MONEY LAUNDERING
Taiwan to lead Asia group
Taiwan has been chosen over China to represent East Asia in the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), an Executive Yuan official said on condition of anonymity yesterday. APG member states of the designated region are Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Macau and Taiwan participating under the name of Chinese Taipei, the official said. The Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice is to represent the nation in the group’s proceedings, the person said. Taiwan was the region’s representative in 2005 and 2009, showing that the country has made strides in controlling money laundering, the person said.
RAILWAYS
Fenglin-Yuli service resumes
Train services between Fenglin (鳳林) and Yuli (玉里) stations in eastern Hualien County resumed yesterday, after the completion of repairs to railway infrastructure following severe damage caused by a series of earthquakes last month, the state-run operator said. The only section of rail still closed is a stretch of track between Yuli and Fuli (富里) stations to the south, near the Taitung County border, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said. The 18.8 kilometer Yuli-Fuli section of the Eastern Trunk Line is expected to resume normal operations by the end of the year, the TRA said. Until then, passengers traveling on that section must use supplemented bus routes, which run every 15 minutes from 6:30am to 10pm, and charge the same fare as local trains, the TRA said. A bus journey between the two stations is about 50 minutes, compared with 26 minutes by train.
ENVIRONMENT
Online packaging restricted
Online retailers in Taiwan are to be banned from using packaging materials containing polyvinylchloride (PVC) beginning July next year, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said on Thursday, following rising environmental concerns over the surge in online shopping packaging waste. Materials containing PVC are to be banned in packaging for e-retail businesses, and all packaging must contain a certain amount of recycled material, a draft regulation posted on the EPA Web site shows. Wrappers in natural colors that contain over 90 percent recycled paper, or plastic packaging made from more than 25 percent reusable plastic, should be prioritized as packaging material, the draft rules say. Online retailers with capital of NT$150 million or more are also to be required to achieve a 25 percent packaging reduction rate by 2024, rising to 35 percent by 2026.
JUSTICE
System warns of jailbreaks
A new function has been added to the internal prison management system, allowing correctional facilities nationwide to issue an immediate warning of a jailbreak, the Ministry of Justice said on Thursday. An alert is to be issued within an hour of a prison’s report about an escape, Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) told lawmakers in a committee hearing. Tsai was reporting to the committee about his ministry’s efforts to address public concerns after two police officers were murdered last month by a minimum-security prison inmate who disappeared while on a two-day leave. Prison officers are now required to inform the Agency of Corrections so that an alert can be broadcast nationwide, Tsai said. Prison staff must also contact a prosecutors’ office within two hours of an inmate’s escape so that an arrest warrant can be issued, Tsai said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost