■ DIPLOMACY
Visa exemptions granted
Five more European countries have been exempted from visa requirements to promote trade and tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The countries are Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania and Estonia. Their citizens will be allowed to stay up to 30 days in Taiwan without applying for a visa, the ministry’s Bureau of Consular Affairs announced on its Web site. The visa-exemption measure became effective for Poland, Slovakia and Hungary on Oct. 1, for Lithuania last Saturday and will come into effect for visitors from Estonia on Monday. So far, Taiwan has extended visa exemptions to 36 countries in the hope that they reciprocate the arrangements for Taiwanese visiting their country. More than 50 countries have exempted Taiwan from visa requirements, allowing Taiwanese visitors to remain in the country from as little as seven days up to as much as 90 days.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Taiwan, China to host forum
Taiwan and China will co-host a forum on creating a paper-free trade environment next year in Taipei under the APEC framework, Bureau of Foreign Trade Director-General Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬) told a press conference yesterday. APEC has agreed to grant US$200,000 to support the event and Taiwan has been highly praised by many countries for efforts made to cut down on the use of paper, Huang said. Meanwhile, Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) and Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) briefed the Cabinet on their participation at the APEC ministerial meeting in Peru. They told the meeting that “the interaction between Taiwan and China under the APEC framework has been heading in a positive direction.”
■ HEALTH
Virus hits Taipei schools
Taipei City’s Education Department urged students and parents to remain cautious after classes in three elementary schools were shut for 10 days this week because of enterovirus infections. A total of 214 confirmed enterovirus cases have occurred in Taipei, chief secretary of the department Lin Shin-yao (林信耀) said. As the enterovirus infection cases were expected to increase during the fall and winter seasons, Lin said the department had already asked schools to step up disinfections. In addition to the disinfection of all classrooms in schools, Lin said the department would also join forces with the city’s health department to continue monitoring the situation in order to prevent any enterovirus epidemic from occurring.
■ AGRICULTURE
Promotional event opens
A promotional sales event for the nation’s top 100 agricultural and fishery products is taking place at the National Taiwan University Arena until Sunday, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday at the opening ceremony. The event is part of the “Made in Taiwan is Best” series of events, COA Minister Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) said, adding that the products offered were selected from a list of more than 400 finalists and were of superior quality. Chen said the event would cater to small families and offer packages of an assortment of products, as well as wedding-related products targeting couples planning to get married. Consumers spending more than NT$1,000 were eligible to enter raffles to win prizes, such as vouchers for short breaks at hotels, Chen said.
■ CORRUPTION
Ex-prosecutor impeached
The Control Yuan yesterday impeached former Yunlin County prosecutor Hsu Wei-yu (徐維嶽) for taking advantage of his position to extort money in 2004. Hsu was given a life sentence by the Yunlin District Court in 2006, the most severe punishment meted out to a member of the judiciary for involvement in corruption. The Control Yuan’s statement said Huang brought false charges against Chen Chien-sung (陳劍松), alleging that a supporter, Chou Shih-lung (周世龍), bought votes for Chen in the 2004 legislative elections. Huang targeted Chen in a scheme to secure a reward for informants in vote-buying cases. Hsu had his brother’s girlfriend report fabricated information implicating Chen and Chou. Hsu then forced Chou to make a confession with threats, the statement said.
■ CRIME
Murderer granted parole
The Ministry of Justice yesterday granted parole to convicted murderer Hung Hsiao-hui (洪曉慧). Hung began her sentence on Jan. 14, 1999. She was a graduate student at National Tsing Hua University’s Radiation Organism Department when she murdered a classmate, Hsu Chia-chen (?u) in the lab on March 7, 1998, because Hsu was in love with Hung’s boyfriend, Tseng Huan-tai (曾煥泰). After killing Hsu, Hung poured the chemical aqua regia over her body. Hung dropped out of school after the murder.In addition to her prison sentence, Hung was ordered to pay NT$24.17 million (US$732,000) in compensation to Hsu’s parents. The ministry said Hung’s request was granted because she had completed two-thirds of her sentence of 16 years and three months. Furthermore, she has been cited nine times for excellent behavior in prison, the ministry said.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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