POLITICS
Ma back from US trip
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) returned home yesterday after concluding a five-day trip to the US. Ma was in the US at the invitation of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies at the University of Notre Dame, where he spoke on Taiwan’s new role in Asia and the world at the institute’s second Asia leadership forum on Sunday. He also met with Taiwanese students and expatriates. Ma’s US visit followed a trip to Malaysia to attend the World Chinese Economic Summit in Melaka on Wednesday and Thursday last week. That was Ma’s first overseas visit since leaving office on May 20.
CULTURE
Writer Chen Ying-chen dies
Writer Chen Ying-chen (陳映真) died on Tuesday in Beijing after a long-time illness, his wife said. Friends and Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) offered the family their deepest condolences. Chen was born in 1937 in Taiwan. His major works include the novels My Brother Kang-hsiung (我的弟弟康 雄), The Generals (將軍族), The Comedy of Tang Chien (唐倩的喜劇) and Home Coming (歸鄉). In 1985, Chen founded the Among the People (人間) magazine, which heralded the development of “reportage literature” in the nation with its focus on the life of common people. He also engaged in a heated debate with writer and academic Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明) on the differences between Taiwanese and Chinese literature in 2000. While his later works leaned toward “Chinese unification,” they also criticized the impact of “US capitalism” on Taiwan, writer and long-time friend Chi Chi (季季) said. In 2006, Chen Ying-chen moved to Beijing to take up a teaching post at Renmin University. In September that year, he suffered two strokes and had been bedridden ever since.
TRAVEL
Georgian man deported
A man claiming to be the manager of a company from Georgia has been deported to Malaysia after being found with a forged visa while transiting through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on his way to Canada. National Immigration Agency agents were investigating a human trafficking ring at the airport on Tuesday night when they approached a casually dressed man sitting alone in a waiting area. The agents said he looked like a typical Western tourist, but found that he appeared to know little English and spoke with an unusual accent. After checking his passport, they found that his visa to Canada was forged. The agency decided to deport him to Malaysia, his original departure destination. When questioned by immigration agents, the man said he was a manager at a company in Georgia, but he did not make much and wanted to move to Canada for a better life. He said he spent 2,000 euros (US$2,125) to purchase the Canadian visa from an illegal ring in Turkey, the agency said.
SOCIETY
Mom indicted over baby
A Vietnamese worker who left her baby at a temple was indicted on Tuesday for child abandonment. The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said the 27-year-old woman, who was identified only by her family name, Trieu, found she was pregnant when she arrived in Taiwan to work in January. Afraid that her employer would find out and send her home, she ran away in June. She gave birth to a baby girl. Saying she could not afford to take care of her newborn, she abandoned her at a temple on Sept. 13. The baby was found later that night, and police were able to trace the child to the woman a week later after reviewing surveillance footage.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard