■ENVIRONMENT
Alishan up in flames
Firefighters fought a forest fire on Alishan for more than 24 hours, Chiayi County forestry officials said on Friday. The officials said forest police were investigating whether the fire was caused by arsonists, as the fire occurred in a remote, uninhabited area. Officials said the fire broke out at about 11am on Thursday near Hsiangshanmei Village. The Chiayi Forest District Office dispatched 34 workers to the scene. As there were no sources of water, firebreaks had to be used to contain the flames. The method, frequently used by forest management services, involves clearing trees, brush and vegetation to leave a path of bare soil so there is no vegetation to feed the flames. By Friday morning, the fire was under control, but firefighters were still at the scene as of late Friday afternoon to monitor the cinders to ensure they did not reignite. About 0.4 hectares of trees and vegetation were destroyed, the officials said.
■CRIME
Kuang under investigation
Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is under investigation as a defendant in a corruption case, the Taitung District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Kuang was being investigated for allegedly using government funds for a private trip to the Europe in July, Taitung Chief Prosecutor Hsu Chien-jung (許建榮) said. Hsu said the prosecutors’ office had received “many anonymous tips” about the case since the investigation was launched last year. Investigators would need more time because it concerns many potential defendants in addition to Kuan, Hsu said.
■SOCIETY
Group seeks safe pet food
An animal rights group is calling on the government to formulate regulations to ensure the safety of pet food following the recent deaths of more than 300 dogs from contaminated food. Huang Ching-jung (黃慶榮), secretary-general of the Animal Protection Association of the Republic of China, said that test results released by the animal hospital at National Taiwan University confirmed an earlier report by the Council of Agriculture that 200 dogs in a shelter in Bali (八里), Taipei County, died earlier this year after eating aflatoxin-contaminated food. Huang said the government should regulate the pet food industry, adding that tests for aflatoxin, melamine and pesticide should be part of the regulations. Hsu Tien-lai (許天來), chief of the council’s Animal Husbandry Department, said there is no law to regulate pet food sold in Taiwan and that the council would draft a bill in six months.
■DEVELOPMENT
Group heads for Brunei
A group of academics from Mingdao University will head for Brunei on Tuesday to provide guidance on the development of post-modern and organic agriculture in the Southeast Asian country. The delegation, led by university president Wang Da-yung (汪大永), was invited by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei to provide advice on how to develop a sustainable agricultural sector, said Cheng Chieh-ta (鄭皆達), director of the university’s Office for International Affairs. During the four-day visit, the delegation is expected to meet the sultan, experts and officials at a forum on agricultural technology and go on field trips to gain a better understanding of the local geography, Cheng said. The sultan has said that aside from exploiting crude oil and natural gas, the country must also develop sustainable industries, including agriculture, prompting him to invite academics from abroad to exchange views with the government, Cheng said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
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