Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday proposed an amendment prohibiting military personnel from criticizing the government in public, while opposition legislators called the proposed law a violation of the constitutional right to free speech.
The legislature's Home and Nations Committee yesterday referred an amendment to Article 6 of the National Defense Act to the legislative floor with the DPP legislators' support.
If the amendment is passed by the legislature, it would prohibit military personnel from printing, distributing and posting information that is not politically neutral.
Members of the military are also prohibited from holding or joining partisan rallies, the draft bill says.
"The amendment is against freedom of speech, which is protected by the Constitution, so the amendment is unconstitutional," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (
Lin and several opposition legislators did not attend yesterday's committee meeting.
DPP Legislator Tang Huo-shen (
In one of the controversial incidents, Major Tung Hwa-cheng (董華正), a military instructor at Taipei Senior High School in Shilin (士林), was detained last month by the Military High Court Prosecutors' Office and charged with inciting treason after he took part in an anti-Chen protest on Sept. 20.
At the protest, Tung showed a copy of a letter he had sent to Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑), in which he said any soldier would take the opportunity to murder the president in a war.
The prosecutor's office said that while Tung's participation in the protest was not a problem, it considered his appearance in uniform and the letter's content as a violation of the Military Criminal Code (
In addition, Chu Chao-kang (屈肇康), an army honor guard who posted a message in an Internet chatroom suggesting that he wanted to harm the president, was detained by military prosecutors in July.
Chu wrote in his message that when he took part in an honor guard to welcome Nauru President Ludwig Scotty on March 7: "I almost could not resist the urge to poke my M-1 rifle into the president's head."
Article 6 of the National Defense Act now requires military personnel to not engage in regional and party affiliations.
Taiwan must first strengthen its own national defense to deter a potential invasion by China as cross-strait tensions continue to rise, multiple European lawmakers said on Friday. In a media interview in Taipei marking the conclusion of an eight-member European parliamentary delegation’s six-day visit to Taiwan, the lawmakers urged Taipei to remain vigilant and increase defense spending. “All those who claim they want to protect you actually want to conquer you,” Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Soboliev said when asked what lessons Taiwan could draw from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Soboliev described the Kremlin as a “new fascist Nazi regime” that justified
The US House of Representatives yesterday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which stipulates that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican US Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude China from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China
‘T-DOME’: IBCS would increase Taiwan’s defense capabilities, enabling air defense units to use data from any sensor system and cut reaction time, a defense official said A defense official yesterday said that a purported new arms sale the US is assembling for Taiwan likely includes Integrated Battle Command Systems (IBCS). The anonymous official’s comments came hours after the Financial Times (FT) reported that Washington is preparing a US$20 billion arms sale encompassing “Patriot missiles and other weapons,” citing eight sources. The Taiwanese official said the IBCS is an advanced command and control system that would play a key role in President William Lai’s (賴清德) flagship defense program, the “T-Dome,” an integrated air defense network to counter ballistic missiles and other threats. The IBCS would increase Taiwan’s
NOMINAL NEWLYWEDS: A man’s family and his wife — his long-term caregiver — are engaged in a legal dogfight over the propriety and validity of the recent union A centenarian’s marriage to his caregiver unbeknownst to his children has prompted legal action, as the caregiver accuses the man’s children of violating her personal liberty and damaging her reputation, while the children have sought a legal option to have the marriage annulled. According to sources, the 102-year-old man surnamed Wang (王) lives in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) and previously worked as a land registration agent. Wang reportedly owns multiple properties and parcels of land worth several hundred million New Taiwan dollars and has ten children. His caregiver, a 69-year-old surnamed Lai (賴), has been caring for him since about 1999,
RSS