anonymous sources from within the Cabinet as criticizing the MOI for attempting to establish an index-finger fingerprint database as the major reason the ID card bill was struck down. The newspaper also said that the ministry not only failed to defend the Cabinet's proposal, but also convinced some of the legislators to oppose it.
In response, Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) angrily defended himself and the ministry yesterday, saying: "I would never dare to defy the Cabinet's decision [to abandon all fingerprinting legislation as part of ID card registration]."
Yu also said that Minister without Portfolio Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) could be the source that spoke to the newspaper. Yeh's response was that he never discussed the case with reporters in the past one to two months.
A 1997 amendment to the Household Registration Law (戶籍法) requires all citizens over 14 to submit prints of all 10 fingers upon receipt of their ID card, but a more recent Cabinet draft revision to the 1997 amendment, replacing the requirement of prints for all 10 fingers with a demand for only the prints of the index finger, was defeated at its first reading in the legislature last week.
The ministry announced last month that the it would try to find a balance between government controls and the right to privacy by requiring all citizens to submit to only the thumbprints, since many legislators favor the database's establishment.
Yu said that the thumbprints would ensure the uniqueness of the cards thereby preventing ID-card forgery.
He also emphasized that the database would not be used for criminal investigation, an assertion upon which human rights organizations have cast their doubts.
Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), however, reiterated yesterday that the Cabinet has concluded all plans for a fingerprint database should be abandoned and that it would seek DPP legislators' support for the decision.
National Policy Adviser to the President Peter Huang (黃文雄), who has campaigned against the database, said that the ministry's attitude could be the reason the bill failed to pass.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
China is attempting to subsume Taiwanese culture under Chinese culture by promulgating legislation on preserving documents on ties between the Minnan region and Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said yesterday. China on Tuesday enforced the Fujian Province Minnan and Taiwan Document Protection Act to counter Taiwanese cultural independence with historical evidence that would root out misleading claims, Chinese-language media outlet Straits Today reported yesterday. The act is “China’s first ad hoc local regulations in the cultural field that involve Taiwan and is a concrete step toward implementing the integrated development demonstration zone,” Fujian Provincial Archives deputy director Ma Jun-fan (馬俊凡) said. The documents
RSS