Taiwan High Court puts Ann Kao’s corruption case on hold

Taiwan High Court puts Ann Kao’s corruption case on hold

2025-01-03

The Taiwan High Court has halted its review of Ann Kao’s appeal against her conviction. That’s until a resolution is reached on the constitutionality of a legal provision that plays a key role in the case. Last summer, the suspended Hsinchu mayor had been found guilty for embezzling public funds allotted for overtime pay for her assistants while she was serving as legislator. Let’s hear more.

Ann Kao (Jan. 2)
Suspended Hsinchu mayor
I respect the decision made by the Taiwan High Court. I feel very positive about the court for requesting a constitutional interpretation, to approach the matter from a constitutional perspective and ensure that human rights are protected.

Ker Chien-ming
DPP caucus whip
Don’t pay any attention to what Judge Kuo Yu-chen says. Whatever she says holds no weight. She is deeply pro-KMT, and her goal is to save Ann Kao. At present, the Constitutional Court cannot convene. If Ann Kao were to be allowed to run for election, that would create a very interesting situation.

Tsai Yi-yu
DPP lawmaker
This request for a constitutional interpretation aims to buy Ann Kao some time, I think. As things are, if she walks away with the first-instance sentence of seven years, she would be eligible to run for office.

Kao was sentenced to seven years and fourth months in prison last year, and was suspended as Hsinchu mayor in accordance with the Local Government Act. However, Kao would be allowed to run for election in 2026, if the corruption case doesn’t wrap up before then. If she runs and wins the election for Hsinchu mayor, her current suspension would come to an end.

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高虹安涉貪案停審.聲請釋憲綠委:拖時間.能選2026

2025-01-03

新竹市長高虹安涉貪停職，二審進行中，高院1/2突然以關鍵法律條文，立法院組織法第32條第1項規定有違明確性原則，而有牴觸憲法疑慮，幫她聲請釋憲，案件也因此停審。

[[新竹市長(停職中) 高虹安(1.2)]]
“尊重今天高院合議庭的決議，我也高度肯定，合議庭從憲法的高度，以及人權保障的角度，申請宣告違憲”

[[民進黨團總召柯建銘]]
(法官)郭豫珍講的話，不要聽，也毫無參考，他一路深藍，他是要救高虹安，大法官沒有辦法開會，高虹安假如說可以選的話，那就很有趣”

[[立委(民) 蔡易餘]]
“這樣的一個釋憲，我們就覺得是在幫高虹安拖時間，依他的現況，如果他只有一審判決7年的話，他應該是還有參選資格”

依照地方制度法，高虹安因為貪污，一審被判7年4個月，新竹市長職務停職，但如果2026縣市首長選舉前，貪汙案還沒判決定讞，那他就仍有參選資格，如果選上同一職位，則不再適用之前停職規定。

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Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je and three other defendants have been detained and will be held incommunicado, in the latest turn of events in the corruption case. The Taipei District Court’s decision comes after the Taiwan High Court rejected two earlier rulings to grant them bail. The Taipei District Court says there is a risk that the defendants will try to flee and engage in evidence tampering and collusion. The detention has been heavily criticized by the Taiwan People’s Party.

Ko Wen-je, Sheen Ching-jing and two other suspects are escorted to the vehicle bound for the detention center. At a third bail hearing on Thursday, the Taipei District Court in a reversal ordered that all four suspects in the case be detained and held incommunicado.

The court said that Ko and the other suspects were involved in serious offenses, and there was a high risk that they would try to flee. In addition, there was enough evidence for the court to believe that the defendants could engage in evidence tampering and collusion. Sheen’s defense attorney says the reasons for the ruling are unacceptable.

Yueh Fang-ju
Sheen Ching-jing’s attorney
The first judge received instructions to issue a detention order. We respect the interests of judicial hierarchy, but is this how it’s supposed to be used? How come the court has passed completely different rulings based on the same evidence?

Huang Kuo-chang
TPP acting chair
The stance and position of the same single presiding judge in the High Court did a 180 degree turn. Did that happen because the defendant is Ko Wen-je? It raises questions about whether judicial justice still exists in Taiwan.

The Taiwan High Court had called for repeated hearings based on evidence presented by prosecutors. Before the case came to light, in May, Ko had messaged Peng Cheng-sheng who is also implicated in the legal battle. In August Ko had many message exchanges and meetings with Sheen, who also kept in communication with Ying Hsiao-wei, Chen Chun-yuan and Wu Shun-min. During the investigation, Ying was found to have deleted record of her conversations with Sheen and other defendants. In addition, Lee Wen-tsung had instructed Lee Wen-chuan via a messaging app to delete financial records of MuKo Public Relations Marketing, a company associated with Ko. All these are among the reasons cited for the defendants’ detentions.

Liu Wei-ting
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The reasons provided by the Taiwan High Court are more specific this time around. In fact, they seem to be assisting prosecutors. There is a very high possibility that the defendants could use the internet to communicate and collude while being apart from each other. The situation is that of a higher court, the Taiwan High Court, giving less room to a lower court, the Taipei District Court, to grant bail to Ko Wen-je.

