TAIPEI
Hello Kitty on gondola cars
The Maokong Gondola has begun a year of Hello Kitty rides, with the cable cars decorated with Hello Kitty images. The Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) had signed an agreement with Japanese cartoon character producer Sanrio Co. General manager Tan Gwa-guang (譚國光) said all 145 cars are to be painted and each station decorated. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) is to visit the Taipei Zoo MRT station this morning and take a ride with a group of young children to promote the newly redecorated system.
CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Bureau seeks agents’ release
National Security Bureau (NSB) Director Tsai Der-sheng (蔡得勝) on Wednesday said the government has been trying to free two senior intelligence agents kidnapped and held by China for the past seven years. Military Intelligence Bureau colonels Chu Kung-hsun (朱恭訓) and Hsu Chang-kuo (徐章國) were kidnapped in Vietnam and taken to China in 2006. Tsai said the bureau and intelligence bureau established an ad hoc group tasked with rescuing the colonels in May 2009. “Through different channels, either in public or secretly, we have been working hard to seek their release for the past few years,” he said, but declined to give details. The Supreme Court last year upheld the ruling of the Military Supreme Court and sentenced former army general Lo Hsien-che (羅賢哲) to life imprisonment for spying for China. Lo, the highest-ranking official ever to be convicted of spying in Taiwan, reportedly started working for China as a spy in 2004. He was suspected of handing over information related to a project giving Taiwanese military access to US intelligence systems.
SOCIETY
Women outnumber men
The nation’s female population surpassed that of men for the first time in 100 years at the end of last month, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. As of Nov. 30, there were 11,684,133 women in Taiwan compared with 11,683,187 men, the ministry said. The disparity of 946 in favor of women caused Taiwan’s gender ratio — the number of men per 100 women — to fall below 100 to 99.99 for the first time in a century, Deputy Minister of the Interior Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家淇) said. Hsiao said Taiwan’s gender ratio used to exceed 100, as the country had more men than women for decades. Compared with many other countries, Taiwan’s gender ratio is relatively high. In 2011, Taiwan’s gender ratio was 100.6, higher than Norway’s 100.5, South Korea’s 100.4, Mexico’s 94.8, Austria’s 95.1, Japan’s 94.8, France’s 93.9 and Italy’s 93.7, but lower than India’s 107.8, Malaysia’s 106.1 and China’s 105.2.
MILITARY
New base to finish in July
The military has given July next year as a concrete date for the completion of the new Ministry of National Defense headquarters, indicating the end is in sight for work that has been planned since 1997. Ministry spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said yesterday that defense operations are to be moved to the new complex, located in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) neighborhood, next year from the current headquarters near the Presidential Office. Development of the 19.5 hectare site, originally set to be completed by 2008, has been plagued by a string of setbacks since construction work began, including the death of the original architect. As of Monday, the complex was about 80 percent complete, the ministry said.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
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