■ Taichung
Harbor gets investment
In a bid to further develop Taichung harbor and make it into a free-trade harbor zone, the Cabinet yesterday announced that the government and the private sector combined will invest a total of NT$13.7 billion for the next five years. According to a press release, the Cabinet will invest NT$5 billion while the private sector will contribute NT$8.7 billion. The fund will be used to build public-infrastructure projects including 64 wharfs and 15 specialized areas within the free-trade harbor zone, as well as pay for the broadening and deepening of waterways.
■ Cross-strait ties
Pair convicted of murder
Two Chinese men have been sentenced to death in Shanghai for the murder and robbery of a Taiwanese businessman and his family, the Chinese government said yesterday. The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court found Huang Ligang (黃利剛) and Cheng Liang (程亮) guilty of killing Song Yu (宋鈺), his wife and their four-year-old daughter during a robbery attempt on June 23, said a court official, who refused to give her name. The sentence was issued Tuesday after a one-day trial, she said. The attack prompted Taiwan to appeal for increased security for its investors in China, tens of thousands of whom live in Shanghai. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, Huang and Cheng stole a laptop computer and Chinese and foreign currency from the home, then fled in the family's four-wheel-drive vehicle. They were arrested two days later in a rural area of Jiangsu Province, Xinhua said.
■ Crime
Alleged embezzlers wanted
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles on Tuesday asked the overseas Chinese community to help locate a couple wanted in Taiwan. Liu Kuan-chun (劉冠軍), former chief accountant of the National Security Bureau, is wanted on charges of embezzling more than NT$192 million (US$5.5 million), while his wife, Meng Wen-hua (孟雯華), is wanted for allegedly assisting Liu in embezzling the money and in engaging in money laundering. Liu left Taiwan on Sept. 3, 2000, and his wife left the following day. Sources said that Liu first went to China and hid in Shanghai, while Meng took their two children to Toronto, Canada. Recent overseas media reports said that the family could be hiding in North America, possibly in southern California. Anyone with information concerning Liu and his family is asked to contact the office at (213) 389-1215, or write to the Investigation Bureau at P O Box 60000, Hsintien, Taipei, Taiwan.
■ Terrorism
Baghdad attack condemned
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday condemned the devastating terrorist attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad. In a press statement released by the ministry last night, the ministry also expressed its condolences over people who died during the attack. Top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello was among the more than 20 victims who were killed in Tuesday's massive bomb blast, which could be felt more than a kilometer away. In the press release, the ministry stressed Taiwan's willingness to support the UN's plans for rebuilding Iraq and stated that Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) had sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to express Taiwan's sympathy for the victims and their families.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard