■ POLITICS
Court annuls legislative win
The Taoyuan District Court yesterday annulled the election victory of Chinese Nationalist Party Legislator Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井). Liao was accused by prosecutors of handing out bribes during his campaign for the legislative election in Taoyuan County constituency No. 2 earlier this year. When asked for comment, Liao said he would appeal. Liao protested his innocence, saying he had upheld his integrity over the past four decades as a civil servant.
■ POLITICS
Wu implicated in scandal
Former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) yesterday became involved in another alleged corruption scandal. The Taipei District Prosecutors Office investigating alleged corruption concerning the construction of the Nangang Exhibition Center named Wu as a defendant. Prosecutors questioned former minister of the interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲), another defendant in the case who has been detained since last Wednesday. Shortly after the questioning, Taipei District Prosecutors Office Spokesman Lin Chin-chun (林錦村) said Wu had been listed as a defendant, but refused to elaborate.
■ DEFENSE
Prep school to allow girls
The Chung Cheng Armed Forces Preparatory School said yesterday it expected to begin accepting female students next year. The school said it had proposed the idea to the Ministry of National Defense and received initial support for the plan. Two female military officers are scheduled to report to the school next month to help with its plan to accept up to 20 female students beginning next year, a school spokesman said. The Chung Cheng Armed Forces Preparatory School was established by the ministry in Fongshan (鳳山), Kaohsiung County, in 1976 with the aim of recruiting exceptional talent to help meet national defense needs and raise the quality of the country’s military officers. The school, which has no tuition, has accepted only male students since its inception.
■ DIPLOMACY
Idaho happy about ties
The signing of a joint statement between a Taipei-based business association and the Idaho State Department of Agriculture represents a renewal of the strong ties between Taiwan and the Midwest state, Idaho Governor C. L. “Butch” Otter said at a reception in Taipei on Monday. Otter, a long term supporter of Taiwan, is the first US state governor to visit Taiwan since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in May. Otter made his first visit back in 1998 when he served as Idaho’s lieutenant governor. “It was 10 years ago that I sat at that desk and had the opportunity to ... sign the birth certificate of a great friendship,” said Otter, adding that the statement represents promising bilateral cooperation between both sides. Last year, Idaho’s exports to Taiwan totaled US$304 million, an increase of 76.8 percent over the previous year, making Taiwan Idaho’s sixth-largest export market, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. In his remarks, Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) expressed gratitude for the Idaho state legislature’s staunch support for Taiwan’s democracy and its bid to join the WHO. In 2006 and last year, Boise passed resolutions calling for Taiwan’s participation in the health body. It has also called for a US-Taiwan free-trade agreement. The governor and the 22-person delegation is expected to leave tomorrow.
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
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.
RSS