An American man who was found guilty of marrying two Taiwanese women claimed during his trial that Taiwan’s court was racially discriminating against him.
The Supreme Court recently decided to uphold the ruling by the Taiwan High Court that sentenced the man, surnamed Huang (黃), and a woman, to eight months in prison for adultery and offences against marriage and family.
The court ruled that the pair could commute the sentences into fines.
A Supreme Court document said that in September 1997 Huang and a woman held a wedding ceremony in a restaurant in Taipei. They lived together and had two children, but in 2006 the couple started to live separately.
The Supreme Court added that in 2008 Huang had a second wedding to marry a different woman, and the pair registered themselves as a couple at a Taipei City Government’s Household Registration Office.
The Supreme Court added that Huang’s first wife filed a lawsuit accusing Huang and the other woman of adultery and offences against marriage and family.
During the trials, Huang denied he married twice, saying the 1997 event was an engagement party, not a wedding ceremony, adding that he was not familiar with Taiwan’s marriage regulations.
After Huang appealed the ruling, he told the High Court that the district court was racially discriminating against him and that the district court did not adopt witnesses’ testimonies in his favor.
According to a Supreme Court document, the High Court said that the invitation for the 1997 event was titled “wedding invitation,” and they took wedding dress photographs at the time, indicting Huang must have known that it was a wedding.
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
Traffic controls are to be in place in Taipei starting tonight, police said, as rallies supporting recall efforts targeting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers as well as a rally organized by the KMT opposing the recall campaigns are to take place tomorrow. Traffic controls are to be in place on City Hall Road starting from 10pm tonight and on Jinan Road Section 1 starting from 8am tomorrow, police said. Recall campaign groups in Taipei and New Taipei advocating for the recall of KMT legislators, along with the Safeguard Taiwan, Anti-Communist Alliance (反共護台聯盟), have previously announced plans for motorcycle parades and public
A tropical depression near the northwestern Philippines is expected to strengthen into Tropical Storm Danas by early tomorrow, becoming the fourth tropical storm of the season, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 8am today, the system was located approximately 370 kilometers southwest of Taiwan's southern tip, Cape Eluanbi, and has developed a more organized structure, forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The storm is currently moving slowly toward the Taiwan Strait in an east-northeast direction and may trigger a sea warning if it reaches tropical storm strength tomorrow morning. The system is expected to shift direction later tomorrow toward the north
‘ON THE RIGHT TRACK’: US analysts praised the ‘less scripted’ drills as strengthening defenses and resilience, as confusion and spontaneity are common in actual warfare This month’s annual Han Kuang military exercises are to feature six types of “gray zone” tactics used by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with the aim of weakening their effectiveness, Chief of the General Staff Admiral Mei Chia-shu (梅家樹) told the military yesterday. The 41st Han Kuang drills, scheduled from Wednesday next week through July 18, would simulate a Chinese blockade and invasion, with President William Lai (賴清德) on Tuesday saying that Taiwan is already in a “war without gun smoke.” In a speech broadcast to officers and soldiers yesterday, Mei said that the six types of harassment are: legal warfare,