POLICING
NPA head to retire
National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chen Ja-chin (陳家欽) has applied for early retirement effective on Thursday next week, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said yesterday. While Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) “fully supports” Chen’s leadership of the agency since 2017 and is sorry to see him retire, Su “respected” his reasons for doing so, Lo said. Chen’s decision to step down ahead of his scheduled retirement in July next year was based in part on his desire to leave important personnel decisions to his successor, Lo said. More than 20 high-ranking police officials are to reach retirement age next month and in January next year, including the deputy director of the NPA, as well as police chiefs and deputies in the six special municipalities, Lo said. Chen also wanted to give his successor adequate time to prepare for security around the January 2024 presidential elections, rather than handing over the reins just six months before they took place, Lo said.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Kinmen Bridge to open
A bridge being built in Kinmen County linking the main island to Lieyu Island is on track to be finished by September and open to traffic in October, the government engineering office in charge of the project said on Wednesday. The 4.8km Kinmen Bridge, which is Taiwan’s first sea bridge, runs east-west from Hupu Road in Lieyu Township (烈嶼) to Cihu Road in Jinning Township (金寧). As of Friday last week, work was 97.46 percent completed, the office said. Construction, which began in 2012, has been plagued by problems such as inexperienced contractors and work crews, resulting in contracts being terminated twice, the Freeway Bureau said. In 2016, a new contract was undertaken and construction restarted in December that year, the bureau said.
TRAFFIC
Road to allow motorcycles
The section of Zhongxiao W Road in front of Taipei Railway Station would open to motorcycles this year for the first time in more than four decades, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Wednesday. Department Commissioner Chen Shyue-tair (陳學台) told city councilors that the decision to allow motorcycles on the section was “certain” and would begin on a trial basis by the end of the year. The city had restricted that section to motorcycles because of heavy bus traffic and a lack of designated bus lanes, Chen said. Zhongxiao W Road is one of five major surface roads in Taipei with parts closed to motorcycle traffic, the others being Nanjing E Road’s Section 6, Tiding Boulevard’s Section 1, Huanhe N Road and an off-ramp toward Mingshui Road off Zhongshan Road as it crosses Dazhi Bridge.
MEDICINE
Tablets recall ordered
About 980,000 tablets of a prescription medicine to treat high blood pressure have been ordered off pharmacy shelves, with a full recall to be completed by early August after they were found to contain an insufficient amount of a key ingredient, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Wednesday. “Rixia Tablets 0.5mg MACRO (Metolazone)” produced by Macro Global Corp in two batches — A1Y65 and U3Y96 — must be recalled by Aug. 9 because one of their major ingredients is below the required dosage, the FDA said in an advisory. Tablets in the A1Y65 batch contain only 80 percent of the ingredient, falling short of the required 90 to 110 percent, while those in the U3Y96 batch contain only 91.5 percent, FDA official Fu Shu-ching (傅淑卿) said.
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Reports of Taiwanese going missing, being detained or interrogated, or having their personal liberties restricted in China increased about fourfold annually last year, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Last year, 221 Taiwanese who traveled to China were reported missing, were detained and interrogated, or otherwise had their personal freedom restricted, up from 55 the previous year, the council said. Reopening group tours to China would be risky, as it would leave travelers with no way to seek help through official channels after Beijing shut down dialogue between the associations tasked with handling cross-strait tourism, the MAC said. Taipei’s Taiwan Strait Tourism
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