CRIME
Police officer indicted
Nantou County Police officer Lo Chih-pin (羅志聘) was indicted yesterday on suspicions of growing marijuana at three different locations. Nantou prosecutors said Lo and two friends, Huang Kuo-kung (黃國恭) and Chien Hung-chi (簡宏吉), were suspected of cultivating marijuana — a class-two drug — in Puli (埔里) and Guoshing (國姓) township of Nantou County, as well as in Greater Taichung. The plants were grown on rented property in Nantou County and at a rented apartment in Taichung, prosecutors said. Investigators on May 14 raided the three locations, seizing a total of 1,043 marijuana plants. Prosecutors said growing class-two drugs can result in a minimum sentence of five years in prison. As Lo was a law enforcement official, his sentence could be steeper and result in a maximum sentence of seven-and-a-half-years imprisonment.
DIPLOMACY
MAC minister visits Europe
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) is visiting Europe to meet with EU officials and academics. The minister, accompanied by several council officials, arrived in Vienna on Sunday for a transit stop on her way to Brussels. Representative to Austria Chen Lien-gene (陳連軍) greeted Lai at the Vienna airport. During her stay in Brussels, Lai will meet leading Belgian and EU political figures, said Shih Hsiao-chuan, a council secretary who is accompanying Lai on her visit. Lai will also travel to London to attend an international seminar on cross-strait relations in the era of globalization. The seminar will be organized by the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
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,
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