A Taoyuan man is facing defamation charges for allegedly circulating rumors online that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was profiting from the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday.
CIB officers on Saturday questioned Hsu Te-chung (徐德忠), 48, for allegedly using the account name Sung Chung-chi (宋中積) to post messages online that accused the DPP of hoarding surgical masks to sell at a monthly profit of NT$4.5 billion (US$148.76 million).
DPP officials filed a request for a police investigation after the claims were widely circulated on Facebook, the messaging app Line and other social media.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Prosecutors said that Hsu, who works in elevator repair and is a self-professed fan of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), created Facebook pages featuring images of Han dressed in military attire and discussion with fellow supporters of the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate about campaign activities.
When located at his home, Hsu reportedly told CIB officers: “Why is this so serious? I had only posted these messages to a few groups on Facebook.”
Meanwhile, prosecutors said they are investigating a man and a woman who allegedly provided officials with false information after returning to Taiwan on a Jan. 16 flight from Wuhan, China, which is at the center of the 2019-nCoV outbreak.
Authorities could not locate the man, surnamed Feng (馮), and the woman, surnamed Chen (陳), at the Taipei address they provided, prosecutors said.
Health officials have ordered all travelers returning from Wuhan and Hubei Province to remain in their residences for 14 days, which is the suspected incubation period for 2019-nCoV, prosecutors said.
However, Feng and Chen yesterday spoke separately to reporters, saying that they did not know each other and that they had followed the orders about home confinement.
TECH PROGRAM: A US official said that an important part of the delegation’s trip would be to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co executives The US is to send officials in charge of chip development to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to promote cooperation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the US Department of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt announced the visit, which marks the first time officials from the office are to visit the three nations since it was set up in September last year. “As semiconductors and technologies continue to evolve, the United States will keep working with allies and partners to develop coordinated strategies to ensure that malign actors cannot use the latest technologies to undermine our collective
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with counties that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
ORIGIN UNKNOWN: The Leofoo Village Theme Park and Taipei Zoo have accounted for their baboons, as authorities continue a 12-day capture attempt Authorities in Taoyuan are searching for a non-native baboon, possibly of the chacma species, that has been spotted several times in the city’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) over the past 12 days, and was most recently seen in coastal Sinwu District (新屋). The baboon was first spotted near a local factory on March 10 in central Taoyuan, Jhensing Borough Warden Huang Chih-chieh (黃志杰) said. Huang said he requested the Leofoo Village Theme Park’s help after a second sighting on Saturday. In other sightings, the baboon raided fruit and vegetable gardens on private property, and has evaded one capture attempt via a tranquilizer dart. Media reported
RSS