■ Cross-Strait Ties
UK backs US position
Britain backed the US posi-tion on China and Taiwan, saying yesterday that any unilateral moves to change the status quo between the diplomatic rivals would be cause for concern. "We welcome any statement that reduces cross-straits ten-sions and we would be extremely concerned about any unilateral action aimed at changing the status quo and which increases cross-straits tensions," Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell told reporters. President George W. Bush told Chi-nese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) during a visit to Washington last week that the US opposed any uni-lateral move by Beijing or Taipei to change Taiwan's status quo. Rammell said Britain was following closely developments on Taiwan.
■ crime
Taiwanese shot in Manila
A Taiwanese tourist was fatally shot in Manila yes-terday after he tried to flee from robbers who held up a minibus, police said. A 33-year-old man surnamed Yang and his compatriot, surnamed Chang, were in a jeepney -- an open minibus -- when three men posing as passengers threatened them with a gun and a knife, senior police officer Benito Cabatbat said. After the robbers snatched Yang's wristwatch and Chang's bracelet, the two Taiwanese jumped from the moving vehicle. One of the robbers shot Yang, who was pro-nounced dead on arrival in a hospital, Cabatbat said. Chang, who was studying in Manila, was unhurt, and the assailants escaped. The two had just bought hamburgers and were on their way home in Manila's tourist district of Malate at around 4:45am when the incident took place. Police said a series of similar jeepney robberies had taken place hours earlier in the same area.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
PROCEDURE: Although there is already a cross-strait agreement in place for the extradition of criminals, ample notice is meant to be given to the other side first Ten Taiwanese who were involved in fraud-related crimes in China were extradited back to Taiwan via Kinmen County on Wednesday, four of whom are convicted fraudsters in Taiwan. The 10 people arrived via a ferry operating between Xiamen and Kinmen, also known as the “small three links.” The Kinmen County Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that four of the 10 extradited people were convicted in Taiwan for committing fraud and contravening the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), and were on the wanted list. They were immediately arrested upon arrival and sent to Kinmen Prison to serve their sentences following brief questioning, the office said.
PROBLEMATIC APP: Citing more than 1,000 fraud cases, the government is taking the app down for a year, but opposition voices are calling it censorship Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday decried a government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書) for one year as censorship, while the Presidential Office backed the plan. The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited security risks and accusations that the Instagram-like app, known as Rednote in English, had figured in more than 1,700 fraud cases since last year. The company, which has about 3 million users in Taiwan, has not yet responded to requests for comment. “Many people online are already asking ‘How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng posted on
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
RSS