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, detention of an accused may not exceed three months during trial. If the defendant is facing a sentence of at least 10 years, detention extensions can be requested six times, and each extension may not exceed two months. That is to say, the Taipei District Court can obtain up 15 months of detention. How long Ko and the other defendants will be held is yet unknown, but what’s for sure is that they’ll spend the Lunar New Year in the detention center.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

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Exhibition displays 40 years of works by famed cartoonist Loic Hsiao

The late Taiwanese cartoonist Loïc Hsiao was certainly gifted: he was also a professor, playwright, theater director and TV host. Throughout his 40-year career as a cartoonist, he gave most of his artistic attention to drawing lines. In his later years he felt the impact of the digital age and created a unique technique of drawing on an electronic tablet using his finger with flourishes inspired by Chinese martial art aesthetics. The Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art is holding an exhibition to commemorate Hsiao. FTV reporter Stephany Yang takes us in for a look!

This exhibition is divided into three sections that include manuscripts and the published versions of Loïc Hsiao’s early iconic comic works.

The second part of the exhibition explores how Hsiao’s works evolved over time. It also examines the way he integrated traditional calligraphy into his comics. Hsiao’s more recent works starting in 2017 were created using his unique “Sword Finger Art Style.” Instead of drawing using a pen, he drew on an electronic tablet using his fingers in a way that combined Chinese martial arts aesthetics and Zen philosophy.

Huang Chih-wei
Curator
The “Sword Finger Art Style” is created on a tablet using fingers like a sword. The lines are drawn as if you are practicing tai chi. They are cartoon character lines. You can see that his work looks like it is written in cursive script. This exhibition uses the theme of a finger sword dance to present Hsiao’s series of works from 2017, as well as his reinterpretation of past classic works such as "The Little Hero of Holland." He uses different brushwork techniques - from the brushstrokes of early comics to the different presentations of the “Sword Finger Art Style.” There are also three-dimensional works that allow the audience to enter the world of comics.

Hsiao was a multidisciplinary creative known for being a famed cartoonist, professor, playwright, theater director and TV host. After becoming a comic artist, he devoted his time to perfecting the single-panel comic format. After being in his career for 30 years, due to the conflict between digital technology and traditional art, he decided to draw on an electronic tablet using his fingers instead of drawing with his nib pen. He was awarded the 2020 Golden Comic Awards Special Contribution Award and has sold over 200 million comic books during his career. His son spent a lot of time engaged in creative pursuits with his late father and was greatly inspired by his late father’s persistence.

Stanley Hsiao
Loïc Hsiao’s Son
I probably started working for him when I was in college. For a series of works about Marilyn Monroe, he told me that he did not refer to her pictures for inspiration. He created them using his imagination. He said that it took him hundreds of attempts to complete this painting. When he finished the painting, he compared it with the picture. Even though many details were not the same, the audience would know what the picture is about. He thinks that is what makes this work successful.

Hsiao’s exhibition will be held at the Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art until Feb. 16.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

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Taiwan suspends Chinese newspaper’s right to station reporters in Taiwan

The Taiwanese government has suspended the rights of a Chinese newspaper and its parent company to station reporters in Taiwan. The Mainland Affairs Council says the Strait Herald is engaged in United Front infiltration and reporters from the newspaper, and its parent company, the Fujian Daily Newspaper Group, are no longer allowed to be posted here. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office is furious and has accused the “Lai Ching-te authorities” of trampling on democracy. Mainland Affairs Council minister Chiu Chui-cheng has shot back that Taiwan has true freedom of the press and China has no comprehension of what it is.

Click on the YouTube channel of the Strait Herald. Although its content mainly reports on cross-strait affairs, when it mentions China, it presents it as having a robust military, while reportage on the DPP and President Lai Ching-te is uniformly negative.

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There are all kinds of fabrications, including boasting about China and disparaging Taiwan, publishing content that is suspicious of the US and Japan, and anti-US and anti-Japanese. It carries a lot of comments from Taiwanese pro-China social media influencers but at the same time, everyone should pay attention to the reporters from the Strait Herald, who are responsible for other tasks besides news gathering.

Yao Chang, an anti-Communist social media influencer from China argues that the Strait Herald reporter’s mission in Taiwan is not a straightforward one. In fact, the Mainland Affairs Council had noticed long ago that the Strait Herald was engaged in United Front work. The newspaper’s social affairs committee member Lin Jingdong had once accepted payment for fabricating polls in an intervention in Taiwan’s presidential election. Taiwan’s announcement that it would suspend the rights of the Strait Herald and its parent organization, the Fujian Daily Newspaper Group, to have reporters posted in Taiwan has made China’s Taiwan Affairs Office furious. It has accused the Mainland Affairs Council of making “baseless arguments” to slander the “legitimate actions of reporting on the news” carried out by a Chinese media reporter stationed in the country.

