■ Crime
Three accused of design theft
Taiwanese prosecutors have indicted three people, including a Chinese American, over copyright violations related to high-tech design theft. The alleged theft of integrated circuit designs has cost a leading manufacturer US$10 million in losses, according to a Chinese-language newspaper. Prosecutors have accused Wang Qi, a Chinese American who owns a technology company in Shanghai, of paying an employee of Taiwan-based ALi Corporation's research and development department, Sun Chih-chiang, some NT$600,000 Taiwan (US$17,600) in January for ALi's USB2.0 design blueprint. The deal was allegedly brokered by Chia Huei-hsien, a sales manager from another Taiwanese technology company. Wang was arrested earlier this year when he arrived in Taiwan for a computer show, according to the paper.
■ Trade
Parris goes to Moscow
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Parris Chang (張旭成) will lead a delegation to Moscow today for a two-day conference about the prospects for trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Taiwan in the context of Russia's admission to the WTO. The Taiwanese delegation, which includes government officials and scholars, will arrive in Moscow tomorrow. The conference will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. "We will talk about how to strengthen bilateral cooperation between Russia and Taiwan under the WTO umbrella," Chang said. The Russian Association of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry will also participate in the conference.
■ Survey
Foreigners fume over English
Foreigners visiting or living in Taiwan feel least satisfied with the English-language services in the shopping environment, according to a survey released by the Cabinet yesterday. The poll, conducted by the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission between July 26 and Sep. 19, found that foreigners visiting or residing here were unhappy with English services in various areas. Their gripes include the inconsistent spelling systems used for street and store signs, the inability of civil servants, eatery clerks and taxi drivers to speak English and insufficient labeling of drugs in English. More than 42 percent of foreigners working, studying or residing here said they were displeased with the overall English environment. A total of 1,511 foreigners were questioned, of which 1,068 were visitors to Taiwan and 443 residents who are working or studying here.
■ Health
SARS `not to be feared'
Another outbreak of SARS in Taiwan this winter is possible, but in light of the experience gained in fighting the disease earlier this year, the public should not be alarmed, Academia Sinica Vice President Michael Lai (賴明詔) said yesterday. Lai, who has studied the coronavirus for more than 20 years in the US before assuming his job in Taiwan, told members of the Formosan Medical Association that the virus, which is believed to be the cause of SARS, might stay in patients' systems after they have been cured, and could be passed on to others. The public can protect itself properly by following the precautionary measures worked out by the Department of Health, Lai said.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift