LEGISLATURE
Tax hike passes screening
A draft amendment that seeks to raise the cigarette tax to help finance the government’s long-term care program passed an initial screening at the legislature yesterday. The Finance and the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene committees passed the draft amendment to the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act (菸酒管理法) in a joint meeting. If passed by the full legislature, the amendment would raise the tax on cigarettes from NT$590 per kilogram, or 1,000 cigarettes, to NT$1,590, which would translate into a tax of NT$31.8 per pack, up NT$20 from the current NT$11.8. Minister of Finance Sheu Yu-jer (許虞哲) said the hike is aimed at curbing smoking, promoting public health and would contribute NT$23.3 billion per year to the long-term care program, he said.
SOCIETY
Radio pioneer Tsui dies
Broadcaster and radio drama director Tsui Hsiao-ping (崔小萍) passed away on Saturday at National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei at the age of 94, Chinese-language media reported. Tsui, who was born in Jinan, China, studied at the National Drama College in Sichuan Province during the Second Sino-Japanese War. She first came to Taiwan on a drama tour in 1948. After the Republic of China government lost the Chinese Civil War in 1949, she settled in Taiwan. Tsui introduced radio drama to the nation in the early 1950s. She was arrested in 1968, accused of being a Chinese Communist Party member and sentenced to 14 years in prison. After her released in 1977, Tsui taught at the National Academy of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts), Shih Hsin School of Journalism (now Shih Hsin University) and Kuo Kuang Academy of Arts (now National Taiwan College of Performing Arts). She wrote a memoir, telling the story of her arrest, almost a decade in jail and her career, which was published in 2001.
SOCIETY
Ex-AIT official gets residency
A former US Army officer who worked at the American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) Taipei Office prior to his retirement last year was given a “plum blossom” permanent residency card on Saturday in recognition of his contribution to security cooperation between Taiwan and the US. Randy Hulme Lawrence, 53, was assigned to head the AIT’s technical section five years ago and was responsible for bilateral military cooperation. Lawrence said he was pleased to stay in Taiwan because he and his family love Taiwan. Lawrence earned a bachelor’s degree in Asian studies from University of Virginia and a master’s in security studies from the US Naval War College. From 2002 to 2005, he served as a military attache at the US consulate in Hong Kong and was stationed in China from 2008 to 2011.
CHARITY
Book sale set for TAS
The Taipei American School’s (TAS) Orphanage Club is to hold its annual book sale on Saturday from 10am to 5pm in the school’s forecourt, lobby and cafeteria. The club has collected thousands of books, as well as magazines, comic books, games and DVDs. The books include classics, best-sellers, biographies, children’s and young adult titles, cookbooks, books on hobbies and learning languages and books about Taiwan and other Asian nations. While most of the materials are in English, there are scores of Chinese-language books and magazines. The money raised from the sale provides funding for orphans and other children in Taiwan. Admission to the fair is free. The school is at 800 Zhongshan N Rd Sec 6, Tianmu (天母).
This story has been corrected since it was first published to indicate that the Orphanage Club book sale will be on Saturday, not Sunday.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
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