■ Cross-Strait Ties
Beijing criticizes Chen
China accused President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday of hoodwinking his people by offering to swap envoys with Beijing and shake hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) if he was re-elected. "What he said, I think, aims only to advance his decep-tion of public opinion and fool the people of Taiwan," Taiwan affairs spokesman
Li Weiyi (李維一) told a
news conference in Beijing. Li said that if Chen were serious about building ties, he would recognize that Taiwan was part of China.
"If Chen Shui-bian were
really sincere ... he would create conditions for the resumption of talks and negotiations across the Taiwan Strait," Li said. "Otherwise, he will once again be cheating the
people of Taiwan and inter-national opinion."
■ Government
Cabinet OKs new command
The Cabinet approved a set of draft bills and revisions yesterday to establish a
new airborne rescue com-mand. The Cabinet hopes that the legislature will approve the package by
the end of next year. At present there are five airborne rescue teams belonging to the National Fire Administration, the National Police Administra-tion, the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the Coast Guard Administration and the army. The new command will be under the Ministry
of the Interior. The com-mand center will be located at Taipei's Sungshan Airport, with secondary bases at Taichung County's Shuinan Airport, Pingtung Airport, Taitung Airport and Hualien Airport. Operations not related to air rescue efforts, such as transporting patients and air-traffic patrol, will be contracted out to the private sector. A preparatory office for the new command will be inaugurated on March 10.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS