■ ECONOMY
Worst is over: Chiu
The country has gone through the toughest period of the recession, based on quarter-on-quarter improvements in economic indexes predicted by economic research institutions, Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄) told a forum yesterday. “Taiwan still suffered an economic slump in the first quarter, but we have passed through the darkest times,” Chiu said during a keynote speech at a forum on the global financial crisis. Chiu said that a decrease in the leading indicator in March had slowed compared with previous months, while the coincident indicator, an economic factor that varies directly and simultaneously with the business cycle, increased in two consecutive months. The TAIEX index had surged 37.89 percent since the end of last year yesterday, second only to the Shanghai index, Chiu said. He said signs of an economic recovery could also be seen in the upward trend of consumers’ confidence as the Consumer Confidence Index last month rose by 0.68 percentage points to 49.79, marking the second consecutive increase.
■ CRIME
MAC mulling Macau posting
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is considering whether to station criminal investigation liaison officers at its office in Macau to strengthen cross-strait efforts in crime-fighting, a MAC official said yesterday. The MAC has already started talks with the Macau authorities on the issue, MAC Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said. The MAC made the decision following the third round of talks between Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), which took place in Nanjing on April 26, Liu said. The two sides signed three agreements in the talks, covering issues related to regularly scheduled direct cross-strait flights, financial cooperation and cross-strait cooperation to fight crime.
■ DIPLOMACY
Sapporo office to open
A Taiwan representative office will open in Sapporo, Japan, on July 27, with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) attending the inauguration ceremony, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) officials said yesterday. John Feng (馮寄台), Taiwan’s representative to Japan, confirmed Wang’s attendance when giving a report on Taiwan-Japan ties to the Foreign and National Defense Committee at the legislature. The Sapporo office will be MOFA’s sixth in Japan and the first situated north of Tokyo, he said. Taiwan and Japan exchanged official notes on April 28 agreeing upon the opening of the Sapporo office, he said. MOFA decided to open the office to provide assistance to Taiwanese nationals in the area and to Taiwanese fishing boats operating in the North Pacific, as well as to help attract Japanese tourists to Taiwan, Feng said.
■ CRIME
Family mulls life decision
A couple who sent their son to Australia to further his education said on their arrival in Melbourne yesterday they were ready to turn off the brain-dead 17-year-old’s life-support system. Samuel Hsiung was knocked down on Saturday by a car that mounted the pavement. “Our family is here and tomorrow his sister will arrive, and we will make a decision on behalf of Samuel’s life,” father Calvin Hsiung told reporters. “I have confidence in the police that we can hunt for the driver in order to maintain a good society.”
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody