■ Politics
DPP unveils nominations
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday recommended five delegates to the National Assembly as candidates for the body's executive committee: Senior Presidential Adviser Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), Presidential Adviser Lee Yuan-chen (李元貞), former legislator Chou Ching-yu (周清玉), attorney Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission Chairman Hsu Chih-hsiung (許志雄). The 11-member executive committee handles meeting procedures. Each political party can nominate a number of members based on the percentage of assembly seats won in the election. The DPP also announced that it would recommend Yeh Chun-jung (葉俊榮), the chairman of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, for the post of assembly secretary-general, DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said.
■ Society
Taichung fire kills nine
A pre-dawn fire engulfed a plastics factory in Taichung and killed at least nine people, police said yesterday. The victims included two families -- a mother and her 11-year-old daughter and a father and his 10-year-old son. They were sleeping on the second floor of the sheet-metal building when the fire broke out at around 4am. The cause of the fire is not known. "Most people died of suffocation as they tried to escape," a prosecutor at the scene told reporters. The factory owner said he did not know how many people stayed in the building on Monday night as it was open to employees, as well as their relatives and friends.
■ Society
Former WTO envoy honored
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) conferred the Order of the Brilliant Star on Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章), the former representative to the WTO, yesterday at the Presidential Office for his outstanding performance in the post. Chen hailed Yen's efforts in helping to explore foreign trade and international relations during his term of three years and three months as representative to the WTO. Yen said he was proud of his achievements and that Taiwan's delegation had received high praise from other countries as well.
■ Tourism
Democracy is a draw
Taiwan's vibrant democracy is one of its major attractions to prospective Chinese tourists, a Hong Kong newspaper reported yesterday. The Wen Hui Po said Chinese on the Internet have shown keen interest in things Taiwan since China announced last week that it will allow its citizens to make sightseeing trips here. According to the paper, 25 percent of the thousands of Internet surfers responding to a recent online poll said the most important reason for a visit to Taiwan is to get a taste of its political atmosphere. Meanwhile, 39 percent said they wanted to visit sightseeing spots such as Alishan and Sun Moon Lake, and 28 percent said they wanted to look into folk culture and customs.
■ Agriculture
COA repeats warning
Council of Agriculture Chairman Lee Chin-lung (李金龍) yesterday warned against building up an over-reliance on the Chinese market. Lee told a meeting of the Democratic Progressive Party's Central Standing Committee that opening Taiwan's exports to the China market will do little to relieve the imbalance of supply and demand. He said the government should ask for formal negotiations with China on the issue.
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
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
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
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
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