DIPLOMACY
France’s Olivier Cadic lands
French Senator Olivier Cadic has arrived on his third visit to Taiwan and is to meet with high-level government officials over the next four days, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Cadic, the vice president of the French Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces, is to be the guest of honor at banquets hosted by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roy Lee (李淳) and Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應), chairperson of the Taiwan-France Interparliamentary Amity Association, the ministry said. The senator is also scheduled to meet with French business representatives and expatriates in Taiwan and visit Penghu County, it said. Cadic’s visit is the fourth by a French parliamentary delegation this year.
CULTURE
Ministry obtains Paris booth
Taiwan has secured a display area in Paris for the Cultural Olympiad next year, Minister of Culture Shih Che (史哲) said on Saturday. With the Paris Olympics scheduled for July 26 to Aug. 11 next year and the Summer Paralympics for Aug. 28 to Sept. 8 next year, a Cultural Olympiad is taking place across France to celebrate the upcoming athletic competitions. The Cultural Olympiad is to conclude at the end of the Paralympics. Shih, who is visiting Europe, said that Taiwan would attend the cultural celebration to showcase the nation. As next year is also the 30th anniversary of the Taiwan Cultural Center in Paris, Shih said: “We have already rented an area for Taiwan’s booth. Taiwan will not miss out.” The booth would focus on Taiwan’s freedom, democracy, human rights and cross-strait relations, he said. These issues would be addressed using a wide range of medis, including literature, film and fine art depicted using technology, he said.
DEFENSE
More corporals to be trained
The Ministry of National Defense has allocated funding to train more corporals after the government last year announced that the length of compulsory military service would be extended from four months to one year from January next year. The budget for next year, released on Aug. 31, showed that the ministry would promote 1,000 corporals from its pool of one-year draftees. Next year, Taiwan would have about 9,127 one-year draftees and 69,523 four-month conscripts, the ministry said. The new budget means that one in nine one-year draftees could be recruited as corporals. The number of one-year draftees is forecast to climb to about 35,050 in 2027, while that of four-month conscripts would drop to about 32,731.
CRIME
Doctor’s sentence upheld
The Supreme Court on Sept. 12 upheld a four-year sentence handed to a Taichung-based doctor charged with negligent homicide after he was found guilty of giving illegal injections that caused three heroin addicts seeking to treat their withdrawal symptoms to die of shock. The doctor, surnamed Lin (林), was convicted of illegally administering the jabs, which contained propofol, an anesthetic, mixed with anticholinergics, which are restricted substances. Taichung prosecutors found that the three addicts all died of shock at Lin’s clinic shortly after receiving the injections between June 2015 and April 2016. The Taichung District Court sentenced Lin to six years in jail on the grounds that he ignored the potential risks when administering the injections. The High Court’s Taichung branch reduced the sentence to four years after Lin reached settlements with all three families. The Supreme Court’s verdict is final and cannot be appealed.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to