■ Media
TV station disputes ruling
TVBS, a Hong Kong-invested TV station in Taiwan, said yesterday that it refuses to accept a decision by the Government Information Office (GIO) that it has violated the law and will seek remedial measures in line with law. TVBS, which recently drew the ire of the government and the Democ-ratic Progressive Party (DPP) by exposing damning evidence of a ranking former official suspected of invol-vement in the Kaohsiung mass rapid transit scandal, was responding to the GIO's move a day earlier to slap the station with a NT$1 million (US$29,722) fine for violating the Satellite Broadcasting Law, which limits foreign capital in broadcast media.
■ Immigration
New agency for foreigners
In the face of a continued inflow of foreigners, Taiwan will soon establish an agency exclusively dedicated to immigration affairs, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The ministry official made the comment one day after the Legislative Yuan gave its final approval for establishing an immigration administration to take charge of all aspects of immigration affairs. Vice Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) said a day earlier that the immigration administration can begin operations soon to tackle "the many problems" arising from the continued entry of foreign brides from China and other Southeast Asian countries as well as blue-collar and skilled workers.
■ Health
Taiwan helps fight bird flu
Taiwan will donate US$500,000 at the up-coming 13th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to assist in the regional effort against bird flu, an official said yesterday. "Fighting bird flu is one of the main topics of the APEC summit, so we will announce there that Taiwan will donate US$500,000 to contribute to the regional fight against bird flu," Liao Tung-chou (廖東周), deputy chief of the Foreign Ministry's Department of International Organizations, told a seminar. The summit will be held in Busan, South Korea, on Nov. 18 and Nov. 19. Leaders from the 21 APEC member states will meet to discuss regional economic issues and how to fight bird flu.
■ Politics
Misbehavior out: Hsieh
Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday said that violence or any sort of misbehavior cannot and should not be rationalized. Hsieh said during the weekly Cabinet meeting that "when behavior is wrong, it is wrong anyway." He was commenting on writer and poet Tu Shi-san (杜十三) threatening to kill every member of the premier's family. However, the premier said that he would affirm Tu's confession when Tu said that he would apologize for what he did and take responsibility for it. Hsieh said that he understood that some people would support Tu's behavior and said that Tu does not have to apologize.
■ Justice
Two probe Lafayette case
Public prosecutor-general Wu Ying-chao (吳英昭) yesterday confirmed at the legislature that prosecutors Albert Tsai (蔡秋明) and Lo Jung-chien (羅榮乾), in charge of the Lafayette frigate scandal investigation, are in Switzerland investigating records of bank deposits made by fugitive Taiwanese arms broker Andrew Wang (汪傳浦). "The probe of those bank documents could mean a breakthrough in the scandal," Wu said. A Swiss Federal Commission on Oct. 29 approved the handover of bank files to foreign judicial authorities concerning the controversial sale of French warships to Taiwan.
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
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