DIPLOMACY
Tsai to speak at summit
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to share Taiwan’s experience in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and its achievements on the road to democracy at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit via video, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The annual meeting, organized by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2017 by former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is to take place on Thursday and Friday next week in a virtual setting because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “President Tsai will be the first to speak on the second day of the summit,” Kendra Chen (陳詠韶), deputy director-general of the ministry’s Department of European Affairs, told a regular press conference in Taipei. Other speakers include US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova.
DIPLOMACY
Foreign envoys announced
The Presidential Office yesterday announced changes in diplomatic positions, following a minor Cabinet reshuffle on May 20, when President Tsai Ing-wen started her second term. Former deputy minister of foreign affairs Kelly Hsieh (謝武樵) has been appointed representative to the UK, replacing David Lin (林永樂), who is retiring. Former National Security Council (NSC) deputy secretary-general Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) is to be the new representative to the EU and Belgium, taking over the position from Harry Tseng (曾厚仁), who is to serve as deputy minister of foreign affairs. Former deputy minister of foreign affairs Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) is to take up the position of NSC deputy secretary-general. Former Environmental Protection Administration minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) has been tapped as representative to Thailand, replacing Tung Chen-yuan (童振源), who left the post last month after becoming the minister of the Overseas Community Affairs Council.
SOCIETY
Teen detained over stabbing
The Shilin District Court’s Juvenile Court yesterday approved a request to detain a 16-year-old high-school student for allegedly repeatedly stabbing a 10-year-old girl at a school in New Taipei City earlier in the day. The suspect, surnamed Liu (劉), allegedly took a fruit knife to school and attacked a girl, surnamed Wei (魏), when she arrived at about 7am before classes started. Liu allegedly stabbed Wei in the back several times before he was restrained by a school volunteer and a teacher at the scene, New Taipei City police said. Wei sustained multiple wounds ranging from 4cm to 10cm in length and was immediately taken to a nearby hospital. A hospital spokesperson said that her condition was not life-threatening and had stabilized. During questioning, Liu said he does not know Wei and was unable to explain why he stabbed her, saying only that he “lost control,” police said.
TRANSPORTATION
Express train rides sold out
Long-distance express train tickets for travel at peak times for the four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday later this month are sold out, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said on Wednesday. More than 285,000 tickets were sold online, via telephone or at convenience stores in the early hours of Wednesday morning, TRA data showed.
Among the sold-out Tze-Ching Express tickets were those for travel from Taipei to Hualien County from noon on June 24 (the day before the holiday begins) to 6pm on June 25; from Taipei to Taitung County on June 24 and 25; and from Taitung and Hualien to Taipei on June 28 for all trains departing after 7am. On the line that goes north-south in western Taiwan, express train tickets from Taipei to Kaohsiung between 1pm on June 24 and 11am on June 25, as well as those from Kaohsiung to Taipei between 9am and 5pm on June 28 were sold out. Tze-Chiang express train tickets from Kaohsiung to Taitung on the South-link line for travel on June 25 before noon were also sold out, the agency said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
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