RESTAURANTS
Chocolate sundaes axed
McDonald’s yesterday stopped selling one of its classic dessert menu items, the chocolate sundae, at restaurants in Taiwan. The decision to axe the chocolate sundae, an item that has featured on its menus for more than 30 years, was made after continuous reviews of consumer preferences and market conditions, the company said on Tuesday. Other items McDonald’s have dropped from its menu this year include the Bubbly Joy McFizz and hot chocolate. McDonald’s will continue to develop more items for its menu, it said.
CRIME
Telecom fraud ring busted
More than 60 suspects were detained in a cross-border investigation into an international telecom fraud ring, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said on Wednesday. The investigating team was comprised of police from Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, Chang Chao-hsiung (張詔雄), an officer of the bureau’s International Criminal Affairs Division, told a news conference. The bureau, in collaboration with the Royal Thai Police, the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Bureau of Immigration, raided a telecom operation in Metro Manila in June last year and apprehended three Taiwanese and 16 Thais, and about two months later, police from Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam detained two Taiwanese and 19 Thais in Ho Chi Minh City, Chang said. Preliminary findings showed that the syndicate preyed mainly on Thais, he said. The investigation showed that the ring was allegedly controlled by three Taiwanese, who were detained along with 18 others after a two-month operation encompassing several cities in Taiwan, Chang said.
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