■ Diplomacy
Chien mulls dual recognition
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) said yesterday that he will not reject new diplomatic ally Kiribati's simultaneous recognition of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Chien made the remarks at the Legislative Yuan's Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee. Taipei established diplomatic relations with the Pacific island nation earlier this month. After Taiwan announced the establish-ment of diplomatic relations on Nov. 7, China accused Taiwan of buying diplomatic recognition with cash. Chien said that he would not reject the possibility of dual recognition and added that this could be the beginning of a new phase in the diplomatic tug-of-war between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, although he said that Beijing will not be happy to see "two Chinas" exist simultaneously.
■ Transportation
No chewing gum on MRT
Passengers will no longer be allowed to chew gum on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system after the Cabinet approved draft amendments to the MRT Law (大眾捷運法) yesterday. Currently, a fine of between NT$1,500 and NT$7,500 is imposed on passengers who dispose of chewing gum improperly or who spit, chew betel nut, litter or discard cigarettes. The new regulations would impose the same fines on those caught chewing gum. Under the new amendments, people caught distributing or posting promotional flyers within the MRT system or set up unauthorized booths or using MRT areas to hold open-air banquets would also be subject to similar fines. Those caught walking on the MRT tracks or endangering the life of themselves or others or disturbing traffic would receive a fine of between NT$10,000 and NT$50,000.
■ Defense
Key budget passes reading
The legislature's National Defense Committee yester-day passed the first reading of a confidential budget bill for the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology for the coming year. In order to demonstrate its support for the institute's efforts to upgrade defense technology and weaponry systems, the committee didn't propose a single cut in the budget, a rare phenomenon. Many lawmakers even suggested that the Ministry of National Defense offer more funds to the institute to beef up its research and develop-ment capacity, sources said. According to the sources, the institute's budget for next year is more than NT$9.6 billion, including NT$600 million for develop-ing cutting-edge defense technology, NT$8 billion for weaponry-systems research projects, NT$700 million for electronic-warfare equip-ment projects and NT$200 million for supplementary combat-equipment research.
■ Crime
Illegals intercepted
Aviation Police Bureau officials intercepted 10 Chinese and five Malaysian illegal immigrants who were in possession of forged Hong Kong passports yes-terday at CKS International Airport. The officials said they have stepped up checks on passengers arriving or making transit stops at the airport. The 10 Chinese -- nine women and one man -- and the five Chinese-Malaysians -- four women and one man -- arrived from Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday night and police stopped them just before they were due to depart for Vancouver. The police contacted the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei and learned that the passports the 15 were traveling on were forged.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
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