DIPLOMACY
AIT chairman to visit
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt will visit Taiwan from Monday through Saturday. He will deliver a speech regarding economic relations between the US and Taiwan organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham). AmCham said Burghardt will on Tuesday address topics such as the implications of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and efforts to recommence the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) talks and the anticipated TIFA agenda with the US. Burghardt will also meet with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and a variety of political officials and major business figures, the AIT said.
CRIME
Former lawmaker repatriated
Convicted former lawmaker Kuo Ting-tsai (郭廷才) was repatriated from China early yesterday morning to serve his prison term for corruption during his tenure as speaker of the Pingtung County Council. Kuo, 74, was arrested at a hideout in Zhongshan City in China’s Guangdong Province on Wednesday, according to the National Police Agency (NPA). Staff members from the agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau traveled to China late on Thursday night to bring Kuo back. Kuo has been listed as one of Taiwan’s most wanted since he fled Taiwan in February 2005 after losing a legislative re-election bid. The Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office said Kuo will have to stay behind bars for 14 years and eight months for his two sentences.
CHINA
Meeting set to sign pacts
Top Taiwanese and Chinese negotiators will likely meet in Taipei in the middle of next month to sign two agreements to carry out a landmark economic pact sealed in June, sources familiar with cross-strait affairs said. Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) are expected to meet at Taipei’s Grand Hotel, the sources said. The two are expected to sign an agreement on investment protection and another on health and medical cooperation. They had planned to sign these pacts at the end of their last meeting in in June in Chongqing, China, when they signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
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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