Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) yesterday demanded that the government fix loopholes on security measures after former independent legislative candidate Ma Chih-wei (馬治薇), convicted for selling sensitive data to two Chinese people, live-streamed an interpellation session at the Legislative Yuan on Friday.
Formerly a spokeswoman for Taiwan People’s Party’s Taoyuan chapter, Ma was expelled from the party on Jan. 6, a day after she was detained on suspicion of having received NT$1 million (US$31,595) from China to fund her legislative election campaign in exchange for intelligence.
She was indicted in March for allegedly meeting with Chinese “involved in Taiwan’s affairs” during a trip to China in April last year, and the two sides discussed Ma providing intelligence about Taiwan in exchange for funding.
Photo: screen grab from The Grass Media’s YouTube channel
The Taoyuan District Court in August sentenced her to eight months in prison for selling information such as names, titles, telephone numbers of some people working in the Presidential Office, Legislative Yuan, Executive Yuan and National Security Bureau to two Chinese.
Ma has filed an appeal. She does not need to serve the sentence before a final verdict is reached on her case.
Wu yesterday demanded security measures to be increased to prohibit Ma from accessing the Legislative Yuan.
“Ma was convicted for selling private data to China, and she is a serious concern for our national security,” Wu said.
“How can she just get inside, and live-stream from the second-floor gallery inside the legislature?” she asked.
“I found out that she got inside by saying she is a member of the media,” Wu said.
“Stronger security measures are needed to prevent leaking of confidential materials, as she is a convict for selling intelligence by providing names of government officials to China. Her case must be taken very seriously,” she said.
Asked about Wu’s comments, Ma said she was hosting an online political news show for the YouTube channel The Grass Media (草傳媒), so she could enter the Legislative Yuan as a member of the press.
Additional reporting by Lin Che-yuan
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS