■ ENVIRONMENT
Su Jun-pin to replace Shih
The Executive Yuan yesterday said Taoyuan County Government Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) chief Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) would succeed Vanessa Shih (史亞平) as Government Information Office minister and Executive Yuan spokesperson. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced that Shih would become the country’s representative to Singapore, filling a vacancy left open three months ago when Kuo Shih-nan (郭時南), appointed by the former Democratic Progressive Party government, stepped down. Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday the Singaporean government had approved Shih’s appointment.
■ CIVIC GROUPS
Government to increase aid
The government is expected to increase its funding for local non-governmental organizations (NGO) to cooperate with international groups, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. David Wu (吳建國), deputy head of the Department of NGO Affairs, said the government welcomed NGOs to set up offices here as soon as issues such as tax policies were addressed. Wu said the government would increase its aid next year to local NGOs to work with groups abroad such as the US-based Mercy Corp on treating diseases and handling disasters, among other projects.
■ CRIME
Prosecutor sentenced
The Kaohsiung District Court on Monday sentenced a former prosecutor to eight years and six months in prison on charges of corruption, rape, forced obscene acts and obstruction of personal freedom. Wu Chieh-jen (吳傑人), a prosecutor of the Kaohsiung Prosecutors’ Office, was found guilty of committing the offenses against more than 10 women who were targets of his investigations between 1999 and 2006. The court also decided to strip Wu of civil rights for five years after he finishes serving his prison term. The court ordered that Wu undergo mandatory treatment for his sexual urges before beginning his prison term. According to the prosecution, Wu used his influence as a prosecutor to coerce the women to have sex with him and succeeded in compelling one of the women to have sex with him twice in June 2006.
■ LABOR
Hotel dispute resolved
The labor dispute at the Kaohsiung Grand Hotel was resolved yesterday after the management promised to withdraw a plan to lay off 108 employees working for the hotel’s club. The deal was made at a meeting between labor and management representatives at the Legislative Yuan and was arbitrated by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平). It was agreed that the 108 employees would take a 10 percent voluntary salary cut starting in March and will be given full salaries after the hotel begins making a profit.
■ SOCIETY
TV reports corrected
A secretary to Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien yesterday corrected a report by cable TV stations that said he had been hospitalized since last Wednesday at Taipei Veterans General Hospital because of a myocardial infarction. Wang sought medical treatment as he was experiencing cardiac arrhythmia, his secretary said, adding that Wang did not undergo surgery as stations had reported. The secretary said that Wang was expected to be released from the hospital this afternoon.
■ IMMIGRATION
Tibetans get a break
About 110 Tibetan people who overstayed their visas will be granted temporary alien residence certificates early next year, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said in a statement late on Monday. The NIA decided to offer overstaying Tibetans temporary residence certificates after working with the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission in helping them resolve their current difficulties out of human rights considerations, the statement said. The NIA previously granted similar temporary residence permits to overstaying Thai and Myanmar students who are descendants of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) troops and have not been given citizenship by their respective countries of residence.
■ JUSTICE
‘Auntie’ files lawsuit
A 35-year-old woman is suing her neighbor for insulting her after he called her “Auntie,” it was reported yesterday. The woman, identified only by her surname Chen, is married and lives in Kaohsiung City. Her neighbor Wang, 30, parked his car near Chen’s door, which she objected to, the report said. Wang apologized, saying he was parking for a short time and would move soon. But Chen continued to complain. Wang, who was in hurry, said: “Auntie, let’s not quarrel over these trivial matters.” Chen said she felt aggrieved and sued Wang for “public insult.” “I have a good education, have a good job, earn a good salary, dress elegantly and have good manners. All my clothes are brand-name products,” she told police. “‘Auntie’ is the term used to refer to old women who yell with a harsh voice in the street, especially country bumpkins. So calling me ‘auntie’ is certainly an insult,” she told police, who failed to persuade her to drop the suit.
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