A researcher at the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) think tank apologized online on Monday, after numerous women accused him of sexual harassment.
National Policy Foundation special associate researcher Albert Tzeng (曾柏文) on Facebook said he wanted to apologize “to any women who have been offended by my past indiscretions,” after two women publicly accused him of impropriety while he was an editor at Initium Media (端傳媒).
The case is only the latest in spate of accusations in recent days, which media have dubbed Taiwan’s #MeToo movement.
The allegations surfaced on Friday last week, when author Wu Hsiao-le (吳曉樂) posted on Facebook about an unnamed former editor who insisted on chatting alone in his car about his marital problems in a conversation that made her feel like she was “suffocating.”
In a followup post on Sunday, Wu said that five women messaged her to share their own experiences with the editor, who she publicly named as being Tzeng.
Later that day, Wu wrote that the number of women messaging her had now reached the double digits, some with stories of Tzeng using inappropriate hugging or other physical contact.
In a separate post, former Initium Media contributor Alison Zhao (趙思樂) said she was harassed by Tzeng and another senior media figure when she was in Taiwan to promote her book at the end of 2017.
Zhao said that Tzeng messaged her directly to apologize, which she accepted.
Tzeng on Monday wrote that he was “ashamed to think of the harm he may have caused others."
He said he heard such allegations against him in 2015, when he had a different understanding of sexual harassment.
However, Tzeng said he has since come to realize that chatting alone in a vehicle might be frightening, especially when with a superior, and since returning to Taichung in 2017 has tried to avoid being alone with women or commenting on their appearance.
In a statement on Sunday, the KMT said that Tzeng has cooperated on special projects with the think tank in the past, but has no cooperative relationship now.
The parties involved have also publicly accepted Tzeng’s apology, it said, adding that it respects their handling of the situation.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
COOLING OFF: Temperatures are expected to fall to lows of about 20°C on Sunday and possibly 18°C to 19°C next week, following a wave of northeasterly winds on Friday The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Sunday forecast more rain and cooler temperatures for northern Taiwan this week, with the mercury dropping to lows of 18°C, as another wave of northeasterly winds sweeps across the country. The current northeasterly winds would continue to affect Taiwan through today, with precipitation peaking today, bringing increased rainfall to windward areas, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. The weather system would weaken slightly tomorrow before another, stronger wave arrives on Friday, lasting into next week, Liu said. From yesterday to today, northern Taiwan can expect cool, wet weather, with lows of 22°C to 23°C in most areas,
RSS