Declassified files of the Taiwan Garrison Command from more than three decades ago showed that known members of the Bamboo Union gang held important positions in ministries, as well as the military, police and intelligence services, the Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine reported yesterday.
“From the early 1960s on, the KMT government knew about and implicitly permitted members of Bamboo Union and other organized crime gangs to take up jobs in Taiwan’s law-enforcement agencies and secret services, including Taiwan’s top intelligence agency, the National Security Bureau [NSB], all branches of the armed forces and the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau [MJIB],” the magazine said.
The documents listed gang members, with a man surnamed Huang (黃) being listed as the NSB’s official representative to the US, while another NSB officer surnamed Hsu (徐) was named as the bureau’s representative to Singapore, along with many others who were shown to have immigrated to the US in the 1960s.
The gang members also entered other sectors and took up executive positions at financial and construction companies and government media outlets, such as the Central News Agency, as well as movie production companies, newspapers and other mass broadcasting firms, the report said.
“Starting in 1960, 13 Bamboo Union members entered academies for the army, air force and navy. Also six known gang members held jobs at the MJIB ... later becoming the basis of an intimate working relationship between the KMT government and criminal gangs,” it said.
The report sparked discussion online.
“Is this not an open secret in Taiwan?” an Internet user asked. “Now we have the documents to prove the links between the KMT and criminal gangs.”
Another wrote: “This is not a surprise, we have known all along of the close connections between the KMT and gangsters.”
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS