■ Diplomacy
Mori heads home
Former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori left Taiwan yesterday afternoon after wrapping up a three-day private visit. Although no longer in power, Mori is still considered one of the few political heavyweights in Japan. He was the Japanese prime minister who granted a visa to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) in 2001 allowing him to receive medical treatment in spite of strong opposition from Beijing. Political analysts said Mori's visit was expected to strengthen Taiwan-Japan ties in the lack of official relations. During Mori's stay in Taipei, he met with several important political figures, including President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Lee.
■ Finance
Tax cut to be extended
Taiwan's legislators plan to extend by a year a two-year capital gains tax cut on land sales to boost home sales, the Commercial Times reported, citing Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), a Democratic Progressive Party legislator.
Legislators plan to pass a bill as early as Tuesday allowing the government to maintain the capital-gains tax at between 20 and 30 percent, the report said.
The tax cut boosted property trading after it was implemented in February last year, the report said. Taiwan's government collected about NT$60 billion in capital-gains taxes on land sales last year, up from NT$42 billion in 2001, the paper reported.
The cut was introduced in a bid to help spur the sale of 1.2 million excess homes built during a real estate boom in the 1980s and 1990s.
■ Trade
Produce exhibition held
A two-day exhibition of Taiwan's high-quality agricultural products was launched yesterday in Tainan, with domestic and overseas buyers attending. The exhibition, organized by the China External Trade Development Council (CETRA) at the commission of the Council of Agriculture, is aimed at promoting the sale of Taiwan's agricultural products both in local and foreign markets. According to CETRA, foreign buyers attending the exhibition came mainly from South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macau. As the government has attached much importance to such product-promotion activities, President Chen Shui-bian will be invited today to attend the exhibition, where more than 1,000 farm, livestock and marine products will be exhibited.
■ Airlines
Dragonair to buy a freighter
Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd will buy a second-hand Boeing 747 freighter from Taiwan, the Standard said, citing the company's chief executive, Stanley Hui.
The carrier chose a 1989 Boeing 747-200F cargo plane, which was put up for sale by the Central Trust of China, a Taiwan government agency set up to handle public procurement, the newspaper said. Dragonair could pay between US$22.6 million and US$30 million for the freighter, it said.
The second-hand freighter, which is China Airlines' only remaining 747-200 freighter, will join Dragonair's freighter fleet as early as the end of next month, the Standard said. China Airlines is Taiwan's largest carrier. Dragonair, the city's second-largest carrier, said in May it may add as many as 10 Boeing freighters in the next five years as it seeks to boost revenue from carrying cargo resulting from increased trade with China. The carrier already owns three Boeing 747-300 freight-carrying planes.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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