DIPLOMACY
MOFA helps relief efforts
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it would donate US$800,000 for recovery efforts in the US states most severely affected by Hurricane Helene, including US$300,000 each to Florida and North Carolina, and US$200,000 to Georgia. “Taiwan is frequently hit by typhoons in summer and autumn” and “deeply empathizes with those who have suffered tremendous losses in life and property” due to Hurricane Helene, the ministry said. The funds aim to help US residents reconstruct their homes and get back to their normal lives, the ministry said, adding that its overseas missions in Miami and Atlanta would soon discuss with relevant US agencies how to make the donations. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on the evening of Sept. 26. It has killed more than 230 people and caused at least US$30 billion in damage.
Photo: AFP
CRIME
Workers probed in China
Four Taiwanese employees of Foxconn’s factory in Zhengzhou, a major Apple supplier, are under investigation in China on suspicion of accepting bribes and embezzling funds, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said on Friday. Authorities are handling the case in accordance with the law while ensuring the protection of the suspects’ legal rights, TAO spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said. Reports said the Taiwanese employees were accused of accepting bribes, with two facing embezzlement allegations. The Zhengzhou police arrested and detained the four employees on charges equivalent to a “breach of trust” offense in Taiwan, but Foxconn said that it has suffered no losses and that the employees have not harmed the company’s interests.
AWARDS
Taiwan film gets top award
Taiwanese film Yen and Ai-Lee (小雁與吳愛麗) on Friday won the Busan International Film Festival’s (BIFF) top prize, the Kim Jiseok Award, marking the first time a Taiwanese film received the award. Village Rockstars 2, a film coproduced by India and Singapore, also received the Kim Jiseok Award. The Taiwanese film was “an unfinishing and bold portrayal of a traumatic mother and daughter relationship, with powerful and beautiful performances,” the BIFF said. The 108 minute black-and-white film was directed by Tom Lin (林書宇), and features actresses Yang Kuei-mei (楊貴媚) and Kimi Hsia (夏于喬). Meanwhile, Another Home (日泰小食), a film coproduced by Taiwan, Hong Kong and France, won the Mecenat Award for documentaries. The 84-minute film, directed by Hong Kong director Frankie Sin (冼澔楊), is about an elderly couple and their food stall on Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong.
ENTERTAINMENT
Taiwan play joins festival
This Is Not an Embassy (Made in Taiwan), a play exploring the complexities of national identity in Taiwan, is to be performed next month at the Paris Arts Festival, an event organizer said. It would be the first Taiwanese piece to appear at the 52-year-old festival, festival art director Francesca Corona said. It was coproduced by German theatre group Rimini Protokoll and the National Theatre of Taipei. The play centers around a fictional Republic of China (Taiwan) embassy, set in a miniature decor, and features three performers who are Taiwanese. It presents complex topics in a nuanced way, without oversimplification or polarization, Corona said. The 105-minute show is to be performed in English and Mandarin, with French and English subtitles, at the MC93 public multicultural venue from Nov. 14 to Nov. 17.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe