Print

Mail

wiki links

Taiwan Quick Take

■ Cross-strait ties
`Envoy' report dismissed
The Presidential Office dismissed as "absurd" a media report yesterday that said that China Steel Corp. (CSC) chairman Lin Wen-yuan (林文淵) once traveled to Beijing as a special envoy of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in an attempt to forge a secret cross-strait channel of dialogue.
"The report was outrageous," said James Huang (黃志芳), director of the Presidential Office's Public Affairs Department.

■ Crime
Transsexual issue solved
After hesitating on whether to place a transsexual convicted of murder in a men's or women's prison, the police yesterday finally decided to put the gangster together with women inmates. Cheng Hui-fang (鄭惠芳), 26, who underwent female-to-male surgery two months ago, was arrested yesterday after being convicted in absentia on murder charges and sentenced to an 11-year jail term. But Cheng, the first trans-gender suspect arrested in a nationwide crackdown on organized crime, still holds an ID card which says he is a woman, causing a dilemma for police. His girlfriend, surnamed Chen, who had lived with him for one year, told the police she did not know he was a man until yesterday. She said he had been refusing to have sex with her since they moved in together.

■ Diplomacy
Kiribati ties solid: official
Taiwan said yesterday that its newly launched ties with Kiribati are solid despite attempted sabotage by China. "Our ties with Kiribati are solid and friendly. We plan to invite Kiribati President Anote Tong to visit Taiwan in early February," Lin Sung-huan (林松煥), head of the Foreign Ministry's Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told a news conference.

This story has been viewed 2003 times.