Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday said he has instructed government agencies to propose revisions to three major laws to better address the issue of sexual abuse and harassment, as allegations of sexual misconduct spread across the political field.
The three laws are: the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法), the Gender Equality Education Act (性別平等教育法) and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法).
“No one wants to see sexual harassment occur, and proposed amendments would be ready at the start of the next legislative session [in September]. We hope to have the support of lawmakers across party lines to prevent further personal harm, assist the victims, safeguard them and protect their rights,” Chen said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
In the latest development, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chung Pei-chun (鍾沛君) on Thursday night accused media personality Lucifer Chu (朱學恒) of forcibly hugging and kissing her during a dinner gathering in Taipei in August last year.
She said as she had pursued the matter, Chu wrote an official apology two weeks later.
A political commentator, Chu is a popular YouTuber and frequent guest on political talk shows.
Chu yesterday said he had suspended his YouTube channel and that he would stop appearing in media and public events for the time being.
He apologized, but said he was too drunk at the time and had no memory of what happened that night.
Separately, New Power Party member Jerry Liu (劉仕傑) was accused by a former party staffer of grabbing her in a vehicle, forcibly kissing her and pulling her hand to touch his private parts.
NPP Chairwoman Claire Wang (王婉諭) issued a public apology yesterday, saying: “We are sorry we did not know about this and for allowing this deplorable person to participate in public affairs and giving him a platform for public discourse.”
The NPP later yesterday said it received a statement from Liu that he was withdrawing from the party.
As of press time last night, Liu had not responded to the accusations.
State-run Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute chairman and prominent film critic Lan Tsu-wei (藍祖蔚) on Thursday was also accused by Taiwan-based Korean Studies Academy CEO Rick Chu (朱立熙) of repeatedly sexually harassing female reporters.
Taipei City Councilor Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) of the KMT told a news conference yesterday that Lan, being a top figure in the film and cultural sector who is highly regarded and respected in society, must adhere to standards of morality and behavior.
Lan denied the allegations, but tendered his resignation, “because I don’t want to become cannon fodder in the political struggle.”
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
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