The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said on Tuesday it would be difficult to link the exchange of an American fugitive recently apprehended in Taipei for Taiwanese on the run in the US because the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.
Ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) was responding to an opinion piece by former ambassador to South Africa Loh I-cheng (陸以正), who suggested using a US fugitive detained in Taipei as a bargaining chip to get Washington to extradite individuals living in the US who are wanted in Taiwan.
FUGITIVES
The Taiwanese that Loh was referring to were Wang You-theng (王又曾), who is wanted for allegedly embezzling billions of dollars from his Rebar Asia Pacific Group, and Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥), the former deputy head of the Shin Kong Memorial Hospital, who prosecutors want to question as a witness in the probe of corruption and money-laundering allegations against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife.
The American that Loh referred to is Mark Lee Kaczmarczyk, who was detained by Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) agents on Sunday and is now being held at the Alien Temporary Detention Center in Sansia Township (三峽), Taipei County. He is wanted in California on child molestation charges.
ALLEGATIONS
The CIB said that Kaczmarczyk was wanted for allegedly molesting six children at a daycare center that he operated and could face a jail term of 48 years.
Despite the lack of an extradition treaty with the US, Kaczmarczyk was likely to be repatriated to the US if he was not found to have committed any crimes in Taiwan, the bureau said.
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
RSS