LAW
Chen feels ill at hearing
The Taiwan High Court yesterday set a new court date of March 23 after an in camera hearing on perjury charges against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was stopped when the former president complained of feeling ill. Chen, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year prison term for corruption, was accused of asking former Presidential Office director Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓) to provide false testimony in July 2006 in a corruption case. Chen was sentenced to two months in jail in the first trial. Chen’s lawyer Shih Yi-lin (石宜琳) said that the first half of yesterday’s trial was not open to the public because much of the discussion involved state secrets.
DIPLOMACY
German Institute relocates
The German Institute Taipei will be closed to visitors from Thursday through March 6 as the office is scheduled to relocate to new premises on the 33rd floor of Taipei 101, the world’s second-tallest occupied building, the institute said yesterday. Appointments for visa, passport and citizens’ services, which must be booked through the institute’s official Web site, will be available again from March 7, the German representative office said in a statement. The new address of the German Institute Taipei is: 33F, No. 7, Xinyi Rd, Sec 5, Taipei, 11049. The institute’s new telephone number is: 02-8722-2800.
FOOD
Houbi rice delivered
An initial order of 80 tonnes of Houbi rice ordered by a Tokyo-based trading company was shipped to Japan from Tainan yesterday. The rice was supplied by Lienfa Mill in Houbi (後壁) Township, Greater Tainan, for Kanematsu Co, which placed an order for 500 tonnes of Houbi rice. Rice produced in Houbi is held in high esteem by the Japanese, Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) said. He added that Japan has some of the most stringent requirements in the world regarding the quality of rice and food safety standards. “Japan’s recognition of Houbi rice shows that its quality is on a par with the best rice in the world,” Lai said. He added that the deal demonstrated there were still markets for local agricultural produce other than China. For example, mangoes and rice from Greater Tainan have made impressive inroads into the Japanese market. Lai said that he hoped other agricultural produce would follow suit and seek out other overseas markets. He also said that central and local governments should work more closely together to develop markets and increase market share for local agricultural produce in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other countries.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
NO RIGHT: After 38 years of martial law under the former KMT government, the KMT is the least qualified to accuse others of harboring such intentions, DPP officials said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of creating a stir on social media by implying that the government supports martial law, adding that the KMT is the least qualified to criticize others after decades of martial law in Taiwan under the former KMT regime. After South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol late on Tuesday night declared martial law (which was rescinded six hours later), the DPP caucus issued a statement on Thread saying that Taiwan’s legislature was facing a situation similar to that in South Korea, which had prompted Yoon to declare martial law. “The South
RSS