■ Politics
Former premier dies at 93
Former premier Sun Yun-suan (孫運璿), hailed as the architect of Taiwan's dynamic economic growth since the 1980s, died of heart failure yesterday. He was 93. A senior adviser to the president, Sun was hospitalized for heart and lung complications last month and died early yesterday at the Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, his doctors said. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) sent condolences to Sun's family and hailed him as the "creator" of Taiwan's "economic miracle." Born in China, Sun arrived in Taiwan in 1945 and was assigned by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime to rebuild the nation's power supply system. The nation's per capita GNP was US$320 when Sun, an engineer by training, became economic minister in 1969. By the time he stepped down from the premiership in 1984, per capita GNP had risen to US$3,000. Sun is also remembered for his decision to set up a government-funded industrial research institute and develop the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park. He is survived by his wife and four children.
■ Foreign affairs
Diplomat suspected of graft
The Taiwanese representative to New Zealand has been accused of corruption and forgery by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to a statement released last night. Victor Chin (秦日新), a veteran diplomat, has been accused of forging receipts in relation to expenses incurred in the performance of his duties as the director of the ministry's North American Affairs Department. A section chief of the department is also suspected of involvement. The case has been forwarded to the Taipei City branch office of the Bureau of Investigation for possible criminal charges. Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) said that ministry personnel must uphold the highest possible ethical standards in the performance of their duties. Huang also reminded ministry officials that they are not allowed to accept gifts while in office.
■ Diplomacy
Don't say `Taiwan': Vietnam
Vietnam's deputy foreign minister warned local reporters yesterday to avoid offending China by not using the name Taiwan when Vietnam hosts the APEC meeting later this year. Le Cong Phung also urged the press not to uses words like "country" or "nation" to describe any member of the group, instead using the agreed-on euphemism "member economies." "The official name for Taiwan in APEC is `Chinese Taipei' and the official name for Hong Kong is `Hong Kong-China,'" Phung said. "At the previous summit in the Republic of Korea, the host country had to abolish about 80,000 booklets, since in those booklets there was a mistake in referring to the APEC economies as `countries' or 'nations' and that was rejected very strongly by China," Phung said.
■ Politics
DPP forms poll task force
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a seven-member task force to handle nominations for the Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections. The task force will also serve as a campaign team. DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun will lead the task force, which has been set the goal of defending Kaohsiung and winning Taipei. Yu said that the candidates will be determined by a primary that will include a public poll and a vote among party members. Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) announced yesterday that he will take part in his party's primary in May to vie for its nomination for the Taipei mayoral election.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
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