■ TRANSPORTATION
Authorites smell sabotage
Airport authorities were not ruling out sabotage after a toilet leak at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport that left a terminal floor covered in sewage, officials said on Monday. Members of the Control Yuan have started investigating the leak, which happened on Friday. The suspicions emerged after investigators found toilet brushes shoved down several toilets, Taoyuan Aviation Office spokesman Wei Sheng-chih (魏勝之) said. “We can’t rule out the possibility of sabotage,” he told reporters on Monday. An official at the airport suggested disgruntled workers could potentially be behind the leak. “There are various possible reasons that we suspect ... including a dispute between workers and management, but as the investigation is still under way, we can’t jump to any conclusions,” he said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not specify the nature of the dispute.
■SOCIETY
Scared visitors attack actors
Frightened theme park visitors have repeatedly attacked actors dressed in ghost costumes in a “haunted theater” attraction, the company said yesterday. The incidents have prompted Janfusun Amusement Park in Yunlin County to grant leave of absence or transfer for actors working at Horrorwood, which features scenes from 10 classic horror movies, a company spokeswoman said. A male employee in a zombie costume was slapped in the face by a man whose girlfriend had been scared out of her wits, she said. The man later said he wanted to find out whether the “ghost” was real or not. A female visitor hit another male worker in the private parts with an umbrella, the spokeswoman said. One female employee complained that male visitors often touched her hip, she said.
■DIPLOMACY
Official impeached for affair
The Control Yuan yesterday impeached Yang Chien-ping (楊建平), a National Security Bureau official stationed in Panama, over an extramarital affair, saying his behavior had undermined the country’s image. After admitting to having an affair in January, Yang received two major demerits and was removed from his position after Tu Mei-ying (杜美瑩), a Taiwanese living in Panama, showed the bureau intimate photographs of the pair. An investigation by the bureau concluded that Yang did not pass on classified information to Tu, nor was Tu working as a spy for China, and ruled that the case was purely an extramarital affair. The impeachment motion was passed by a vote of 10 to three.
■ TRANSPORTATION
Green transport promoted
The annual Taipei Car Free Day will be held on Monday, featuring various activities promoting green transportation that will continue until next month. Seeking to reduce the event’s impact on the public, the city’s Department of Transportation will not close roads to traffic and will replace a one-day bicycle-riding event with a series of activities to promote the use of public transportation, commissioner of the department Lo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢) said. The activities will include a competition using the “5284” online bus inquiry system from Monday through Sept. 18. The department will also send out “car-free cards” to people who pledge to use public transportation for at least one day per week. The cards will be distributed at various MRT stations from Aug. 22 to Sept. 12 and cardholders will enjoy discounts at major attractions such as the National Palace Museum and restaurants.
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