■ DIPLOMACY
Maa appointed SEF deputy
Maa Shaw-chang (馬紹章), executive director of the Chinese Nationalist Party-affiliated think tank the National Policy Foundation, was appointed deputy secretary-general of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) yesterday. Maa, who will be the third deputy secretary-general of the organization, will not begin work until Monday because of the New Year’s holiday. The new position has been left vacant since February last year when Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) resigned to join DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh’s (謝長廷) presidential campaign. Maa obtained his doctoral degree in political science from Ohio State University. He once served at the Mainland Affairs Council as a researcher and at the Council for Economic Planning and Development as a specialist. He was a senior vice manager at Global Investment Holdings before taking up the job at the SEF.
■ ACCIDENTS
Stage collapses at concert
Two dozen performers were injured on Wednesday when a stage partially collapsed at a New Year’s party in Miaoli County. The accident occurred in Toufen Township (頭份), where more than 1,000 people were watching the New Year’s Eve performance. Shortly after the party started, the right part of the stage caved in and two dozen performers who were singing and dancing fell to the ground. “They were rushed to the hospital. Most of them suffered from cuts and scratches and were released from the hospital, but four remain hospitalized. Among the four, two have broken bones,” a duty officer from the Toufen Police Station said by phone. Local authorities are investigating if shoddy work caused the stage to collapse, the Broadcasting Corp of China said.
■ CRIME
Two arrested over cameras
Two men were arrested in California and charged with illegally exporting thermal-imaging cameras to China, a controlled item under national security, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Wednesday. The US Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said Sam Ching-sheng Lee, 63, and his nephew Charles Yu-hsu Lee, 31, were charged under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and face up to 25 years in federal prison if convicted. Charles Lee is a native of China and Ching Lee is a native of Taiwan, the DOJ said in a statement. The two men are suspected of exporting thermal-imaging cameras to China from 2002 to 2007 without a license and in circumvention of export laws, through MBA, an import/export business located in Hacienda Heights, California.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Siew releases sika deer
Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) attended a ceremony at Kenting National Park yesterday to witness the release of 20 Formosan sika deer into the wild. Addressing the ceremony that marked the deer’s release as well as the park’s 25th founding anniversary, Siew said that although Kenting National Park was established 110 years later than Yellowstone National Park in the US, it has made commendable achievements in terms of wildlife conservation. Beginning with a herd of 22 pure-bred Formosan sika deer, Kenting park authorities have raised nearly 300 offspring of the core herd, which was donated by Taipei Yuanshan Zoo in 1984. Since its establishment the same year, the park has released more than 100 of the protected animals that it bred into the wild.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
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