■ Crime
Man gets life in jail
A 26-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison for killing a boy, a court official said yesterday. The man, surnamed Chang, was found guilty of causing the death of a two-year-old boy, a spokesman for the Taoyuan District Court said. The boy was rushed to the hospital in November last year with injuries to his head, a broken left shoulder and many bruises and burns. The boy died the same day in the hospital. The police later found that Chang, entrusted to take care of the child after his mother was sent to prison, had repeatedly beaten the boy and tattooed his shoulder, chest and the area around his genitals.
■ Legislation
Currency law amended
The Cabinet yesterday approved an amendment to the Provisions on Damaging and Duplicating National Currency (妨害國幣懲治條例) stipulating that violators can be fined up to NT$3 million (US$90,909). The amendment will be referred to the legislature for final approval. At present, the law states that those who damage or duplicate national currency can be fined up to NT$15,000 and receive sentences ranging from 10 years behind bars to death. The amendment increases the fine but removes the death penalty.
■ Politics
MAC blames China
Responding to opposition party questions about deadlocked negotiations over Chinese tourist visits, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday that progress depended on Beijing. He added that Chinese officials were refusing to negotiate. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus had requested that officials explain the delay.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
NO RIGHT: After 38 years of martial law under the former KMT government, the KMT is the least qualified to accuse others of harboring such intentions, DPP officials said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of creating a stir on social media by implying that the government supports martial law, adding that the KMT is the least qualified to criticize others after decades of martial law in Taiwan under the former KMT regime. After South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol late on Tuesday night declared martial law (which was rescinded six hours later), the DPP caucus issued a statement on Thread saying that Taiwan’s legislature was facing a situation similar to that in South Korea, which had prompted Yoon to declare martial law. “The South
‘FACT-BASED’: There is no ban, and 2 million Taiwanese have traveled to China this year, which is more than the 285,000 Chinese who visited Taiwan, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday accused China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of shifting the blame for Beijing’s tourism ban on Taiwan, continuing a war of words that started in the past week. The council’s remark came hours after its Chinese counterpart on Friday accused the government of creating barriers to the resumption of reciprocal group tours across the Taiwan Strait. The TAO accused the MAC of releasing untruthful information and dragging its feet on the tourism sector’s call to establishing ferries linking Pingtung County to China’s Pingtan Island. The MAC failed to respond to overtures to restore direct flights and raised the
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