JUDICIAL YUAN
Acting president named
Justice Shieh Ming-yan (謝銘洋) has been appointed acting president of the Judicial Yuan amid bottlenecks in the legislature’s confirmation process of new justices, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said. President William Lai (賴清德) named Shieh, who has been a justice since 2019, the provisional head of the top judicial branch in accordance with the Judicial Yuan Organization Act (司法院組織法), Kuo said on Friday. Shieh’s appointment came a day after seven justices, including Judicial Yuan President Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) and his deputy Tsai Jeong-duen (蔡炯墩) stepped down on Thursday after completing their eight-year terms. Kuo urged the legislature to begin the confirmation process of the seven justice candidates appointed by Lai on Aug. 30, saying their taking office would enable “the normal operations of the Judicial Yuan.” Lai selected National Taiwan University law professor Chang Wen-chen (張文貞) and former lawmaker Yao Li-ming (姚立明) to replace Hsu and Tsai respectively, along with five other justice candidates, but these nominations still await legislative approval. Shieh, 67, is one of the eight remaining justices at the Judicial Yuan whose primary responsibility is to preside over Constitutional Court cases.
PHILIPPINES
US$150,000 donated
Taiwan on Thursday donated US$150,000 to the Philippines to help those affected by Tropical Storm Trami. Representative to the Philippines Wallace Chow (周民淦) announced the donation at a ceremony at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines, where Philippine Representative to Taiwan Cheloy E. Velicaria-Garafil accepted the donation on behalf of the Philippine government. The move followed Taiwan’s donation of 500 tonnes of rice on Tuesday to the Philippines in the aftermath of the storm, which left at least 139 people dead and 21 unaccounted for, and caused economic damage of more than 4 billion pesos (US$68.53 million). Velicaria-Garafil thanked Taiwan for the donation and said that the help was was especially moving as it came about the same time as Typhoon Kong-rey swept across Taiwan. The Manila Economic and Cultural Office would transfer the donation to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for use as disaster relief, she said. Taiwan has promised to donate 2,000 tonnes of rice to the Philippines by the end of the year and as of Tuesday, the Philippines has received 1,500 tonnes of rice. The remaining 500 tonnes are scheduled to arrive later this month.
ISF Gymnasiade
Record medals won
Taiwanese athletes completed their participation in the 2024 Gymnasiade in Bahrain on Thursday with a record 79 medals, including 35 golds. A total of 119 Taiwanese athletes competed in 19 different sports at the U18 games, with strong performances from the judo team, which won seven golds, one silvers and four bronzes. Wu Chun-you (吳俊佑), who competed in the para-athletics event, received a “sporting spirit award” from the International School Sport Federation (ISF), becoming the first Taiwanese athlete to win such honor. Sports Administration Director Cheng Shih-chung (鄭世忠) said the event provided young Taiwanese athletes with invaluable experience in international sporting competitions. Prior to the event, Taiwan’s best performance at the Gymnasiade had been 68 medals, including 24 gold, Chinese Taipei School Sport Federation head Hu Chien-feng said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
NO RIGHT: After 38 years of martial law under the former KMT government, the KMT is the least qualified to accuse others of harboring such intentions, DPP officials said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of creating a stir on social media by implying that the government supports martial law, adding that the KMT is the least qualified to criticize others after decades of martial law in Taiwan under the former KMT regime. After South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol late on Tuesday night declared martial law (which was rescinded six hours later), the DPP caucus issued a statement on Thread saying that Taiwan’s legislature was facing a situation similar to that in South Korea, which had prompted Yoon to declare martial law. “The South
‘FACT-BASED’: There is no ban, and 2 million Taiwanese have traveled to China this year, which is more than the 285,000 Chinese who visited Taiwan, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday accused China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of shifting the blame for Beijing’s tourism ban on Taiwan, continuing a war of words that started in the past week. The council’s remark came hours after its Chinese counterpart on Friday accused the government of creating barriers to the resumption of reciprocal group tours across the Taiwan Strait. The TAO accused the MAC of releasing untruthful information and dragging its feet on the tourism sector’s call to establishing ferries linking Pingtung County to China’s Pingtan Island. The MAC failed to respond to overtures to restore direct flights and raised the
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