Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) yesterday called on the legislature to pass an amendment to the Money Laundering Prevention Act (洗錢防制法) next week that would widen the Act’s reach to insider trading.
Wu said at the the legislature’s state affairs forum that the nation would be able to tackle international crimes and terrorism more effectively if the legislature approved his proposal.
The Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee completed a preliminary review of the bill on Thursday, extending the reach of the Act to offenses such as insider trading, breach of trust and embezzlement.
Wu, convener of the committee, said the amendment, if passed, would boost the nation’s bid to rejoin the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO).
Taiwan lost its membership at the ICPO in 1984, when China took over Taiwan’s seat.
In a related development, the legislature rejected a proposal by the Democratic Progressive Party to stall a bill promulgated by the Executive Yuan to downsize the Cabinet.
Legislators agreed to put the bill, which would reduce the Executive Yuan’s 37 branches to 29 organizations, up for review by the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
Legislators also passed an amendment to the Crime Victims Protection Act (犯罪被害人保護法) that would entitle victims of sexual assault to apply for compensation from the government.
Current regulations only allow family members of victims who had been killed or those who sustained serious injuries in crimes to seek compensation from the Association for Victims Support, an organization affiliated with the ministries of Justice and the Interior.
During reviews of the amendment, Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) said that protecting the rights of victims of sexual assault was an act of social justice.
“Sexual assault is not only a sex-related crime, but also a violent offense ... Victims of such assaults are usually physically and psychologically traumatized,” she said.
In accordance with the amendment, the victims would be entitled to compensation of up to NT$1 million (US$30,300).
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)
‘NEVER!’ Taiwan FactCheck Center said it had only received donations from the Open Society Foundations, which supports nonprofits that promote democratic values Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC) has never received any donation from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a cofounder of the organization wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday. The Taipei-based organization was established in 2018 by Taiwan Media Watch Foundation and the Association of Quality Journalism to monitor and verify news and information accuracy. It was officially registered as a foundation in 2021. National Chung Cheng University communications professor Lo Shih-hung (羅世宏), a cofounder and chairman of TFC, was responding to online rumors that the TFC receives funding from the US government’s humanitarian assistance agency via the Open Society Foundations (OSF),
ANNUAL LIGHT SHOW: The lanterns are exhibited near Taoyuan’s high-speed rail station and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the airport MRT line More than 400 lanterns are to be on display at the annual Taiwan Lantern Festival, which officially starts in Taoyuan today. The city is hosting the festival for the second time — the first time was in 2016. The Tourism Administration held a rehearsal of the festival last night. Chunghwa Telecom donated the main lantern of the festival to the Taoyuan City Government. The lanterns are exhibited in two main areas: near the high-speed rail (HSR) station in Taoyuan, which is at the A18 station of the Taoyuan Airport MRT, and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the MRT