A police officer assigned to guard former Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday triggered a brief manhunt after brandishing a firearm at a driver in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重).
The New Taipei City Police Department said that a driver surnamed Wu (吳) was decelerating on an off-ramp of the Sanchong Cloverleaf when he was overtaken by a black sedan.
After Wu sounded his horn, the two vehicles proceeded to a branch of Taishin International Bank on Sanhe Road when a man in the front passenger seat of the black sedan reportedly drew a gun.
Photo: CNA
Officers at Luzhou Precinct tracked the black sedan via its license number and then intercepted the vehicle in Luzhou District to discover that the vehicle was transporting Wang and the man with the gun was a 6th Special Police Corps officer.
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Wang, the nation’s longest-serving legislative speaker, was on his way to an event marking the founding of a school, police said.
When questioned, the police officer said that Wu was tailing Wang’s vehicle and that he displayed his service weapon alongside his police identification badge out of the belief that the driver was a possible threat to Wang’s safety.
Members of the public who reported the incident to the police may have failed to notice the badge, the officer was cited as saying.
A Sanchong Precinct spokesman said that its officers explained to Wu that the special police officer had acted appropriately in the line of duty.
Wu has accepted that the officer was not behaving in an unreasonable way, he said.
The Regulations on Security Operations for Heads of the Central Government and Other Special Subjects states that the former speaker of the legislature is entitled to be guarded by members of the 6th Special Police Corps, he added.
The incident did not result in a police chase or any arrests, and the police officer had reacted to a potential threat to Wang’s life, the 6th Special Police Corps said in a statement.
Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said that the officer involved in the incident was a member of Wang’s security detail and that Wang was entitled to protection for a year after departing public office.
Bodyguards assigned to protect a current or former official are required to carry a firearm and the officer apparently drew the weapon in response to a potential threat to Wang, he said, citing the National Police Agency’s preliminary report.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
LUCKY DATE: The man picked the 10th ‘Super Red Envelope’ in a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10 A man who recently broke up with his girlfriend won a NT$1 million (US$32,929) prize in the “NT$20 million Super Red Envelope” lottery after picking a card based on the date of their breakup, Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The man, in his 20s, bought the 10th ticket at a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢), because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10, the store owner told the lottery company. The “Super Red Envelope” lottery was a limited offering by the company during the Lunar New Year holiday, which ended yesterday. The cards, which cost NT$2,000 each, came with
TOURISM BOOST: The transportation system could help attract more visitors to the area, as the line is to connect multiple cultural sites, a city councilor said Residents in New Taipei City’s Ankeng District (安坑) said the local light rail system might have a positive influence, but raised questions about its practicality. The Ankeng light rail system, which is to commence operations after the Lunar New Year holiday, would cut travel time for commuters from Ankeng to downtown Taipei or New Taipei City by 15 to 20 minutes, the city government said. According to the initial plan, there would be one train every 15 minutes during peak time and additional interval trains would run between the densely populated Ankang Station (安康) and Shisizhang Station (十 四張). To encourage people to
CHAMPION TREES: The team used light detection and ranging imaging to locate the tree, and found that it measured a height of 84.1m and had a girth of 8.5m A team committed to finding the tallest trees in the nation yesterday said that an 84.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree had been named the tallest tree in Taiwan and East Asia. The Taiwan Champion Trees, a team consisting of researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in June last year used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imaging to find the giant tree, numbered 55214, upstream of the Daan River (大安溪). A 20-member expedition team led by Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君), an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, set out to find the
RSS