FOREIGN AFFAIRS
MOFA decries name change
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it has lodged a protest with the Swedish Tax Agency over its changing of the nation’s name to “province of China” from “Taiwan” on its Web site, calling for the original designation to be maintained. The protest was lodged in response to a statement by the Swedish Tax Agency on Feb. 28, which said that Taiwan would now be listed on its Web site as a province of China, based on the International Organization for Standardization’s code. The ministry has directed its representative office in Sweden to tell the Swedish government that such a change is unacceptable to the government and people of Taiwan, MOFA spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said. The designation “Taiwan” must be reinstated to ensure the nation’s dignity and the rights of Taiwanese, he said, adding that Sweden’s representative office in Taipei has also been informed of Taiwan’s position on the matter.
INVESTMENTS
CIB warns against Ethvinex
The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) on Saturday issued a statement warning the public against using the trading site Ethvinex, which it said has come under the spotlight amid complaints related to fraud. Since last month, Taiwanese authorities have been receiving at least 50 complaints per day about fraudulent activities on the site, the CIB said. The people who filed the complaints all said that they had not received any response after carrying out transactions on the trading platform, the bureau said. Citing the complainants, the CIB said Ethvinex claims to guarantee a 20 percent safe return on capital investments and a drawdown of profits after a week of placement. The placement of funds can range from NT$2,000 to NT$930,000, the bureau said. The CIB said an investigation is being carried out into the operations of Ethvinex and its host location. Meanwhile, the public is warned to be aware of the growing threat of online investment fraud, particularly offers of high and easy returns, the CIB said. People can report suspicious activities via the government’s 165 Fraud Prevention Hotline or its online reporting service at https://www.165.gov.tw/case_tell.aspx, it added.
AIR QUALITY
Firecrackers prove ‘unhealthy’
The air quality in the central and northern parts of western Taiwan was generally rated “unhealthy” yesterday, because of a lack of wind to disperse atmospheric pollutants, much of which resulted from the lighting of firecrackers during the previous two days of Lantern Festival celebrations, the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) Taiwan Air Quality Monitoring Network said. As of noon, the EPA’s Air Quality Index (AQI) showed a “red” warning, indicating unhealthy air for the general public, in Changhua County’s Siansi (線西) and Erlin (二林) townships, and Yunlin’s Lunbei Township (崙背). Meanwhile, 28 monitoring stations in northern and central Taiwan, as well as Yunlin and Chiayi counties, including 13 stations in the greater Taipei area, showed an “orange” warning, signaling unhealthy air for sensitive groups. In the rest of western Taiwan and all of eastern Taiwan, the air quality was rated as either good or fair, the monitoring data showed. The poor air quality is likely to improve today, when a weather front is to arrive, the EPA said, adding that the situation in southern and eastern Taiwan was slightly better yesterday due to southerly and easterly winds.
The majority of parents surveyed in northern Taiwan favor the suspension of all on-site classes at schools from the junior-high level and below amid a surge in domestic COVID-19 infections, parent groups said yesterday. About 84.4 percent of respondents in a survey of 2,912 parents in northern Taiwan, where the outbreak is the most serious, said they supported suspending classes, the Action Alliance on Basic Education, the Taiwan Parents Protect Women and Children Association, and the Taiwan Love Children Association said. The groups distributed questionnaires to parents in New Taipei City, Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu city and county from Saturday morning
‘LONE WOLF’: The suspect was difficult to locate, as he did not use a cellphone, did not contact family and often lived in abandoned sites or parks, police said Taipei police on Thursday morning arrested a man accused of numerous burglaries and at least 14 incidents of sexual assault spanning more than 20 years, in what might be the nation’s most notorious crime spree in recent years. Sixty-year-old Tu Ming-lang (涂明朗) — who was yesterday placed in judicial detention, after a judge determined he was a flight risk without a fixed address — faces multiple charges of sexual assault and burglary, police said. A task force comprised of various law enforcement agencies arrested Tu as part of an investigation into an April 28 burglary in Daan District (大安), in which a
ASEAN BATTLEGROUND: Japan and Australia could be drawn into Pacific tensions as China sets its sights on the Diaoyutai Islands and further beyond the first island chain Tensions between China and the US in the Indo-Pacific region are expected to intensify, the National Security Bureau and Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, recommending that Taiwan continue to emphasize its shared values and interests to encourage resistance to Chinese aggression. US commitments in the Indo-Pacific region are expected to continue unabated despite the war in Ukraine, as Beijing takes advantage of the conflict to expand its influence in the region, the agencies said in reports delivered to the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Sunday, ahead of a hearing yesterday on regional developments and trends. Although Russia’s invasion of
ONLINE REPORT: Confirmed cases filling out the online contact tracing report can check a box to indicate that a close contact had received a booster dose, an official said The guidelines for diagnosing COVID-19 have been revised to include people aged 65 or older who test positive with a rapid test that is confirmed by a healthcare worker, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 65,794 new local infections. The CECC had first announced the change on Monday, before publishing the new guidelines. Starting today, people aged 65 or older, regardless of whether they are undergoing home quarantine, home isolation or self-disease prevention, can be classified as a confirmed COVID-19 case by a healthcare professional, based on a positive result from an antigen rapid test, said
RSS