GOVERNMENT
Acting minister named
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯) has been appointed acting minister, following the resignation of Li Men-yen (李孟諺), Cabinet spokesman Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said on Tuesday. A permanent replacement would be announced at a later date, he said. Chen Yen-po has served in the transportation ministry for more than two decades. He has experience in the Department of Railways and Highways, the Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau and the Highway Bureau, and had served as chief secretary of the ministry, the ministry’s Web site shows. Li on Monday tendered his resignation to President William Lai (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) following revelations of a decade-long extramarital affair. His resignation was accepted by Cho on the same day.
FOOD SAFETY
Pepper fails inspections
A batch of mini pepper packs imported by Zensho Taiwan, which operates the Japanese restaurant chains Sukiya and Hamasushi in Taiwan, was seized at the border for failing inspections, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Tuesday. The 10.8kg shipment was found to contain 0.36 parts per million (ppm) of the pesticide acetamiprid, above the limit of 0.05ppm, as well as 0.08ppm of chlorpyrifos, a banned pesticide, the agency said. The company’s imports would be subject to random inspections at an increased rate of 20 to 50 percent, as opposed to the original 2 to 10 percent, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said. Additionally, two shipments of dried chili from China, both totaling 16,000kg, were seized after they were found to contain 0.003ppm and 0.004ppm of fipronil residue respectively. The legal limit for the pesticide is 0.002ppm, the FDA said. A total of 78 batches of dried chili from China have been inspected at the border over the past six months.
CRIME
Two indicted for tech theft
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office has indicted two men for allegedly stealing technology from their former Japan-based employer on behalf of a Chinese company, the office said on Tuesday. The men, surnamed Wu (吳) and Huang (黃), are suspected of copying and revealing the company’s core technology to a man surnamed Wang (王), who owns a precision industry company in China, prosecutors said. They are accused of breach of trust and obtaining records from another’s computer without good reason, in contravention of the Criminal Code, as well as contraventions of the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法) and Copyright Act (著作權法). Their actions are believed to have resulted in the company losing at least NT$12.3 billion (US$385.12 million). Wu, a research and development manager, and Huang, a senior engineer, were involved in designing and developing manufacturing processes for the company’s patented microactuators, prosecutors said. Wang approached Wu after setting up a research and development center in Taiwan to obtain technology for his Chinese company. He interviewed Wu in 2019, promising an annual salary of NT$5 million. He also transferred US$98,000 and US$66,000 to Wu and his wife, and agreed to give her spouse stocks and a paid nominal company position, prosecutors said. Wu then recruited Huang, after which they proceeded with the alleged crimes before resigning from the Japanese company in February and May 2020 respectively.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
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