■ Politics
PFP legislator passes away
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Nelson Ku (顧崇廉) died of lymphatic cancer at Tri-Service General Hospital in Taipei yesterday. Ku, born in Shanghai in 1931, began his career as a naval officer in 1954, attaining the rank of admiral. He served as vice minister of national defense, navy commander-in-chief and the country's representative to the Netherlands. Ku entered the legislature as a legislator-at-large in 2001, and again in 2004. PFP Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) said that the party will spare no effort to help Ku's family with his funeral arrangements. Lee Fu-tien (李復甸), a professor of law at Chinese Culture University, will fill Ku's legislative vacancy.
■ Society
Booze-up teacher suspended
A Kaohsiung middle school teacher surnamed Chen was suspended after one of his students was hospitalized with alcohol poisoning on Friday. According to local media, the teacher-in-training brought two bottles of wine and one bottle of Kaoliang liquor to a weekend party with his students at the basketball court of Rueifeng Junior High School in Kaoshiung City. Chen reportedly encouraged his students to drink, resulting in one student downing half a bottle of white wine, chased by copious amounts of red wine and Kaoliang, a 40 to 50 percent proof distilled liquor. The student later collapsed in the hallway of his apartment after vomiting and frothing at the mouth, prompting his parents to rush him to the emergency room on Friday night. He was released the next day, according to local media. Chen reportedly became intoxicated with a number of students at the party.
■ Trade
China to buy oranges
Two organizations in China are planning to purchase a total of 12,000 tonnes of oranges for NT$180 million (US$5.49 million), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus said yesterday. The deal to sell the oranges for NT$15 per kilogram was reached after KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) visited Yunlin County on Thursday and met local fruit growers, who complained that an orange glut had driven prices down to an average of below NT$10 per kg. Ma instructed two KMT members to depart for China on Thursday to meet with Chinese authorities and discuss a deal. China's Taiwan Affairs Office then arranged a meeting between the two delegates and executives from two Chinese marketing organizations. Both sides agreed that the two Chinese companies would purchase 12,000 tonnes of Yunlin oranges at NT$15 per kilogram, the first shipment of which -- three containers -- is scheduled to leave for Shanghai today.
■ Crime
Lawmakers to visit PRC
A group of lawmakers across party lines yesterday said that they would organize a trip to China to discuss with Chinese authorities the issue of enhancing cooperation in combating crime. People First Party Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Feng-chi (朱鳳芝) and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Rong-shu (許榮淑) said they would join the trip. The lawmakers held a public hearing on the issue as they said that China has become a haven for Taiwanese fugitives, especially white-collar criminals, because of the lack of an extradition agreement between Taiwan and China. Mark Chen (陳明傳), a professor from the Central Police University, hailed the idea, saying the move would put pressure on China to deal with the problem.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
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