The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday accused Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) of having double standards in their reactions to crime in Kaohsiung under the administrations of Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
Chen, of the Democratic Progressive Party, was elected mayor in a by-election on Aug. 15 last year after Han, of the KMT, was removed from office following a recall vote on June 6.
From January to last month, 17 major crimes occurred in the city, KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
In 2019, when Han was in office, Hsu and National Police Agency Director-General Chen Ja-chin (陳家欽) went to Kaohsiung out of concern about the crime rate in the city, she said.
Su told reporters at the time that it was “not inappropriate” for central government officials to visit local jurisdictions to offer assistance, Wang said.
With Chen Chi-mai now in office, there has been a huge change in Hsu’s and Su’s attitude, she said.
Hsu said he was in contact with local authorities by telephone, while Su said public satisfaction with public security and their confidence in the police had grown, and that “sudden public safety incidents, crimes of passion and revengeful killings are hard to avoid,” the KMT said in a statement.
The premier’s comments are designed to “protect Chen Chi-mai,” Wang said, calling his remarks “irresponsible” and “unfair to Kaohsiung residents.”
“Many residents are asking: ‘What happened to Kaohsiung?’” KMT Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Mei-ya (陳美雅) said.
The mayor has not come up with a solution to the city’s deteriorating public security, she said, adding that the recent incidents have been “very damaging” to Kaohsiung’s image.
As long as illegal guns exist in Kaohsiung, its residents live in insecurity, KMT Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Shao-ting (黃紹庭) said, urging the mayor and Kaohsiung Police Department Commissioner Huang Ming-chao (黃明昭) to formulate a strategy to improve public security immediately.
Asked when he would visit the south, Hsu yesterday told reporters that he often does without informing the press.
“We regret every public security incident,” Hsu said, adding that police would aim to do better.
Chen Chi-mai wrote on Facebook yesterday that “there is only one standard for public security, and that is to let residents [feel] at ease.”
The Kaohsiung City Government and Police Department are working together to “demonstrate their determination to combat violence and prevent major public security incidents,” he added.
Additional reporting by Chien Hui-ju and CNA
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
RSS