The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday called for its supporters to protest the Taipei District Court’s “politically motivated” decision to keep former party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) in detention, after the High Court on Thursday night revoked its earlier bail decision.
Acting TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said that the party calls on its supporters nationwide to meet at Taipei’s Freedom Square at 2pm on Saturday next week — Judicial Day — to call for Ko’s release and an independent judicial process.
Huang accused the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) of “green authoritarianism” and said that the party is undermining Taiwan’s judicial freedom by using the court as a political tool.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The court’s rulings are contradictory, the prosecutors are biased, and the judge faced political pressure to keep Ko and his codefendants detained, Huang said, accusing the DPP of acting similarly to the Chinese Communist Party’s Red Guards.
Judicial independence is the cornerstone of a democratic society and it is equal for all, regardless of politics, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference yesterday.
The TPP applies a double standard toward the court process, only being in favor when it likes the outcome, Wu added.
When the court originally ruled in favor of bail, TPP officials thanked the judge, but now that it has been revoked, the same officials seek to undermine the ruling, he said.
The TPP should have the same approach as the DPP and allow the courts to work independently, free of political pressure, Wu added.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) called for a free and independent judicial process in response to the court’s ruling.
The KMT position remains that justice must be fair and honest, KMT spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu said.
The court’s decision to revoke bail without proper explanation undermines the public’s trust in the process, Yang said.
The case against Ko could have wider ramifications, KMT Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said, adding that it could prevent future collaboration between the DPP and TPP.
Given the support for Ko and the TPP, the DPP should remain concerned about the political impact of the case, Lee added.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS