■ Defense
Penghu hosts live-fire drills
The military held a live-fire exercise on the outlying Penghu Islands yesterday to simulate actions against an invasion by China. In the "Lien Hsin No. 248" joint land, sea and air exercise, combat readiness was practiced under the scenario of unusual military maneuvering along China's coast, with Chinese fighter jets flying across the Taiwan Strait and Chinese frigates approaching Penghu to try to intercept Taiwan's supply ships. However, operations of the air force and navy were called off because of poor visibility as a result of fog. Penghu County councilors Li Tien-chin (李添進) and Hsu Yueh-li (許月裡) demanded that the military hold the routine exercise somewhere else in the future, saying that the exercises damage Penghu's marine ecology and affect the lives of Penghu residents. Military officials said the impact of the exercise on residents should be minimal because the site of the exercise is several hundred meters away from their communities.
■ Politics
Chiang may visit Hong Kong
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤) hopes to visit Hong Kong following his visit to China last month, press reports said yesterday. A visit to the southern Chinese territory would come two months after KMT Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was barred from entering, Chinese-language media reported. The politician's office in Taipei confirmed he had loosely scheduled a visit to Hong Kong on April 17 and 18 to attend a business forum on cross-strait relations. The immigration department in Hong Kong would not confirm or deny whether a visa had been issued.
■ Security
ID cards require fingerprints
Preparations for the launch of the new national identification card on July 1 will be based on the existing law which requires that citizens be fingerprinted when claiming the new IDs, Interior Minister Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) said yesterday. Su made the remarks at a training program to familiarize related staff with the ID card replacement operations. The remarks came one day after the Cabinet passed a revised draft bill to remove the fingerprint requirement in the existing household registration law. Although the Cabinet has passed the bill, preparations for launching the new ID card will be made based on the fingerprint requirement in case the bill fails to gain approval in the legislature, Su said. It has been learned that if the bill is not approved, the Interior Ministry will have to purchase around 900 fingerprint scanners at a total cost of NT$500 million.
■ Diplomacy
Lawmakers urge respect
Several Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday urged both government officials and opposition politicians to respect the national dignity in their pursuit of diplomacy with foreign countries. DPP Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) was referring to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun's (江丙坤) visit to China last week. Cheng said Chiang's China visit was made without the authorization of the government. Given that China just passed the "Anti-Secession" Law, Cheng said Chiang's visit and the consensus he achieved with Beijing on the issues which still lack consensus within this country will be seen as "kowtowing" to China. He said Chiang's visit was unjustifiable and cannot represent all the people of Taiwan.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
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