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.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
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