Chiu Chui-cheng
Mainland Affairs Council
We will first temporarily suspend the Strait Herald from posting reporters in Taiwan. Then we hope that the opening in the quota of permitted Chinese journalists will allow other mainland Chinese media to come here. Taiwan has freedom of speech, it has true press freedom. Mainland China saying that we don’t have press freedom invokes the Taoist adage that a summer insect cannot discuss ice as it has no knowledge of winter.

Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng also took the opportunity to remind Taiwanese to be careful of falling into a Chinese United Front trap by applying for a Chinese ID card, as the losses would outweigh the gains.

Chiu Chui-cheng
Mainland Affairs Council
If you apply for an ID card on the other side of the strait, and you have household registration there, we will cancel your Taiwan household registration and your ID card. This would have an enormous impact, including your qualifications to receive national health insurance and long-term care, and including your rights related to citizenship and property. It will be a huge blow.

Statistics from the Mainland Affairs Council show a total of 679 people’s Taiwanese household registrations have been canceled in the past 10 years. However, Taiwanese YouTuber Pa Chiung claims there are more than 100,000 people in Taiwan with Chinese ID cards. Encompassing politics to economics, the media and the internet, China’s pervasive United Front operations have become the most serious challenge for President Lai Ching-te’s government.

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As the world awaits United States President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Taiwan is caught between growing Chinese aggression and uncertainties surrounding US-Taiwan relations. VOA’s William Yang reports from Taipei.

From military personnel to civilians, Taiwan’s residents have been preparing for an uncertain future with a new US president soon to take office and mounting pressures from China. Beijing considers self-governed Taiwan a part of China and says it will use force, if necessary, to make that claim a reality. While President Joe Biden has repeatedly said the US will come to Taiwan’s aid if China were to attack, President-elect Trump has suggested Taiwan should pay the US for its defense.

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I’m a bit worried because it’s hard to tell what Trump is saying, what he is actually doing, and what he’s doing behind the scenes, things that we can’t see. He’s always acted in his own interest in the interest of the United States.

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I don’t want to say what I’m thinking. If I answer that question, it’ll put me in a very bad negotiating position.

China’s position is clear from this Nov. 7 press conference.

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China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the United States and Taiwan.

Experts also agree major changes in US-Taiwan relations under the next administration are unlikely.

Lai I-Chung
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The mood is that we will be very careful and very watchful about the developments but we are not panicking. We also have very strong bipartisan support in the Congress, and that always can be Taiwan’s best bastions to sustaining and improving Taiwan-US relations.

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Michael Cole
Geopolitical analyst
They are hoping that by creating this sense of embattlement and containment of Taiwan, eventually that would compel Taiwanese voters, if not Taiwanese government to engage in risk avoidance.

Cole says Beijing’s level of aggression toward Taiwan may depend on its assessment of the new Trump administration’s policies for Taiwan and China.

William Yang, VOA News, Taipei, Taiwan

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

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Taiwanese opera legend releases original scripts

Today we take you to meet Taiwanese opera legend Liao Chiung-chih. She is acknowledged as Taiwan’s top kudan or tragic female lead. At the age of 90 she is still teaching and promoting Taiwanese opera. Her foundation recently released a set of seven annotated scripts compiled with Liao’s own documentation. FTV reporter Stephany Yang spoke to the diva herself to find out more about her career and hopes for the art.

Liao Chiung-chih is a world-renowned Taiwanese opera performer. Acknowledged as Taiwan’s top kudan, she is famous for her unique crying technique. She received a Golden Bell Award in 1990 for her work in television and was recognized with a National Cultural Award in 2008 and a National Cultural Heritage Preservation Award in 2012. Liao witnessed a lot of adversity throughout her life.

At the age of 90 this year, she is still passionate about preserving Taiwanese opera and training the future generation of performers. She believes the keys to persevering Taiwanese opera is learning Taiwanese Hokkien and embracing innovation and avoiding radical change.

Liao Chiung-chih
Taiwanese opera performer
I think there is hope for young people to learn it. Nowadays, everyone is seeking innovation and change. But it is good to seek innovation, but it is very bad to seek change. After the foreign cultures came in, everyone changed and started wearing Western clothes. In the past, everything was very conservative. Being able to speak Taiwanese is the most important thing, because Taiwanese Opera is performed in Taiwanese.

To preserve Liao’s craft, the Liao Chiung-chih Taiwanese Opera Cultural and Education Foundation released a set of seven annotated scripts, documenting works composed and performed by Liao.

Tsai Hsin-hsin
Liao Chiung-chih Taiwanese Opera Cultural and Education Foundation
Can such scripts be compiled and recorded? Our maestro Liao has also been thinking about whether we can add more repertoires to Taiwanese opera, including preserving these wonderful and iconic repertoires. She has been archiving her shows since 1999. We compiled sources including her archives, compositions and stage presentations, her recounts of the creative process as well as performance records.

To witness Liao’s vision, stay tuned for the three shows the foundation has planned for 2025. The first show will take place in April.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

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