■ Crime
Assassination plotter nabbed
Lai Chu-hsing (賴注醒) was arrested by prosecutors yesterday for allegedly planning to assassinate President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Police said Lai had recently distributed flyers calling for the establishment of a revolutionary party to assassinate Chen. Lai was invited on several TV programs to talk about his assassination plan. Lai was arrested yesterday afternoon as he was on his way to a TV station to participate in a talk show. Lai told reporters that the best time to assassinate Chen would be during the May 20 inauguration ceremony. The 40-year old Lai is reportedly an entrepreneur who sells water.
■ Society
Four missing at sea
Four people were reported missing yesterday after a ferry boat overturned off Hsiaoliuchiu island, officials said. The boat shuttling between the fishing harbor of Tungkang in Pingtung County and the island capsized at 6:15am as it approached the island, the National Rescue Command Center said. "Airborne and maritime search has been underway," an official said. He said one sailor had been rescued from the vessel after he managed to grab hold of a log and stay afloat for at least an hour before being plucked to safety by another boat. Missing are the skipper, another sailor and two passengers. Hundreds of racing pigeons being transported on the ferry died.
■ Expatriates
Heritage activities in LA
The annual Taiwanese-American Heritage Week kicked off in the greater Los Angeles area on Saturday, with hundreds of members of major Taiwanese associations joining a riverbed clean-up campaign with other Asian-Pacific ethnic groups as part of the celebrations of Asia-Pacific Heritage Month. Huang Wen-ku, president of the Taiwanese-American Citizens Association, that a series of cultural, sports and culinary activities will be staged during Taiwanese-American Heritage Week to promote multicultural exchanges, encourage Taiwanese-Americans to take part in mainstream US social activities and promote traditional Taiwanese folk arts, crafts and festivities.
■ Politics
Soong mahjong jibe denied
The People First Party (PFP) yesterday denied that its chairman, James Soong (宋楚瑜), left a demonstration on April 10 to play mahjong. Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) last week suggested that the PFP chairman left the protesters -- who were calling for a recount and an investigation into an assassination attempt on the president -- to play mahjong before the demonstration became violent. PFP spokesman Hsieh Kong-ping (謝公秉) yesterday detailed Soong's activities on April 10 and said the party would not rule out filing a defamation suit against Lee.
■ Diplomacy
Equipment donated
Taiwan has donated a batch of information-technology equipment worth US$20,000 to the Paraguayan government in a bid to help upgrade its administrative efficiency, an official from the Republic of China embassy said on Saturday. Ambassador Bing Yen (顏秉璠) delivered the materials, including 16 computers, digital cameras, fax machines and printers, to the Paraguayan government at a dinner party hosted by President Nicanor Duarte Furtos on April 26. Duarte expressed his heartfelt gratitude for Taiwan's generous donation.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
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