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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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