The Taiwanese-Brazilian boy Iruan Ergui Wu (
The Brazil Business Center said the eight-year-old boy will be accompanied by center Director Paulo Pinto, his wife, a bilingual Taiwanese assistant, Wu's aunt Lee Su-hua (
PHOTO: AFP
The group will board a China Airlines flight in Kaohsiung and fly direct to Hong Kong before trans-ferring for a flight via Johannesburg, South Africa to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The National Police Administration's Aviation Police Bureau said the group would be accompanied by a team of police officers to the airport because of the possibility that a large crowd would see them off.
"There may well be a big gathering, including the Wu family and other relatives, friends and reporters. We will therefore send more officers to the location in case they are needed," said Wang Tiao-huang (
The transfer of Iruan from the family to authorities was finalized by the Kaohsiung District Court early yesterday. Kaohsiung judges Huang Kuo-chuan (
The judges then handed the boy to Pinto, representing Iruan's grandmother, Rosa Ergui. But while leaving the court, an apparently sleeping Iruan was carried by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yi-shih (林益世), who has offered the Wu family support during the custody battle.
Pinto, Iruan, Lee and the other parties then checked in at the Ambassador Hotel in Kaohsiung, where they stayed again last night. No flight for Brazil was available before today.
Children's groups yesterday expressed dismay over the way the police and media handled the case on Monday, but reserved particular criticism for the Wu family, after the nation watched extended coverage of Iruan's forcible removal by police surrounded by a scrum of reporters, TV cameras and family members and supporters.
"This kind of ending is the one that brings about the most harm to the child," said Alicea Wang (王育敏), executive director of the Child Welfare League Foundation.
"Members of the public are blaming the justice system over the incident, but it is actually the Wu family that needs to take the blame," Wang said.
"Everyone acted cruelly toward the child, but the child was the most innocent party. The adults only found out that they were making mistakes after things went wrong," she said.
Wang argued that the court had given the Wu family plenty of time to hand Iruan over to authorities, including delaying Wu's return to Brazil until after the Lunar New Year holidays, then after a farewell party was held and group photos taken.
The Wu family, however, continued to act obstructively until the last minute, defying the judge and standing up the Brazilian representative, she said.
"What could a child think about such a display of dishonesty? This is not love for a child -- it's inflicting pain on a child." Wang said.
Wang said that after Wu arrived here in 2001, the media had been his constant companion as he grew up, recording his movements on many occasions.
But, she said, media coverage had been superficial. Providing a balanced study of Iruan's perspective on things had been of no interest to reporters.
"At one point the foundation asked the government to put a limit on the media's endless reporting on [Iruan] and send in social workers instead to monitor his condition. We also hoped that the Wu family would respect the judge's decision," she said.
"But we failed on almost every level -- the media still reported on Wu as much as they liked, and the Wu family refused to accept visits from the social workers," she said.
Facing criticism over the officials' handling of the matter, Kaohsiung District Court President Tsai Wen-kuei (
However, he also said that there was room for improvement in the way officers handled such cases.
"Throughout this affair we have tried to avoid argument and conflict," he said.
"However, the Wu family and nearby residents do not realize that emotions are not above the law. We understand that they love the boy, but when he had to go, he had to go. Everyone should respect court orders," he said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS