MILITARY
Boot camp passing rate high
A total of 5,277 conscripts serving since the start of the year have taken their boot camp tests, with 98.3 percent of them passing, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, citing Ministry of National Defense data. Military service for men was increased from four months to one year in January, with the aim of strengthening the country’s combat readiness in the face of threats from China. Those who failed the tests would not be entitled to the NT$10,000 monthly allowance and would only receive a basic monthly salary of NT$10,550, the ministry said. The military is mainly a volunteer force of about 215,000, with conscripts serving a supporting role. As of June, there were 152,885 active-duty voluntary military personnel in the armed forces.
Photo courtesy of the Penghu Defense Command via CNA
DIPLOMACY
MOFA official promoted
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) deputy spokesperson Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) has been named the ministry’s next spokesperson, the ministry said over the weekend. Hsiao is to replace outgoing spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健), who was named the country’s new representative to Poland last month. Hsiao is likely to assume the post after Liu leaves for Poland later this month or early next year. He joined the ministry in 2002, and was previously posted in Miami, Singapore and Austria before becoming deputy spokesman in 2022.
SOCIETY
Court rules on drone case
The Taoyuan District Court has found two men who repeatedly flew a drone near Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport last year not guilty of endangering flight safety. Lien Yung-wang (連永旺) and Huang Kai-hui (黃凱暉) operated an uncrewed aerial vehicle in the vicinity of the airport at least 10 times between June 24 and July 25 last year, the ruling said. However, there was insufficient evidence to prove the pair’s conduct met the requirements for criminal conviction under the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法). The ruling can be appealed. During the trial, 62-year-old Lien said he was using the drone to “simply take aerial photographs of beautiful scenery,” but it entered the restricted area after he lost control of it due to signal problems. Huang, 35, said he had merely driven Lien to the area and waited in the car, and that he was unaware of the drone’s flight range. The drone’s activity disrupted traffic at the airport, with the most serious incident leading to a temporary suspension of takeoffs and landings at about 3pm on June 29 last year.
CRIME
Tutor center official indicted
The deputy director of an after-school tutoring center in New Taipei City last week was indicted for allegedly sexually harassing six girls aged nine to 13 while playing games and providing academic guidance. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), is suspected of touching the breasts, thighs and buttocks of several girls while playing hide-and-seek, tag and other games, and touching their breasts while they were sleeping, the indictment said. Prosecutors charged him under the Criminal Code and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法). They also requested that the acts be considered aggravated, in accordance with the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act (兒童及少年福利與權益保障法). Chiu denied the guilt, saying he might have inadvertently touched the girls. The case came to light after one of the girls asked the head of the center for help and described Chiu’s actions. Meanwhile, another girl said she had nightmares about being harassed.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
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