■ Iraq
Public prefers anti-war camp
Taiwanese tend to oppose the US-led war against Iraq but most still have a good impression of the US, according to a newspaper poll released yesterday. The survey by a Chinese-language newspaper, found that 37 percent of those polled did not support war with Iraq without UN approval. Some 28 percent supported the war, while the rest had no opinion. Despite ambivalence about the Iraq conflict, 67 percent of the respondents said they still have a good impression of the US. Thirteen percent had a "rather bad" impression and 4 percent a "very bad" impression, the survey said. The rest had no opinion. The telephone poll of 908 people, conducted on Monday, had a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
■ Piracy
Police seize counterfeiters
Taiwan police seized 200,000 pirated music and video CDs Tuesday, including copies of the Oscar-winning films Chicago and The Hours. Acting on a tip, police seized the CDs and VCDs in a packaging house in Taiching, central Taiwan. They arrested Tai Chen-feng, 37, the suspected leader of the gang. "Most of the VCDs are porn films, but there are also Chicago and The Hours which won Oscar awards on Sunday," a police spokesman said. The ring sold the discs at night-markets, charging NT$60 for a film VCD and NT$400 for 10 music CDs, he said. The US has accused Taiwan of being one of the world's leading culprits in producing counterfeit goods.
■ Crime
Police bring fugitives back
Two fugitive criminal suspects were brought back to Taiwan from China via Matsu on Monday, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said. The two suspects, identified as Yang Chin-chien (楊進謙), 44, and Kuo Hung-ching (郭宏慶), 27, are wanted on fraud and extortion charges, CIB officials said, adding that the repatriation was part of cross-strait cooperation in fighting crime. Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and the Red Cross Society chapters on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait assisted in arranging the deportation, the officials said.
■ Cross-strait ties
PLA status unchanged
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has not shown any signs of conducting abnormal military activities or upgrading its combat readiness level, a Ministry of National Defense (MND) official said yesterday. MND spokesman Major General Huang Suey-sheng (黃穗生) made the remarks after a Hong Kong newspaper reported that Jiang Zemin (江澤民), chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, ordered the PLA to raise its combat readiness to the second highest level amid the US-led war in Iraq. "The report was not true," Huang said. "Our military intelligence shows that the PLA has not upgraded its combat readiness nor has it conducted any abnormal military activities," he pointed out.
■ Rally
DPP to join `Taiwan' march
The DPP announced yesterday it will join a rally on May 11 to rectify the country's name. The event is being organized by the "Alliance to Campaign for Rectifying the Name of Taiwan." The DPP said it shares the organization's desire to change the nation's title from Republic of China to Taiwan, adding it is willing to endorse the activity and provide necessary assistance.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
Taiwan and its Pacific ally Tuvalu on Tuesday signed two accords aimed at facilitating bilateral cooperation on labor affairs, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). The governments inked two agreements in Taipei, witnessed by Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and visiting Deputy Tuvaluan Prime Minister Panapasi Nelesone, MOFA said in a news release. According to MOFA, the agreements will facilitate cooperation on labor issues and allow the two sides to mutually recognize seafarers’ certificates and related training. Taiwan would also continue to collaborate with Tuvalu across various fields to promote economic prosperity as well as the well-being of their
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation
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