Dozens of sex workers and their supporters demonstrated outside the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) yesterday, urging it to declare its stance on the decriminalization of the sex industry.
A citizens’ conference organized by the Executive Yuan in November recommended that the sex industry be decriminalized and that penalties for both sex workers and their customers be lifted.
Although President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) promised during the presidential campaign that the legalization of the sex industry would be based on the conclusion of the conference, the MOI did not declare its stance on the issue, saying that more discussion was needed.
“So another forum was held by the MOI itself in January, and most of the participants also supported legalizing the sex industry,” Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters director Chien Chia-ying (簡嘉瑩) said. “Yet the MOI still said that it needed more time to look into it.”
“We repeatedly asked the MOI whether they had reached any conclusions during the past four months, but the answer has always been ‘we’re looking into it.’ when will we ever see the final outcome?” Chien asked.
As the government continues to “look into the issue,” prostitutes continue to get arrested.
“In the 17 years after the sex industry was completely outlawed, more than 70,000 sex workers have been arrested and the total amount of fines they have paid adds up to between NT$70 million and NT$100 million,” she said. “This is the hard-earned money of people who live in poverty.”
A sex worker in her 40s who wished to be known only as Miko said that, unable to find a job, prostitution was the only thing she could do to raise her children.
“I was treated just like any other worker when I worked as a sex worker in countries where prostitution was legal — it’s ironic that I am treated as a criminal in my own country,” Miko said. “I’m not a criminal — I don’t rob, I don’t steal, I work hard to make a living and it’s the government that’s making me suffer.”
After protesters shouted for about 30 minutes, MOI Social Affairs Department specialist Chiang Kuo-jen (江國仁) came out to meet them.
“We already have a conclusion, but I can’t give it to you now because it still needs approval from the minister. But we will submit it to the Cabinet as a recommendation soon,” Chiang told the demonstrators.
However, Chiang’s response drew more protests from the demonstrators, who dismissed it as just another excuse to postpone the decision.
After verbal disputes, Chiang finally promised that the MOI would announce its decision on May 18.
“If we still don’t get a positive response by that day, we will come back and we may force our way into [the MOI],” Chien said.
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
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would