■ Transport
Link goes underground
Taipei City Government's Department of Rapid Transit Systems yesterday announced that the bureau will construct an underground MRT line that connects with CKS International Airport, rather than build an overhead link. Although the Ministry of Transportation and Communications planned to construct an overhead MRT line to the airport, bureau director Fan Liang-hsiu (范良鏽) said the central plan will destroy the city's urban landscape and bring chaos to Taipei's traffic. Fan said the bureau would ask the central government to increase the line's budget and will try its best to finish the underground as soon as possible because underground construction would add two years to the project.
■ Politics
Police want PFP lawmaker
Kaohsiung police said yesterday they wanted a lawmaker to be prosecuted for standing atop a truck that rammed a courthouse gate guarded by police during a post-election riot. Police want prosecutors to charge People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) because several officers were injured in the melee, said the city's police chief, Hsieh Hsu-nen (謝秀能). Chiu told reporters he was on top of the truck because he was trying to calm the protesters. But Hsieh didn't believe Chiu's account. "I told him the protest was illegal and asked him to halt immediately," Hsieh said. TV footage showed Chiu standing on a campaign truck that repeatedly rammed a Kaohsiung courthouse gate guarded by a group of police. Chiu was also part of a crowd that stormed the Central Election Commission headquarters in Taipei last Friday.
■ Politics
Ting and Tsai offer to resign
Following Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Alex Tsai's (蔡正元) offer to resign on Monday, the director of the KMT's Organization and Development Affairs Committee, Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), also submitted his resignation yesterday. Both Tsai and Ting, whose resignations were not accepted, cited unsatisfactory performance in KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) failed presidential election bid as the reason for their wish to quit. Lien, paired with People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), lost to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) by a margin of less than 30,000 votes. Lien is contesting the election result in court. KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正), noting that the election result remained uncertain, had asked Tsai and Ting to stay. "It is natural for party directors to resign from their post as a gesture of taking responsibility," Ting said. "But given that the outcome of this election is controversial, the secretary-general has asked us to remain at our posts."
■ Cross-strait ties
Kinmen learns about links
In an effort to improve the efficacy of the current "three small links," the Kinmen County government hosted a seminar yesterday attended by more than 130 officials from local and central authorities. The symposium, chaired by Kinmen County Deputy Commissioner Yang Chung-chuan (楊忠全), attracted officials from the Kinmen County government, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) as well as other government agencies stationed on the outlying island. Officials from the MAC's Department of Legal Affairs and Department of Economic Affairs were in charge of explaining the newest rules of the "small three links" to attendees.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
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