The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday released film director Doze Niu (鈕承澤) on NT$200,000 (US$6,660) bail after questioning him over an incident in which he allegedly allowed a Chinese citizen to use a fake ID card to enter a naval base in Greater Kaohsiung during a location-scouting trip.
Niu and 11 others were summoned for questioning yesterday, Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office spokeswoman Lu Hsing-ling (呂幸玲) said.
The director was summoned on suspicion that he violated the Vital Area Regulations (要塞堡壘地帶法) and committed forgery, while the other 11 were summoned as witnesses, Lu said, adding that the others were released after questioning.
Kaohsiung prosecutors said Niu admitted to and apologized for letting Chinese cinematographer Cao Yu (曹郁), who was hired by Niu to work on the film Military Paradise, use a Taiwanese national identification card to gain admission to the base.
Cao was not summoned by prosecutors.
The district prosecutors’ office launched the investigation after the Ministry of National Defense filed a lawsuit against Niu and Cao.
According to the navy, Niu and his production team visited the Zuoying (左營) naval base on June 1 to scout for locations for his new film. The group allegedly violated a regulation forbidding Chinese nationals from entering military facilities in Taiwan.
Military security officers at the base checked Cao’s ID, but later discovered that it was false.
The ministry has withdrawn its support for the film and will no longer allow Niu’s film crew access to Taiwanese military bases or ships.
Additional reporting by CNA
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS