Taiwanese tourist Chang An-wei (張安薇), who was abducted from a Pom Pom Island resort in Malaysia on Nov. 15, has been rescued, Taiwan’s representative to the country Lo Yu-chung (羅由中) confirmed last night.
Malaysian police authorities informed the representative office that Chang was rescued by the armed forces of the Philippines, and she has been sent to a hospital for health checks and treatment, Lo said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) told a press conference at 7pm that he heard the news in the morning.
Photo: CNA
While Chang is in extreme shock and suffers from allergies caused by mosquito bites, she is safe and sound, Tsai added.
Tsai declined to reveal details about the rescue operation and negotiations on a ransom due to concerns over the safety of people involved in the mission.
Earlier yesterday morning, Tsai posted a photograph of Chang on his Facebook page, with messages wishing her early return, but he withdrew the photograph later.
According to reports in Malaysia, Malaysian Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar tweeted the news, saying Chang was rescued from islands in Sulu Province, southwestern Philippines, and has been admitted to the Merin Hospital in the province.
In his tweet at 5:15pm, Khalid said Chang will be flown to the Zamboanga Hospital tomorrow for a medical checkup.
Taiwanese businessman Hsu Li-min (許立民), who had accompanied the 58-year-old Chang on the resort island, was shot dead when the suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists, a Philippine Islamist group, attacked Pom Pom Island.
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
MARITIME SECURITY: Of the 52 vessels, 15 were rated a ‘threat’ for various reasons, including the amount of time they spent loitering near subsea cables, the CGA said Taiwan has identified 52 “suspicious” Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience that require close monitoring if detected near the nation, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday, as the nation seeks to protect its subsea telecoms cables. The stricter regime comes after a Cameroon-flagged vessel was briefly detained by the CGA earlier this month on suspicion of damaging an international cable northeast of Taiwan. The vessel is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company with a Chinese address given for its only listed director, the CGA said previously. Taiwan fears China could sever its communication links as part of an attempt
RSS