■ Politics
Rally not `off-limits': KMT
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday that it will leave the decision of whether to join today's march against China's "Anti-Secession" Law up to individual members."This is an event organized by the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP]. The political platform, national ideology and stance on cross-strait relations are all different from the KMT. If there are party members that want to participate in the rally, then the KMT is unable to prevent them from joining. However, we trust the judgement of our party members," KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) said. He added that if there are KMT party members who attend to show their support of the Republic of China and call upon President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to uphold his "four noes" policy, then the KMT will not "hinder" them. Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), a KMT vice chairman, said yesterday that he was unsure whether or he would attend.
■ Fisheries
Seminar set for Monday
A seminar on deep-sea fishing manpower issues will be held on Monday as part of the government's efforts to formulate new policy and strategies for sustainable fishery industry development, a Council of Agriculture official said yesterday. The seminar, to be organized by the council's Fishery Administration, will focus on the supply and demand of fishing manpower, upgrading the quality of the industry's workforce and improvement of the shipboard working environment, the official said. The one-day seminar will bring together officials from city and county governments, representatives of fishing industry associations, academics and experts to explore manpower-related problems faced by fishing-boat owners and feasible measures to resolve them, the official said. The seminar will be the first of a series of forums to be held this year on issues affecting the fishing industry.
■ Politics
KMT revises nominee list
The KMT has released a list on Thursday night of three principles it will use when considering who it will nominate for the National Assembly Representatives' election on May 14. It said it would rank Chen Chin-jang (陳金讓), the party's nominee for the assembly's speaker, as No.1, while city mayors and county commissioners are to be ranked outside of the number the party expects to win seats. Chen is a former National Assembly speaker. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was originally ranked No.1 in the party's original list of nominees but on the new list he is ranked 135 out of 160. Penghu County Commissioner Lai Feng-wei (賴峰偉 ) is No.126 on the new list, the highest of any local official. The statement said the changes reflect the party's emphasis on academics and youth.
■ National security
Official punished
The Judicial Yuan announced yesterday that the president's former chief aide-de-camp, Lieutenant General Chen Tsai-fu (陳再福), would be barred for one year from working in government for failing in his responsibilities in connection with the March 19 assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (陳水扁). The report said Chen Tsai-fu's poor leadership contributed to the incident. The report said Chen Tsai-fu failed to ask the president and vice-president to put on bullet-proof vests and he broke rules regarding motorcade formation, which resulted in the failure to properly guard the two leaders.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
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