Several Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislators yesterday called for the public to respect the independence of the judicary and prosecutors.
DPP Legislator Chang Chun-hsiung (
"We, however, have seen some people mention specific names and criticize cases in progress and even point out what direction the investigation should go," Chang said at a press conference.
TSU Legislator Kuo Lin-yung (
Kuo, however, said pressure from the media, the legislature, civic groups and others has insidiously threatened an independent judiciary.
Kuo said lawmakers should focus on reviewing government budgets, questioning public officials and drawing up bills instead of exploiting legislative interrogation to address certain cases.
DPP Legislator You Ching (尤清) said that some lawmakers abuse their privilege of free speech by making allegations without giving any evidence, which may further confuse the public about an investigation or a trial.
"We decided to start with ourselves. As legislators, we hope we can work together to curb interference with the judiciary in legislative meetings," You said, adding that the media should also uphold its "Fourth Estate rights" when covering investigations or trials.
Although Chang and his colleagues said they did not call yesterday's press conference to address "any specific case," it came just two days after a Judiciary Committee meeting in which Minister of Justice Morley Shih (施茂林) was questioned by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators over the Taiwan Development Corp insider trading case and Sogo case.
KMT Legislator Kao Su-po (高思博), the committee's chairman, dismissed DPP legislators' concerns during Monday's meeting that questioning Shih amounted to trying to influence the judicial system.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS