■ Haiti
China to send peacekeepers
China has picked 125 riot police for a UN peacekeeping mission beginning next month in Haiti, a long-time diplomatic ally of Taiwan, state media said yesterday. The 125 police officers have just completed a three-month training period and passed exams that whittled the number down from an initial 143 candidates, according to Xinhua news agency. Police minister Zhou Yongkang said their mission was an important event reflecting the role and influence of China in international affairs, Xinhua said. Previous state media reports said China also hoped to gain valuable experience in public security work ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
■ Justice
Chief Prosecutor retires
Supreme Prosecutors Office Chief Prosecutor Wu Ying-chao (吳英昭) will take over from State Public Prosecutor General Lu Jen-fa (盧仁發) when Lu retires on Sept. 1 this year, officials said yesterday. Lu has applied to retire and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has accepted his resignation. The Presidential Office is also preparing to name Wu as Lu's successor. Wu was once the Prosecutor General at the Taipei District Public Prosecutors Office and later he became the Prosecutor General at the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors Office. Wu was made the Chief Prosecutor at the Supreme Prosecutors Office in 2000. Although Wu was a distinguished and respected prosecutor, his upcoming appointment still surprised quite many because of his old age. The judicial circle originally expected Vice Minister of Justice Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定) to replace Lu.
■ Research
Universities to cooperate
Taiwan's National Pingtung University of Technology and Guelph University in Canada forged a cooperation relationship early this week to expand exchanges on research development and training programs, as well as personnel exchanges. Chou Chang-hong, president of National Pingtung University of Technology, and Alastair Summerlee, president of the University of Guelph, signed the cooperation agreement at the campus of Guelph University, located just west of Toronto.
■ Culture
Comics exhibit in Kaohsiung
A five-day comic book exhibition began yesterday at the Kaohsiung Business Exhibition Center. The exhibition, organized by the Chinese Comic Publishing Guild, drew many comic fans, who were excited to feast their eyes on the latest and hottest comic books. Aside from viewing thousands of volumes of comics, visitors had the opportunity to meet with Taiwanese and Japanese comic writers. Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) attended the opening at the invitation of the guild. Describing himself as a comic fan, Hsieh said he gains pleasure from reading comic books and that he has full confidence in the future of the nation's comic industry, even though foreign comic books hold a large share of the market.
■ Cross-Strait Ties
No headhunting for China
Taiwan-based brokerage firms are not permitted to introduce Taiwanese to work in China, a spokesman for the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) said yesterday. The CLA official said that it was illegal for privately-run headhunting companies to find jobs for Taiwanese in China. The official said that just mentioning a possible China-bound position in their job requirements was illegal.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
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