■ Transport
Link goes underground
Taipei City Government's Department of Rapid Transit Systems yesterday announced that the bureau will construct an underground MRT line that connects with CKS International Airport, rather than build an overhead link. Although the Ministry of Transportation and Communications planned to construct an overhead MRT line to the airport, bureau director Fan Liang-hsiu (范良鏽) said the central plan will destroy the city's urban landscape and bring chaos to Taipei's traffic. Fan said the bureau would ask the central government to increase the line's budget and will try its best to finish the underground as soon as possible because underground construction would add two years to the project.
■ Politics
Police want PFP lawmaker
Kaohsiung police said yesterday they wanted a lawmaker to be prosecuted for standing atop a truck that rammed a courthouse gate guarded by police during a post-election riot. Police want prosecutors to charge People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) because several officers were injured in the melee, said the city's police chief, Hsieh Hsu-nen (謝秀能). Chiu told reporters he was on top of the truck because he was trying to calm the protesters. But Hsieh didn't believe Chiu's account. "I told him the protest was illegal and asked him to halt immediately," Hsieh said. TV footage showed Chiu standing on a campaign truck that repeatedly rammed a Kaohsiung courthouse gate guarded by a group of police. Chiu was also part of a crowd that stormed the Central Election Commission headquarters in Taipei last Friday.
■ Politics
Ting and Tsai offer to resign
Following Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Alex Tsai's (蔡正元) offer to resign on Monday, the director of the KMT's Organization and Development Affairs Committee, Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), also submitted his resignation yesterday. Both Tsai and Ting, whose resignations were not accepted, cited unsatisfactory performance in KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) failed presidential election bid as the reason for their wish to quit. Lien, paired with People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), lost to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) by a margin of less than 30,000 votes. Lien is contesting the election result in court. KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正), noting that the election result remained uncertain, had asked Tsai and Ting to stay. "It is natural for party directors to resign from their post as a gesture of taking responsibility," Ting said. "But given that the outcome of this election is controversial, the secretary-general has asked us to remain at our posts."
■ Cross-strait ties
Kinmen learns about links
In an effort to improve the efficacy of the current "three small links," the Kinmen County government hosted a seminar yesterday attended by more than 130 officials from local and central authorities. The symposium, chaired by Kinmen County Deputy Commissioner Yang Chung-chuan (楊忠全), attracted officials from the Kinmen County government, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) as well as other government agencies stationed on the outlying island. Officials from the MAC's Department of Legal Affairs and Department of Economic Affairs were in charge of explaining the newest rules of the "small three links" to attendees.
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,
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
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
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
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