Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday called the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) an “autocracy,” after two of his KMT colleagues were summoned by prosecutors for allegedly spreading rumors about Triple Stimulus Vouchers.
Tainan City councilors Wang Chia-chen (王家貞) and Lee Chung-tsen (李中岑) on Monday said that they and their assistants were late last month summoned by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning on a charge of breaching the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), after they held a news conference on July 20 alleging that there had been counterfeit vouchers circulating.
A business owner tried to cash in fake vouchers at a bank, which confiscated the bogus vouchers, they told the news conference.
Photo: Wang Chu-hsiu, Taipei Times
However, the duo’s claims were labeled as fake news by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, as business owners were not allowed to cash in the vouchers before July 23.
The DPP attempted to curtail their freedom of speech by striking fear into them, Wang and Lee told another news conference on Monday, adding that they were only commenting on a complaint that they had received.
Separately yesterday, when asked to comment on the investigation into the incident, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that when they spread disinformation, Wang and Lee, as public figures, caused people to worry and “sent ripples across society.”
The two were summoned for questioning after he asked law enforcement agencies to rigorously investigate the incident, which was only proper, he said.
However, Su’s remarks drew a heated response from Hsieh, who said that the administration’s handling of the case showed the DPP’s autocratic nature.
In scrutinizing the government, Wang and Su were only doing their jobs, Hsieh said, adding that they did not spread rumors, but turned the alleged counterfeit vouchers over to prosecutors as evidence.
Su forcibly intervened in the judicial system and pressured prosecutors to launch an investigation, disregarding the neutrality of the judiciary, Hsieh said.
They would not be silenced, he said, vowing to overthrow Su, which would be “only proper.”
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
The Ministry of Environment yesterday held a seminar in Taipei for experts from Taiwan and Japan to exchange their experiences on the designs and development of public toilets. Japan Toilet Association chairman Kohei Yamamoto said that he was impressed with the eco-toilet set up at Daan Forest Park, adding that Japan still faces issues regarding public restrooms despite the progress it made over the past decades. For example, an all-gender toilet was set up in Kabukicho in Tokyo’s Shinjuku District several years ago, but it caused a public backlash and was rebuilt into traditional men’s and women’s toilets, he said. Japan Toilet Association
RSS