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.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
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