Dozens of residents from Greater Taichung and several councilors from the city yesterday protested against the Ministry of Justice’s construction of a therapy center for sex offenders in their neighborhood, despite assurances by the ministry that it would be impossible for sex offenders to flee the facility.
“Oppose sex offenders, keep Nantun District (南屯) safe,” the protesters from Nantun chanted outside the city council.
Opponents of the project added that there are several schools in the vicinity and so the center could place students at risk.
They handed over a letter of complaint to Greater Taichung Deputy Mayor Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家旗), asking the city government to ensure their neighborhood remains safe.
Hsiao told protestors that Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) had said that if the ministry failed to discuss the matter immediately with the city government, it would ask that construction of the center be stopped and the project’s construction permit canceled.
Hsiao said Hu had asked that the treatment center be built inside the prison rather than outside the holding facility.
However, Taichung City Councilor Julia Chu (朱暖英) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said Taichung Prison had been bad for Nantun residents and that, regardless of whether the therapy center was built inside or outside the prison, Nantun residents were against both being in their neighborhood.
Construction of the center began in March and is expected to be completed in November.
Hu had previously criticized the ministry for being unclear about the purpose of the building. Three years ago, the ministry applied to build a therapy center for sex offenders, but the proposal was rejected by the Taichung city government. However, the ministry later applied to build a therapy center for mentally ill criminals in the same location and this time got the city government’s approval. However, it turned out that the construction is actually a treatment center for sex offenders.
Taichung Prison had explained that the center would be equipped with high-tech monitoring systems with infrared alarms to ensure that nobody escapes, saying the neighborhood did not have to worry about their safety.
Courts usually mandate that serious or repeat sex offenders complete a three-year therapy program after they have served their prison terms.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS