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.
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,