Wed, Jan 21, 2026 page3

• Taiwan News Quick Take

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  POLITICS

  TPP’s Huang accused

  Chang Ming-yu (張銘祐), a Democratic Progressive Party candidate for Taipei City councilor, yesterday filed a complaint with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, accusing Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) of contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Criminal Code by leaving a legislative committee meeting on Monday with classified material about military budgets. Huang later said that he had realized he had accidentally mixed confidential material with other documents soon after leaving the meeting and returned them to the meeting room. Chang yesterday said that military procurement meetings involve national defense deployment, strategic capabilities and foreign military cooperation, which are classified as highly confidential matters. Any breach of that confidentiality could pose an irreparable risk to Taiwan’s overall security, he said, adding that the legislature, as the nation’s highest representative body, should exercise self-restraint, strictly adhere to the law and not become a source of leaks. Chang said that he filed the suit not to create division, but to clearly demonstrate to the public that Taiwan’s democracy must be built on a shared respect for national security and the rule of law.

  

  Photo: Taipei Times

  CRIME

  Jaw Shaw-kong sentenced

  Former Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) yesterday was given a suspended sentence on charges related to his display of a marked ballot during a recall vote in July last year. The Taipei District Court fined Jaw NT$50,000 and sentenced him to 55 days in prison, commutable to an additional fine and suspended for two years, for contravening the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法). The ruling can be appealed. Jaw, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) 2024 vice presidential nominee, was indicted in November for displaying his marked ballot to members of the media at a polling station in Taipei. He was casting a ballot in one of several votes on July 26 that sought to recall KMT lawmakers and a city mayor. None of the recall initiatives succeeded. He later apologized and said he had displayed his ballot merely to show that he had voted, but not to display his vote. He said the case was a needless hassle and a waste of judicial resources. Jaw said that he was considering whether to serve the 55-day sentence. “I have done many things, but I have never been to prison before,” he said, adding that he would discuss the situation with his lawyer.

  ASTRONOMY

  Sun effects expected

  A geomagnetic disturbance is expected to affect Earth for about 36 hours and could briefly reach the level of a severe geomagnetic storm, the Space Weather Operational Office said yesterday. Auroras might be visible in regions around geomagnetic latitude 40 degrees during the disturbance, the agency said. The disturbance was caused by a long-duration solar flare that occurred on Monday in an active solar region and was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection, it said. The solar event passed through the near-Earth space environment early yesterday, resulting in a marked increase in solar wind speed and density in interplanetary space, it said. The disturbance was expected to last approximately 36 hours, the agency said, adding that large-scale voltage control systems and protection systems could experience problems as a result of the disturbance, while some power transmission networks could be completely interrupted or experience brief power outages.
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