■ Crime
Macau man detained
Police have arrested a Macau man for bringing 1.3kg of heroin into Taiwan, an official said yesterday. Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents nabbed the suspect, surnamed Kang, when he flew into Kaohsiung on an EVA Airways flight from Macau on Monday, a bureau official told reporters. Kang, a 30-year-old factory worker, had taped the packets of heroin to the inside of his thighs. He said he was paid NT$200,000 (US$6,600) to deliver the heroin to a man in Taiwan. The maximum penalty for drug trafficking is the death sentence.
■ Diplomacy
Legislators go to Ottawa
A legislative delegation arrived in Ottawa on Monday for a visit to strengthen exchanges between the two countries. Cheng Kuo-chung (鄭國忠), chairman of Taiwan-Canada Parliamentary Friendship Group in the legislature, who led the delegation, said that their visit was conducted at the invitation of the Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group and is aimed at boosting bilateral parliamentary exchanges. Cheng said friendships and exchanges between the people of Taiwan and Canada have been increasing substantially during the last few years, and during their stay in Canada the lawmakers will also thank Canadian congressman Jim Abbot, a member of the opposition Conservative Party, for putting forward the Taiwan Affairs Act for approval in the Canadian parliament.
■ Society
DPP politician apologizes
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Chang Ching-fang (張清芳) yesterday apologized to Yang Yun-tai (楊雲黛), secretary to People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), for having made false allegations in November 2003 about the relationship between the two. Several months before last year's presidential election, in which Soong was the running mate of then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰), Chang alleged that Yang was Soong's mistress. Chang based his allegation on a statement by former Taiwan Provincial Assembly member Wang Chao-chuan (王兆釧). Yang went to court to demand justice, seeking NT$10 million in compensation for damage to her reputation. The court ruled that Chang must pay NT$800,000 in damages and publish an apology to Yang in three major newspapers.
■ Immigration
Illegals find hospital work
An illegal Chinese immigrant has been caught serving as a caregiver at major hospitals in Taipei, police authorities said yesterday. The Chinese man told police that he smuggled himself into Taiwan a year ago. He first took odd jobs around Taiwan. In April, he began working as a caregiver at major Taipei hospitals, including Veterans General Hospital and Yangming Hospital, on a wage of NT$1,900 per day. He pays a 10 percent commission to his manpower broker. According to police, the 30-something man has been caring for several seriously ill patients for three months through the arrangement of a local manpower agency. Taipei police authorities informed a special task force under the National Police Administration (NPA) of the case. The "homeland security" task force was founded by the NPA earlier this year to track down illegal Chinese immigrants. The task force checked a list of temporary caregivers and said they discovered that the list included 10 illegal male Chinese immigrants, all around 30 years of age.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS