President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said his government’s policy is to retain the death penalty, but to exercise prudence over its use, as it has been doing in recent years.
Ma made the remarks on Sunday at a national youth policy forum during a discussion with participants about their views on capital punishment.
Among the 85 participants at the annual forum organized by the Ministry of Education, 26 said they supported abolition of the death penalty, while 46 said they did not.
One of the participants who expressed support for capital punishment said that people who take others’ lives should be punished.
Another participant said he could not support the idea of abolishing the death penalty because a member of his family had been murdered.
The perpetrator received a prison sentence of 14 years, which was later commuted to eight years, he said.
The killer was eventually released from prison, but the victim’s family continues to suffer the pain, said the young participant, who did not give his name.
Expressing a contrasting point of view, a participant said each life is unique, and one should not seek revenge after being hurt, but choose the path of forgiveness.
“A life for a life is too extreme,” the young person said.
In response, Ma said that during his tenure as minister of justice from 1993 to 1996, more than 50 death-row prisoners were executed, but now there are only five or six executions per year.
The government does not plan to abolish the death penalty, but would exercise caution over its use, Ma said.
The Ministry of Justice has been reviewing the policy and is disinclined to carry out executions.
Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪), one of the many Cabinet members who attended the forum, said that while the death penalty is a thorny issue, it can be easily decided by legal means in a democratic country.
While pacifists might want to see the death penalty done away with, this can only be achieved by a majority decision, she said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS