■POLITICS
Hotel rejects accusation
The Grand Hotel in Taipei yesterday dismissed an allegation that it refused to hire out its ballroom to supporters of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for an activity on Sunday. William Wang (王萬), assistant general manager of the hotel’s Business Development Group, said it was likely a misunderstanding between the hotel and a person called “Mr Chiang,” who made the reservation. Wang said the hotel did not unilaterally cancel the reservation Chiang had made for Oct. 5. Wang said that when Chiang made the reservation, he told the hotel 300 people would attend. The hotel found a suitable room for him, but Chiang later said the turnout could be as high as 2,000, Wang said. The hotel then told Chiang that the room could not accommodate that many people and that its bigger venues had already been booked. Wang said Chiang told him that he understood the situation and that he would look for another venue. Former presidential aide Chiang Chih-ming (江志銘), however, said the hotel’s actions had a political motivation. Chiang said the same group had held an activity in the same room in February.
■CRIME
Police trick suspected rapist
Police used a text message to trick and arrest a suspected sex offender on Sunday in Sanchong City (三重市), police said. Hua Yeh-hao (華業豪), 24, is suspected of following a 20-year-old woman into her apartment building in heavy rain in the early hours of Sunday and raping her at knife point, police said. Hua allegedly fled the scene with the victim’s cellphone. Police investigator Lin Chin-chung (林秦忠) used his cellphone to send a text message to the victim’s mobile phone, hoping to trick the rapist into meeting her again. Lin’s message said: “You are the type I like. If you promise to be more gentle, we can meet again.” Hua called back, and the victim chatted with him for 10 minutes to win his trust. She said she had enjoyed “the experience” and would like to meet Hua at a motel. Hua was arrested when he showed up to meet the victim on Sunday afternoon.
■TOURISM
New tourism record set
Approximately 1,600 Chinese tourists arrived in Taiwan yesterday through either cross-strait weekend charter flights or via transit flights, setting a new record high for the number of Chinese tourists arriving on a single day. Some of them had been scheduled to arrive on Sunday, but their flights were rescheduled to yesterday because of Typhoon Jangmi. The Tourism Bureau said about 250 Chinese tourists are scheduled to arrive today via the “small three links” through Kinmen and Matsu, making them the first batch to visit Taiwan on this route. As last week marked the start of China’s “Golden Weeks,” a time when workers must all take three weeks of paid leave, the Tourism Bureau estimated that around 4,000 Chinese tourists would visit Taiwan this week.
■DIPLOMACY
Defense minister visits US
Minister of National Defense Chen Chao-min (陳肇敏) has departed for a defense industry conference in the US, a military officer said yesterday. Chen is to address the conference and visit Taiwan’s naval and air force officers being trained in San Diego and Arizona, a Taiwanese defense ministry officer said on condition of anonymity. Chen is the first Taiwanese defense minister to travel to the US since 2002, when Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) attended a conference in Texas.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
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