Former National Communications Commission (NCC) official Joseph Chiao (喬建中) and four members of his hiking party were yesterday found guilty of causing a major fire in 2021 that ravaged more than 70 hectares of Yushan National Park.
The Nantou District Court sentenced Chiao and another hiker, surnamed Chung (鍾), to a total of 12 months in prison each for two offenses: a six-month term for theft of forestry products in a national park in contravention of the Forestry Act (森林法), and another six-month term for cooking and starting a fire, which took 12 days to extinguish.
The court also fined both men NT$600,000 (US$18,770) each.
Photo courtesy of the Chiayi Forest District Office via CNA
The two men are facing a separate civil lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Agriculture, which is seeking NT$288 million in compensation for damage to the forest and national park facilities, and expenses to put out the blaze.
The three other members of the hiking party — surnamed Chu (朱), Wu (吳) and Peng (彭) — were each sentenced to two to four months in prison for their roles in contributing to the fire.
The sentences can be commuted to fines.
Chiao was the leader of the five-member party, who arrived at Yushan National Park on May 15, 2021.
Chung gathered dried branches and kindling, and used a handsaw to cut Taiwan juniper and other hardwood trees into several pieces, while Chu helped to carry the wood to the camp site, the ruling said.
The five went to sleep without checking to see if the fire had been extinguished, the ruling said.
Chiao did not immediately call the 119 emergency line, resulting in a delay in rescue efforts and resulting in the fire that raged for 12 days, it said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
STUMPED: KMT and TPP lawmakers approved a resolution to suspend the rate hike, which the government said was unavoidable in view of rising global energy costs The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it has a mandate to raise electricity prices as planned after the legislature passed a non-binding resolution along partisan lines to freeze rates. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers proposed the resolution to suspend the price hike, which passed by a 59-50 vote. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted with the KMT. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT said the resolution is a mandate for the “immediate suspension of electricity price hikes” and for the Executive Yuan to review its energy policy and propose supplementary measures. A government-organized electricity price evaluation board in March
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China is mischaracterizing UN Resolution 2758 for its own interests by conflating it with its “one China” principle, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Taiwan Mark Lambert said on Monday. Speaking at a seminar held by the German Marshall Fund, Lambert called for support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the international community at a time when China is increasingly misusing Resolution 2758. The resolution had a clear impact when it changed who occupied the China seat at the UN, Lambert said. “Today, however, the PRC [People’s Republic of China] increasingly mischaracterizes and misuses Resolution 2758 to serve its own interests,” Lambert said. “Beijing