■ Crime
Chou up for parole
The Ministry of Justice yesterday said that former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Chou Po-lun's (周伯倫) application for parole will be reviewed tomorrow. The ministry said Wednesday is the day when officials usually hold their weekly meeting so they will take the chance to review Chou's case as well. Chou was convicted of accepting NT$16 million from Chiaofu Construction Corp -- the backer of the Ronghsing Park development project -- when he was a Taipei City councilor in 1988. Chou and six former city councilors and six city government officials were jailed in connection with the scandal. On Aug. 3, 2001, the Taiwan High Court sentenced Chou to six years in prison. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court.
■ Crime
Thais arrest two for drugs
Thai narcotics police nabbed two Taiwanese at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport last Friday for attempting to smuggle 700g of heroin out of the country, Thai customs officials said yesterday. Acting on tip-offs, police nabbed Yeh Fu-tsai, 42, and Yang Chi-hung, 38, as they attempted to board separate flights to Taipei, an official said. Yeh was caught with 350g of heroin sewn into the shoulder pads of his suit while Yang was found to have 380g hidden in his suit. The men said they had been paid NT$100,000 (US$3,240) each to smuggle the drugs.
■ Politics
TSU to run five candidates
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Secretary-General Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) yesterday said that the TSU will take part of year-end county commissioner and city mayor elections and the plans to nominate five candidates for Keelung, Hsinchu, Yunlin County, Tainan and Pingtung County. Chen said the TSU plans to nominate its "best talent" for the elections. Plans call for ex-legislator Holmes Liao (廖宏祥) to run for Hsinchu County commissioner while Chien Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君) may run for Tainan mayor. Former legislator Cheng Cheng-lung (程振隆) will run for the Yunlin County commissioner and Huang Chao-chan (黃昭展), chairman of the northern Kaohsiung chapter, plans to campaign in Pingtung County.
■ Crime
Malaysian navy rescues ship
The Malaysian navy boarded a Taiwanese fishing vessel which had been seized by Chinese crew members who mutinied and locked up the captain and other Taiwanese sailors, a Malaysian official said yesterday. Acting on a request from Taipei, the navy tracked down the 48m Dong Yih in the Malacca Strait on Sunday and boarded it near Pulau Pisang off Johor state, an official said. The boat, with four Taiwanese, 19 Chinese and six Filipinos crew members departed Singapore on Jan. 11 for the Indian Ocean. The Chinese mutinied three days later and attempted to take the boat back to Singapore.
■ Transportation
Kaohsiung buses go digital
Kaohsiung City launched bus services with digitized operations yesterday. The city government spent around NT$40 million (US$1.26 million) in developing the country's first digitized bus services, including 130 bus stop signs, TV monitors in 448 buses that will play real-time programming and a bus hotline offering information to passengers. Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), said his government wants to curb the increase in scooters and encourage more people to use public transport.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the