The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is feigning ignorance of its members’ wrongdoing by demanding an investigation into the judiciary over allegations of signature fraud in its campaign to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, DPP Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said yesterday.
“KMT officials have accused the judiciary of unfairly targeting the party so as to shift the focus away from signature forgery cases in its recall petition drive. The KMT is trying to mislead the public and framing it as the ruling party’s political manipulation of the judiciary,” Chuang said.
Preliminary investigations by judicial authorities have found many cases of alleged forgery, signature fraud, and instances of one individual signing for many people in the KMT’s effort to recall DPP legislators, Chuang said when questioning Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙).
Photo: Taipei Times
“KMT members are being lazy. Instead of doing real work out on the street asking people to sign the recall petition, they copied names from lists of party members, which even include members who are deceased,” he said.
“KMT leaders should take responsibility for the forgeries and other breaches of the law in the recall drive, but they instead demand that President William Lai (賴清德) step down over the judicial investigation into these cases. They are talking like deranged people, as it was not Lai who instructed KMT members to commit fraud and forge signatures,” Chuang said.
Separately, Taiwan Forever Society director Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) also called out the hypocrisy of KMT leaders in calling for supporters to attend a rally on Saturday to protest against the DPP government, which the KMT has even titled: “Oppose Green Communists, Fight Dictatorship.”
“KMT officials are insulting everyone by saying Taiwan is now a dictatorship, but the rest of the world knows that the true dictatorship is in China. The KMT dare not criticize China and it is afraid of urging people to fight Chinese dictatorship,” Huang said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a