■Missing persons
AIT issues search appeal
An American by name of Fryderyk M. Frontier went missing in late May, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday as it issued an appeal to the public to help locate his whereabouts. Frontier arrived in Taiwan on May 20 and reported to a Hess Language School in Chung-ho the next day. This was the last time he was seen, the AIT statement said. However, on May 22, Frontier called a friend in the US and said he planned to go to a national park for a three-day visit before returning to Taipei, the statement said. He has not been heard from since. "Records show that on May 23 he purchased a train ticket to Pingtung. He had expressed an interest in going hiking and in visiting Kaohsiung," the statement said. Anyone with information about Frontier is encouraged to contact the local police or the AIT at aitamict@mail.ait.org.tw.
■ Politics
Former speaker convicted
PFP Legislator Liu Sung-pan (劉松藩), a former speaker of the Legislative Yuan, was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison and a fine of NT$30 million (US$864,550) because of his alleged role in helping a friend getting an illegal loan from a bank. The Taichung District Court determined in its judgment that Liu provided a front company to a friend and helped him get a loan of NT$1.5 billion from the Taichung Commercial Bank in 1998. Liu took a commission of NT$150 million (US$4.32 million) from the friend in return, according to the court. The case came to light when Liu's friend failed to repay the loan. Liu said through one of his staff that he was surprised by the sentence and would appeal it.
■ Education
Winning team returns home
A team of students from the department of computer science and industrial engineering of National Taiwan University returned to Taipei yesterday after winning an international computer-software design competition last month in Washington. The team was led by the department chief Feipei Lai (賴飛羆) and was composed of Kuo Mei-chen (郭美辰), Huang Pao-shuan (黃寶萱), Cheng Hsien-ting (鄭先廷) and Lin Puo-yun (林伯均). The team won the top prize given by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) at the 2003 Computer Society International Design Competition after beating more than 300 competitors in about 170 teams from universities around the world. The team's design -- Novel Educative Wireless -- which helps teachers create a small-class digital-learning interaction with students through the use of a Tablet PC wireless system. The device also won the first "multimedia" prize offered by Microsoft Corp.
■ Cross-strait ties
Ferry sent for ill woman
The Mainland Affairs Council allowed a ferry to sail directly from Kinmen to Fujian Province yesterday to retrieve a seriously ill Taiwanese businesswoman. Direct shipping services between Kinmen and Matsu and Xiamen and Mawei were suspended May 18 over SARS concerns. The council resumed direct Kinmen-Xiamen and Matsu-Mawei cargo services late last month, but direct passenger services have not yet been resumed. Based on humanitarian considerations, the council approved an application by the Kinmen County Government to send a ferry to Xiamen to pick up Chen Chin-lien (陳金蓮), who has cervical cancer and requires emergency surgery, as well as her husband and other family members.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
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