POLITICS
KMT campaign sues
The campaign office of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), and his running mate, Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC) chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), yesterday filed criminal complaints accusing former KMT legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), political pundit Mao Chia-ching (毛嘉慶) and the production team of the “Bit King Real Taiwan’s True Politics” YouTube channel of libel and spreading election rumors with an intent to affect electoral outcomes. During a talk show that aired online on Thursday last week, Chiu and Mao falsely claimed that Hou and Jaw respectively made deals with organized crime groups and profited from BCC’s sale, Hou’s campaign spokesman, Lu Chia-kai (呂家愷), said as he filed the complaint at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. The video harmed Hou’s and Chou’s reputations, and had a measurable impact on the campaign, Lu said. Chiu and Mao filed a counter-complaint against the KMT presidential ticket, saying that they had made false accusations. “The KMT is attacking me with an army of lawyers, but I have truth on my side,” Chiu said.
MILITARY
Rockets no threat: military
Rockets used by China to send satellites into space on two consecutive days posed no threat to Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense said on Monday and yesterday. The ministry detected satellite launches from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at noon on Monday and yesterday morning, it said. Both rockets traveled toward the Indian Ocean, posing no danger to Taiwan, it said in separate brief statements following the launches. The armed forces were alerted and monitored the rockets’ paths, it added.
MILITARY
Drone site inaugurated
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended a groundbreaking ceremony for an aerospace and drone facility in Chiayi County, with the site expected to boost the nation’s asymmetric combat power. Drones would be mass-produced at the facility, boosting military drone development and making Chiayi County one of the most strategically important drone production sites in Asia, Tsai said. Complex and volatile international situations make drone development essential, she said, adding that the Ministry of National Defense is seeking to boost domestic production. The first stage of construction covers 5 hectares and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology said, adding that the subsequent stages would be based on national defense missions that arise.
GOVERNMENT
Data office unveiled
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday attended a ceremony to unveil the Personal Information Protection Committee Preparatory Office. The office is being established in accordance with the Constitutional Court’s verdict in August that government protection of personal data was insufficient and that it should establish an independent oversight agency, Chen said. The committee would be the nation’s first step toward implementing the “national human rights movement” policy and is in line with the urgent need to protect personal data in the digital age, he said. The office should hasten efforts to prepare the committee to grant constitutionally granted rights for the privacy of personal information, and establish a foundation for the country’s digital platform for commerce and trade, he said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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