MILITARY
India cemetery re-dedicated
A cemetery in northeastern India where hundreds of Republic of China (ROC) military personnel who died during World War II are buried was re-dedicated yesterday after completion of its renovation. Taiwanese Representative to India Philip Ong (翁文祺) and Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsiung Hsiang-tai (熊湘台) jointly officiated at the re-dedication ceremony in Ramgarh, Jharkhand state. More than 600 ROC officers and soldiers, who fought with Allied troops in World War II near India and northern Indochina, are buried in the cemetery. However, there are only 200-odd tombs, 40 of them marked, since most of the soldiers buried there were unknown. The cemetery was built in 1942 and was renovated this year, according to Chen Hsueh-liang (陳學良), an ROC expatriate in India who has been in charge of the cemetery since 2006. The defense ministry spent NT$7.58 million (US$252,660) for the renovations, which began in July this year.
CRIMES
Man convicted in food scare
The owner of a chemical firm was sentenced yesterday to 18 years in jail for his involvement in a plasticizer-tainted food scandal that rocked the nation earlier this year. The Changhua District Court handed down the jail term to Yu Shen Chemical Co owner Lai Chun-chieh (賴俊傑) for adding chemicals that are banned from food and beverage products. The judges gave Lai’s wife, Chien Ling-yuan (簡玲媛), 16 years in jail for her role as an accomplice in the adulteration of food-processing additives with industrial-use plasticizers. Chin Tung Co owner Pan Shu-lan (潘淑蘭) was given 12 years for supplying Lai with di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, one of the six plasticizers that were detected in food and beverage products during the crisis. The case can be appealed.
CRIMES
Jail for teen killer upheld
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 30-year sentence for a teenaged killer involved in two murders, including the high-profile shooting of alleged gang leader Weng Chi-nan (翁奇楠) in May last year. The ruling also upheld the Taiwan High Court’s decision that Liao Kuo-hao (廖國豪) should pay a fine of NT$1.2 million for his two crimes — illegal possession of firearms and murder. Liao was convicted of attempted murder in an attack on a restaurant owner in Taichung in 2009 and for killing Weng and his friend, Lai Jung-chen (賴榮振), at Weng’s office on May 28 last year. He turned himself in 90 days later. As Liao was only 17 years old when he killed Weng and Lai, he was given a combined 25 years in prison in the first trial on Jan. 19. In the second trial in July, the High Court gave him a harsher 30-year sentence, saying that besides murder, he had been in possession of an illegal weapon.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
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