Making the telephone records of Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) available to a Legislative Yuan task force probing a wiretapping controversy would require Huang’s consent due to their private nature, Minister of Justice Lo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) said yesterday.
Responding to a media inquiry at the legislature in Taipei, Lo said that the task force under the Legislative Yuan’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee could not request Huang’s records from his phone company without Huang’s agreement because a telephone record is a personal asset.
“[The request] involves Huang’s rights, the Constitution and the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法), so I will not comment further. If [Huang] agrees, I think the request would then be legal,” Lo said.
The committee on Wednesday passed a resolution authorizing the task force, which was formed to investigate a wiretapping controversy, to examine Huang’s telephone records and records of when he visited the Presidential Office and President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) residence to report on the improper lobbying allegations involving Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
Huang has said that he would not agree to provide the records.
DPP lawmakers were angry at Huang’s refusal, with Ker saying that the task force would not be able to carry out its investigation without the records, which are believed to contain crucial evidence that Ma and Huang conspired to oust Wang from his position.
If the telephone records show that Huang and Ma had telephone conversations before Aug. 31, the day that both said they met for the first time to discuss Wang’s misconduct, the opposition might be able to prove that Ma, Huang and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) have been lying to the public about the controversy.
However, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus opposed the document request, saying that if Huang’s telephone records were made public, Ma’s telephone records would inevitably be disclosed as well, which would be a violation of the Constitution.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
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