■ CRIME
Prosecutors slam report
The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Investigation Panel (SIP) yesterday complained about unsubstantiated reports in the press about the case against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). “I told reporters last month that there is no evidence to prove that former president Chen Shui-bian had taken any cash by aircraft during his visits to Taiwan’s allies. I do not understand why such a story was still published today,” SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) said. Chen made the remarks in response to a Chinese-language China Times report yesterday that said “the SIP discovered sufficient evidence” to prove that the former president had transported US$5 million, originally from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Palau on board a China Airlines’ plane during a trip in 2006. “Since the beginning of the investigation, we have not discovered any evidence to prove that allegation and we have not told any reporter that we have,” Chen Yun-nan said.
■ HISTORY
WWII graves located
Taiwan’s representative office in Papua New Guinea has located graves that it believes to be those of Republic of China (ROC) soldiers who died in World War II while they were enslaved by the Japanese army on the Pacific island, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Lee Tsung-fen (李宗芬), deputy-head of the ministry’s Department of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, said that local Chinese compatriots said the graves at Rabaul were first discovered by an Australian pilot. It is thought that more than 1,600 ROC soldiers were captured by the Japanese and sent to Papua New Guinea camp during the war. Many of the soldiers reportedly either died in the camp or on the way to it. Lee yesterday said the Ministry of National Defense would send officials to the island to ascertain the identities of those in the graves, adding that the ministry would decide whether to transport the remains back to Taiwan after consulting with the relatives of the men.
■ SOCIETY
Canadian to begin walk
Canadian Jean Beliveau, who is in the eighth year of his 12-year walk around the world to promote “peace and non-violence to the profit of the children of the world,” arrived in Taiwan on Sunday. The 53-year-old Beliveau will begin his walk from the northern tip of the nation to the south on Saturday and will be accompanied by Lin Ming-te (林明德), who has walked around the nation five times to promote environmental protection. Beliveau said yesterday at a press conference that while he doesn’t claim to have changed the world, he hopes to inject the brief thought of world peace in people he meets. The pair said they welcome anyone who wishes to join their 570km walk through Taiwan.
■ ENTERTAINMENT
Chen, Lu film opens today
A film about the election-eve gun attack on former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) will debut this week, when it is expected to reignite debate about the controversial 2004 shooting incident. The Hong Kong action movie Ballistic uses a fictional plot to revisit the March 19 assassination attempt, when Chen and Lu were shot and slightly injured during a campaign rally in Taichung. “The director thought this incident was really one of a kind, with a very dramatic element,” film producer Lin Shun-kuo said. “But it’s only an approximation of the incident, not totally consistent with what happened.
■ PANDAS
Panda house opens Jan. 26
The panda house at the Taipei Zoo will open to the public on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Jan. 26, the Taipei City Government said yesterday. City government spokesman Yang Hsiao-tung (羊曉東) said the 30-day quarantine period for the two giant pandas would end on Jan. 23. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) will officiate at the inauguration of the panda house on Jan. 24, after which the zoo is scheduled to close on Jan. 25 for Lunar New Year’s Eve, Yang said.
■ AVIATION
Airport system down again
The immigration computer system at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport broke down again yesterday at around 6:40pm, National Immigration Agency director-general Hsieh Li-gong (謝立功) told the Taipei Times by telephone, adding that the breakdown only lasted about 20 minutes and did not cause any major problems. Yesterday’s was the third time the system broke down this month.
■ SOCIETY
Flood center being built
The Water Resources Agency said yesterday that construction of a flood prevention command center in central Taiwan, equipped with a flood warning system, would be completed by the end of October. Officials in charge of river management said the flood warning system would allow staff at the command center to monitor water levels on the Dali River and the six tributaries that run through the Taichung basin, covering both Taichung City and Taichung County. The project was part of the central government’s three-stage flood control plan for the Dali River basin, which began in 2004 with a budget of NT$5.7 billion (US$171.97 million), officials said.
LOW RISK: Most nations do not extradite people accused of political crimes, and the UN says extradition can only happen if the act is a crime in both countries, an official said China yesterday issued wanted notices for two Taiwanese influencers, accusing them of committing “separatist acts” by criticizing Beijing, amid broadening concerns over China’s state-directed transnational repression. The Quanzhou Public Security Bureau in a notice posted online said police are offering a reward of up to 25,000 yuan (US$3,523) for information that could contribute to the investigation or apprehension of pro-Taiwanese independence YouTuber Wen Tzu-yu (溫子渝),who is known as Pa Chiung (八炯) online, and rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源). Wen and Chen are suspected of spreading content that supported secession from China, slandered Chinese policies that benefit Taiwanese and discrimination against Chinese spouses of
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
PROMOTION: Travelers who want a free stopover must book their flights with designated travel agents, such as Lion Travel, Holiday Tours, Cola Tour and Life Tours Air Canada yesterday said it is offering Taiwanese travelers who are headed to North America free stopovers if they transit though airports in Japan and South Korea. The promotion was launched in response to a potential rise in demand for flights to North America in June and July next year, when the US, Canada and Mexico are scheduled to jointly host the FIFA World Cup, Air Canada said. Air Canada offers services to 13 of the 16 host cities of the tournament’s soccer games, including Toronto and Vancouver; Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey in Mexico; Atlanta, Georgia; Boston; Dallas; Houston;
The US approved the possible sale to Taiwan of fighter jet spare and repair parts for US$330 million, the Pentagon said late yesterday, marking the first such potential transaction since US President Donald Trump took office in January. "The proposed sale will improve the recipient's capability to meet current and future threats by maintaining the operational readiness of the recipient's fleet of F-16, C-130," and other aircraft, the Pentagon said in a statement. Trump previously said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has told him he would not invade Taiwan while the Republican leader is in office. The announcement of the possible arms
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