Pingtung County prosecutors yesterday detained two people after questioning five earlier this week in connection with allegations of vote-buying against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Aboriginal Legislator Chien Tung-ming (簡東明).
Pingtung’s move came one day after four suspected vote-brokers allegedly working for Chien were held incommunicado following a probe by the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office.
Pingtung prosecutor Yang Wan-li (楊婉莉) said that the county district prosecutors’ office launched an investigation after receiving reports of people paying cash in exchange for votes during the campaign for Aboriginal legislative candidates in several constituencies.
Yang said the office conducted coordinated raids with representatives from Criminal Investigation Bureau units and local police stations on Friday last week, the day before the elections, searching more than a dozen places and residences in Sandimen (三地門) and Majia (瑪家) townships. Situated in the hills and mountain areas of Pingtung, the two townships are mainly inhabited by Paiwan Aborgines.
Armed with warrants, officials detained 30 people for questioning in the operation last Friday. Five more people were summoned for questioning on Wednesday.
Two of the suspects, surnamed Wang (王) and Ma (馬), were held incommunicado yesterday morning, after investigators found cash and lists of eligible voters in their possession, Yang said.
Several residents have reportedly admitted accepting cash in exchange for votes, with Wang and Ma allegedly acting as vote-brokers for Chien, prosecutors said.
Chien, also known as Uliw Qaljupayare, is from Pingtung’s Paiwan Community, and had served as Shihzih Township (獅子) head.
He first won an Aboriginal legislative seat for the KMT in 2008, but was embroiled in litigation on vote-buying charges.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have