WEATHER
Depression to bring rain
A tropical depression that formed in the South China Sea on Monday could bring rain over the next two days, although no direct impact is expected, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The depression about 500km southwest of Taiwan’s southernmost tip is moving west-northwest at 11kph, and is carrying sustained winds of 54kph with gusts of up to 82kph, the bureau said. The depression is to strengthen a front from the southwest, bringing showers and thunderstorms to southern and southeastern Taiwan until tomorrow, while eastern and northeastern Taiwan could see intermittent rain and thunderstorms, the bureau said. Northern Taiwan could also experience heavy rain this afternoon.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Concern over extraditions
The nation has expressed its concern to the EU after the Prague High Court upheld a lower court’s decision to send eight Taiwanese fraud suspects to China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The suspects were arrested in Prague in Jan. 12 last year for their alleged involvement in telecommunications fraud targeting Chinese, ministry deputy spokesperson Joanne Ou (歐江安) said. A Prague district court in August last year ruled that the suspects were to be extradited to China, after Chinese authorities guaranteed that the suspects would be tried fairly and would not be subject to capital punishment. The suspects appealed to the Prague High Court, which last month upheld the decision, Ou said. The suspects are considering other legal remedies and proceedings are still ongoing, she added. The ministry has also expressed its concerns to the EU that the suspects’ rights might be infringed upon if they are sent to China.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
US transit stop ‘consistent’
Arranging transit stop visits by “Taiwan authorities” is consistent with Washington’s “one China” policy, the US Department of State said on Monday. In response to requests for comment on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) plan to transit through the US later this month, a department spokesperson said via e-mail: “The United States facilitates, from time to time, representatives of the Taiwan authorities to transit the United States. Such transits are undertaken out of consideration for the safety, comfort, convenience and dignity of the passenger and are in keeping with our one China policy.” Tsai is to make the stopovers before and after visiting Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, and Saint Kitts and Nevis from Thursday next week to July 22, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. It did not disclose the US cities, but some media have reported that she would stop in New York and Denver.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Corruption pact signed
Taiwan and Belize yesterday signed an agreement to cooperate on fighting corruption as they push for a closer partnership ahead of the 30th anniversary of their diplomatic ties in October. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Belizean Governor-General Colville Young witnessed the signing at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. The two nations have collaborated on medical care, vocational training, trade and investment, and would continue to work together on sustainable development to address the challenges brought by climate change, Tsai said. Young said that the friendship would not just last 30 years, but for an eternity because the two nations are as close as family. Young and his delegation arrived yesterday for a four-day visit.
DEFENSE
Shen Yi-ming takes top job
Vice Minister of National Defense Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴) on Monday took office as chief of the general staff in a ceremony presided over by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), replacing Li Hsi-ming (李喜明), who retired the same day. A graduate of the Republic of China Air Force Academy in 1979 and the US’ Air War College in 2002, Shen has served 37 months as air force commander, promoting joint operations training and disaster prevention and rescue, the Ministry of National Defense said. Air Force Commander Chang Che-ping (張哲平) is to fill the vacancy left by Shen, while Air Force Deputy Commander General Hsiung Hou-chi (熊厚基) is to fill the vacancy left by Chang, with immediate effect, the ministry said. As commander-in-chief of Taiwan’s armed forces, Tsai said that she has ordered Shen to help carry out a blueprint for defense and warfare training, nurture military talent, and lay the foundation for the reform of the nation’s defense forces. Shen was also ordered by Tsai to promote regional peace, security and stability.
PHILANTHROPY
Taipei donates to initiative
The government has donated US$500,000 to a non-governmental organization that advocates for victims of sexual violence and aims to rebuild communities devastated by the Islamic State group. In a ceremony at the US Institute of Peace in Washington on Friday last week, Representative to the US Stanley Kao (高碩泰) made the donation to Nadia’s Initiative. The group, founded in 2016 by Nadia Murad, advocates for victims of sexual violence and aims to rebuild communities in crisis, especially the Yazidi ethnic minority in Iraq persecuted by the Islamic State. Murad last year received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on the initiative.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
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