Two more officials affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the south were taken into custody and questioned during a judicial investigation into a series of election irregularities and smear campaign tactics.
Armed with search warrants, investigators with the Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office raided the KMT’s Pingtung County headquarters in Pingtung City, and confiscated computers, data files, paper documents and other potential evidence.
The investigation is focused on a campaign brochure distributed widely in Pingtung County last week that insinuated Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator and county commissioner candidate Pan Men-an (潘孟安) was having an affair.
Produced by the Pingtung County Women’s Association, an organization affiliated with the KMT that has several KMT executives in its ranks, the brochure was headlined: “Even if Pan An (潘安) returns to life, he must not opt to destroy other people’s family.”
The brochure also had a picture of a monkey dressed in a business suit being grabbed by a large hand, apparently depicting what is known as “capturing the monkey” (抓猴, lia gao in Hoklo, commonly known as Taiwanese), which is a common Taiwanese cultural reference to catching a husband who has extramarital affairs and is trying to hide them from his wife.
“Pan An” is a Chinese literary figure who is said to be very handsome and irresistible to women.
DPP’s Pingtung County headquarters filed a formal complaint and asked the judicial authorities to investigate, saying that the brochure was clearly referring to Pan Men-an and was unscrupulous to insinuate that a political opponent is engaged in extramarital affairs. It added that such mudslinging tactics must be stopped.
Following the raid, prosecutors took two officials into custody for questioning: office publicity director Huang Wen-cheng (黃文政) and Tsai Chiu-hsiang (蔡秋香), the director of the women’s association that is affiliated with the KMT.
After questioning, Huang and Tsai were released after posting bail of NT$50,000 and NT$20,000 respectively.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening. When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team. However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku