The Keelung District Court yesterday ruled that the detention of Keelung City Council Speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰), who is running for mayor, is to be extended for another two months.
Huang, who decided to run as an independent after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) retracted his candidacy, has been held incommunicado since Sept. 5 on suspicion of violating the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) by accepting bribes and withdrawing public funds without authorization and with an intent to profit.
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office on Monday requested an extension to Huang’s detention and the motion was approved by the court yesterday.
More than 100 supporters gathered outside the court to call for Huang’s release, accusing the judiciary of carrying out unjust rulings.
The KMT withdrew its support for Huang’s mayoral bid on July 9, after he came under investigation for corruption, and nominated former National Immigration Agency director-general Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) to represent it in the election instead.
Meanwhile, the Executive Yuan yesterday said that an extension of the planned Taipei Mass Rapid Transist (MRT) system’s Minsheng-Xizhi line to Keelung is a more feasible option than extending the Nangang line.
The possible extension was mentioned in an announcement the Executive Yuan made in which it stated its wish to “accelerate the MRT Minsheng-Xizhi line project,” which had its feasibility evaluation research ratified by the executive branch in 2011.
In the statement, the Executive Yuan cited Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) as saying that while Keelung residents wish to have their city connected to Taipei by the MRT system, “there are objective difficulties to extending the Nangang line eastward to Keelung.”
“However, there is room for evaluating if the link can be made through the extension of the Minsheng-Xizhi line,” Jiang said.
The announcement drew speculation that it had been fashioned as a support-boosting move for Hsieh’s election bid, because the KMT candidate has been advocating extending the Minsheng-Xizhi line to Keelung, while Democratic Progressive Party candidate Lin You-chang (林右昌) has been calling for the extending the Nangang line.
According to a report by the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), at an Oct. 1 KMT meeting, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) asked Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時), who is a member of the KMT standing committee, to “wolf down [meaning to take responsibility for]” Hsieh’s transportation policy, which includes initiating construction on the MRT extension to Keelung within the next four years.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the
RSS