■ CRIME
Court ruling on Wang Chin
The Los Angeles Federal Court of Appeals is expected to rule against Wang Chin She-ying (王金世英), the wife of former Rebar Group chairman Wang You-theng, in her case against the state-run Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀), a Central News Agency (CNA) report said yesterday. CNA said that the court would ask Wang Chin to return nearly US$20 million to Mega, the biggest creditor bank of the Rebar Group. The report quoted Hung Maan-huei (洪滿惠), an attorney for Mega, as saying that the lawyers of Mega and Wang Chin had received a ruling from a judge, saying Wang Chin should be responsible for the debt. Hung added the judge issued the document on April 30 and that attorneys for either side could file an appeal before May 12. Hung said the formal ruling would be handed down later this month.
■ POLITICS
Card to head US delegation
Former White House chief of staff Andrew Card will lead a five-member US delegation to attend president-elect Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration ceremony on May 20, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said on Monday. Card held the position under US President George W. Bush until April 2006, making him the second-longest serving White House chief of staff, AIT said in a statement. Under former president George H.W. Bush, Card served as assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff and secretary of transportation. Card also served as special assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs in the administration of former president Ronald Reagan, AIT said. The other members of Card’s delegation are AIT Chairman Raymond Burghardt, AIT Taipei Office Director Stephen Young, former Massachusetts lieutenant governor Kerry Healey, and Frank Fahrenkopf, a member on the board of the International Republic Institute, the AIT said.
■ POLITICS
Hanoi protests over Spratlys
The Vietnamese government has asked Taiwan to call off a planned inspection tour of the disputed Spratly Islands, one of two archipelagos in the South China sea claimed by several countries in the region, local press reported yesterday. “Vietnam resolutely objects to all activities violating its sovereignty over the two archipelagos,” government spokesman Le Dung said. Minister of National Defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) had been scheduled to visit the Spratlys before postponing the trip because of bad weather on Monday. Vietnam, Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei each claim all or part of the Spratlys and the nearby Paracels, and all but Brunei have a military presence on one or more of the atolls. Taiwan has constructed an airstrip on Taiping island, while Vietnam has stationed sailors on another.
■ SOCIETY
Strollers safe: MOEA
A recent survey has found no unsafe baby strollers on the market, but parents should still be cautious when purchasing and operating the carts to lower the risks, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a press release yesterday. In March, the ministry’s Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection and the Consumers’ Foundation randomly inspected 12 baby strollers made in Taiwan or China. All the carriages passed the national safety standards, including clear product safety labeling, the brake effectiveness and product durability.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard