■ Military affairs
Safe Taiwan key for Japan
Defending Taiwan is defending Japan, political analyst Hideaki Kase said in Tokyo yesterday. Speaking at a seminar organized to promote defense cooperation among the US, Japan and Taiwan, Kase said that if China were to attack Taiwan, Japan would be plunged into a crisis similar to that before the 1894 war between the Ching Dynasty and Japan. He said that this is why Japan has begun military exchanges with Taiwan in recent years. Saying that the Communist regime in China is doomed to collapse, Kase said the most important thing for Japan now is to safeguard Taiwan's security.
■ Military affairs
Ammunition theft probed
The Ministry of National Defense said yesterday that it will track down over 11,000 bullets suspected of being stolen from the military and discipline those who are responsible for dereliction of duty. Ministry officials said that a thorough check on an ammunition depot on July 19 found a shortage of 11,700 rounds of 9mm bullets. A task force formed to investigate the missing ammunition decided that the missing rounds were ammunition that the military wanted to phase out, the officials said. The task force has since questioned three suspects and found in the home of one suspect 790 9mm bullets. The military court in Kaohsiung will continue to pursue the case. In view of the incident, the ministry will discipline the officials involved and ask for heightened management of ammunition to avoid a repeat of the incident. The ministry started a large-scale check of ammunition depots after Kaohsiung police seized a large haul of ammunition, including rocket-fired grenades used by the military, when they tried to prevent a battle between rival gangsters earlier this year.
■ Crime
Fake bomb found
The police yesterday retrieved an alleged explosive package but discovered it to be a fake. The package was discovered by pedestrians in the underpass in front of Ming Chuan University around 1:40pm yesterday. Whoever placed the package had written "Warning! This is a bomb" on the package so pedestrians immediately reported it to the police. The Taipei City Police Depart-ment's Shihlin Precinct immediately sent its explosive experts to the scene to disarm the alleged bomb but officers later confirmed that there were no explosives inside the package.
■ Society
Ma the matchmaker
Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has the chance to be a matchmaker for army Major General Chang Shao-kang (張少康). While Ma was leading a group of reporters on a visit to Kinmen yesterday, Chang's friends asked Ma to do a favor for them because Chang, 47, is now the only bachelor among the nation's generals and admirals. Chang was on a business trip in Taipei while Ma was visiting Kinmen so he did not know his friends in Kinmen had made the request of the mayor. However, when approached by reporters, Chang said that he was not worried about his marital status. "I have dedicated myself to my country," he said. "As for marriage, I will leave the decision to God." Chang said that he has dated ever since his teenage years but he has never met the right person. "It is difficult to be a soldier's wife," he said. "For example, I have to relocate from time to time. That is one reason that I am still single now."
‘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
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
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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
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