CHINA
Firms warned about tax
Taiwanese businesses in China should be extra vigilant due to Beijing’s intensified tax scrutiny amid the deteriorating finances of local governments there, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said on Friday. More than 20 Chinese provinces and cities have set up “police-tax joint operation centers” to combat tax evasion and underreporting, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said at a press briefing. There have been reports of Chinese local governments suffering serious financial woes including shortages of income and rising debt, Luo said. To fix the problems, the affected provinces and cities “are finding every possible way to audit taxes,” he said. The local governments have incorporated police, other public security and tax personnel, used big-data analysis, and collected data from all kinds of information platforms to “combat every possible tax evasion offense through precision strikes,” Luo said. Any tax problems discovered over the past 30 years could lead to substantial fines, criminal or administrative liabilities, he added. “Public information indicates that many listed companies in China have been slapped with substantial fines under the program,” Luo said.
MEDIA
Talk show probed
The National Security Bureau and the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau are investigating claims that a reporter from China’s state-run media illegally worked on the production of a political TV talk show, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said that an administrative investigation of the case, completed by the council in conjunction with the Ministry of Culture and the National Communications Commission, “could only use limited means to question the relevant parties.” He added: “Therefore the investigation would be continued by the judicial authorities.” The case originated from a report by the Liberty Times, (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) on June 25 that a reporter from China’s state-run Xinhua news agency had allegedly influenced and monitored the production of a politics-themed television show. Liang said on a radio show on July 1 that Chinese media including Xinhua are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, so collaborating with them to produce political commentary programs could potentially violate Article 33-1 of 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). According to this law, individuals and organizations in Taiwan are not allowed to engage in “any form of cooperative activity with the agencies, institutions, or organizations of the mainland area which are political parties.”
CRIME
Cash to ‘soldier’ stopped
Police in Taichung on Friday said that they had to convince a 65-year-old woman not to wire the equivalent of US$5,000 to a man claiming to be a special forces commander trying to flee the Russia-Ukraine war. Police said they were called by a bank’s staff in Xitun District (西屯) on Friday last week, after the woman told them that she urgently needed to help “General Sam” buy a plane ticket to Taiwan. The woman said she met the man on Facebook and was deeply attracted to his experiences and demeanor, therefore the two people were referring to each other as brother and sister. The man claimed to be a general serving in a special military unit based in Ukraine and sought assistance from the woman because he feared for his life, as it was “his turn to fight on the front lines.”
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
Restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to be included in the Michelin Guide’s review for the first time this year, alongside existing entries from Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, the France-based culinary publication said yesterday. This year’s edition of the Michelin Guide Taiwan is to be unveiled on Aug. 19 in Taipei. In addition to the coveted star ratings, Michelin Taiwan would announce its “Bib Gourmand” selections — a distinction awarded to establishments offering high-quality food at moderate prices — on Aug. 12. This year’s Bib Gourmand list would also feature restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu
A firefighter yesterday died after falling into New Taipei City's Xindian River when a rescue dinghy capsized during a search mission for a man who was later found dead. The New Taipei City Fire Department said that it received a report at 4:12pm that a 50-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), had fallen into the river. A 32-year-old firefighter, surnamed Wu (吳), was among the rescuers deployed to look for Chen, the fire department said, adding that he and five other rescue personnel were in the dinghy when it capsized. Wu had no vital signs after being pulled from the water to the
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
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