TOURISM
Inspections to be tightened
The Tourism Bureau is tightening quality inspections for travel agencies hosting Chinese tourists as it prepares for the peak season between today and next Saturday, when China celebrates its week-long National Day holiday. Chang said the bureau would investigate more than 360 agencies that signed an “industry discipline” pledge last month. According to the pledge, travel agencies promised to charge no less than US$60 per day per person to prevent a price war, as well as accept no more than 30 percent commission from gift shops. The bureau’s move has become necessary as two cases of ill treatment of Chinese tourists surfaced last month. Early last month, a travel agency was found to have illegally transferred its Chinese group tour business to other agencies. On Wednesday, 30 Chinese tourists were left stranded on a highway because the tour bus driver was not satisfied with the commission he received from a partner travel agency.
SOCIETY
Taiwan claims six golds
Taiwan finished second on the medals table at the International Abilympics, a skills competition for persons with disabilities, which closed yesterday in Seoul. Taiwan bagged six gold, seven silver and five bronze medals, along with four special prizes to finish behind the hosts, who defended their top ranking at the 2007 Abilympics in Shizuoka, Japan, with 23 gold, 22 silver and 15 bronze medals. China came third with six gold, three silver and two bronze medals at the event in which persons with disabilities compete in various vocational skills, ranging from basket making to living skills, such as knitting. Taiwan’s two special prize winners were Chang Hui-jung (張蕙容) in the personal database management system category and Lin Kao-sheng (林高生) in wood carving.
POLITICS
DPP files suit against Lee
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday filed a lawsuit with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office against the former director of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Tainan branch, Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教), accusing Lee of forgery and violations of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法). DPP spokesman Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had failed to keep his promise made during the 2008 presidential election to phase out two of four freeway toll stations in Sinshih (新市) and Baihe (白河), Greater Tainan. Ma recently said in a media interview that the phasing out of the Sinshih and Baihe freeway toll stations was Lee’s policy, not his own. The DPP said campaign posters promoting the phasing out of the two toll stations had Ma’s signature on them and Lin said if Ma did not sign the poster or endorse the policy, the DPP suspects that Lee forged Ma’s signature. Lin said the party would also ask prosecutors to summon Ma as a witness.
CRIME
Fraud ring suspects return
Thirty-five Taiwanese fraud suspects arrested in a police crackdown in Cambodia were sent back to Taiwan on Thursday. The 35 suspects — 33 male and two female — were flown back after they arrived in Kinmen on boat from China’s southeastern coastal city of Xiamen. The suspects were flown to Xiamen from Cambodia. They were among the 827 fraud ring suspects arrested in 166 locations across Taiwan, China and seven Southeast Asian countries during a joint operation by more than 2,500 police in those countries from Monday to Wednesday.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
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