■POLITICS
AIT admits breach
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday confirmed that two Chinese dissidents broke into its secured compound on Wednesday to seek political asylum, but declined to comment on claims that security guards failed to discover the two trespassers for two hours. “We can confirm that two People’s Republic of China nationals entered the AIT compound on Wednesday,” an AIT statement said. “They were apprehended for trespassing by AIT security staff and taken to an adjoining police station for questioning by local police and AIT officials. Taiwan has well-established and reliable mechanisms to assist asylum seekers and to protect their rights. In such circumstances, US policy is to allow the host authorities to administer such cases.” AIT Director Stephen Young thanked the Taiwanese police force for protecting the AIT and acknowledged the incident had been a security breach.
■TRANSPORT
Commuters get free burgers
A fast food company announced yesterday that it would give away 300,000 breakfast burgers to the public today to celebrate the opening of a new line of the Kaohsiung City MRT on Sunday. Wang Heng-shin (王恆鑫), a Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp executive, accepted the symbolic “payback package” containing vouchers for free burgers from the company’s general manager at a ceremony held at a Kaohsiung metro station yesterday. The 300,000 breakfast burgers will be handed out to the public this morning at the metro’s Red Line and Orange Line stations. The Orange Line is scheduled to begin operations on Sunday. The Red Line has been in service since March.
■CRIME
Fugitives repatriated
The son of failed Kao Feng Department Store owner Kao Ching-nao (高清腦) was repatriated to Taiwan from China yesterday after being on the run for nearly two years. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said Kao Ta-chuan (高大川) fled the country in September 2006 soon after he was indicted for embezzling assets from the department store and forging the minutes of shareholders’ meetings. Kao was put on the wanted list by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office in January last year. He was arrested by police in Guangzhou, China, on Aug. 29. Kao and another Taiwanese fugitive, surnamed Hsieh, who was wanted on charges of homicide, were repatriated by China’s public security authorities to Hong Kong yesterday, from where Taiwanese police took charge of their repatriation, CIB officials said. Kao Feng Department Store, established by the senior Kao in 1975, ceased operations in November 2003 because of financial difficulties.
■HEALTH
Suicide center asks for help
The Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center called for action yesterday to reduce the suicide rate among the elderly, which it said is about twice the national average, a fact often ignored. The center made an appeal to the public to be “gatekeepers” for elderly people who may try to commit suicide, providing a listening ear and a presence that the elderly can trust. The center said 3,933 suicides were recorded last year, or 17.2 cases per 100,000 people, registering the first decline since 1998. But while there was a general decline, the rate of suicide among the elderly remained at 36.3 per 100,000 people, center director Lee Ming-been (李明濱) said. Suicide attempts by elderly people are mainly prompted by long-term illness, emotional problems and melancholia, Lee said.
■CRIME
Suspected shooter arrested
Chiayi County police arrested a man yesterday on suspicion of firing a gun at a police officer last month. On Aug. 21, Hsiao Po-jen (蕭博壬), 26, allegedly shot Changhua County police officer Liu Fu-hsing (劉福興) during a police pursuit, seriously injuring him. The Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Sixth Division head, Chen Chih-ming (陳志銘), said that Hsiao told officers during initial questioning that he had not meant to shoot the officer. “Hsiao told us that he did not know he did harm to Liu until he read the newspaper the next morning,” Chen said. “He said he was on drugs and was not 100 percent in control when he did what he did. He said he was sorry for what he did.”
■CORRUPTION
Banciao to detain officials
Banciao City (板橋) prosecutors yesterday requested to detain Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei’s (周錫瑋) chief of staff Mai An-huai (麥安懷) and two other Taipei County Government employees for alleged involvement in a corruption case. At press time, the Banciao District Court had yet to make a decision. The prosecutors made the request after questioning Mai, the county government’s Transportation Bureau Director Lin Chung-chang (林重昌), Parking Operation Department chief Hou Lai-huan (侯來換), Lin’s secretary-general Chen Wen-juei (陳文瑞) and Hou’s staff member Lin Kuei-fang (林桂芳). The case stemmed from a Next Magazine report in July saying that Parkimo Co, a firm that manages parking lots in Banciao, allegedly offered more than NT$10 million (US$312,500) to the Taipei County Government, two Mercedes-Benz vehicles to Mai and a Honda minivan for Chou’s official use in return for favorable treatment in its bid to manage Taipei County’s public parking lots.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all