■ LEGISLATION
KMT will not revisit bills
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus whip Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍) yesterday said the party would not support a reconsideration of the two amendments to the Farmers Association Law (農會法) and the Fishermen Association Law (漁會法) that critics said would pave the way for the "return of black gold politics." She said the decision was made by a group of seven party members in charge of studying the feasibility of overturning the two passed amendments, adding that the party's final position on the issue would need to be approved during today's caucus meeting.
■ LEGISLATION
Amendment passes reading
A legislative committee yesterday passed the first reading of an amendment to the Physically and Mentally Disabled Citizens Protection Act (身心障礙者保護法) to increase employment opportunities for the disabled. The Sanitation, Environment and Social Welfare Committee estimates the proposed amendment would provide 4,800 additional jobs for the disabled. The Physically and Mentally Disabled Citizens Protection Act has been amended seven times since it was first enacted in 1980. Article 31 of the act stipulates that any government agency, public school, or state-run institution with 50 or more employees must reserve 2 percent of its jobs for disabled workers and that any private school, organization, or private business firm with 100 or more employees must reserve at least 1 percent of its jobs for disabled workers.
■ DIPLOMACY
Huang vows to protect ties
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will pull out all the stops to consolidate the country's diplomatic relations with its allies in Central America, Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) said on Sunday. Huang made the remarks amid reports of concern about a possible "wave of diplomatic defection to China" or "switch of diplomatic allegiance to China" of Taiwan's allies in the region. Huang headed for Belize yesterday to meet his counterparts from Central American countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The meeting is a regular annual event which takes place alternately in Taiwan and one of its allies in the region.
■ POLITICS
Ministry to appeal CKS fine
The Ministry of Education will file an appeal if it is slapped with a fine by the Taipei City Government over the removal of dictator Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣介石) name from a memorial hall, an official said yesterday. Chu Nan-hsien (朱楠賢), director of the ministry's Social Education Department, made the remarks after Lee Yung-ping (李永萍), director of Taipei City's Cultural Affairs Department, said the day before that her department had fined the "Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall" Administration NT$100,000 for failure to remove the canvas blocking the name plate of the hall and the two giant banners on the walls of the hall. Lee said that the notice for the cloth's removal was issued on Saturday evening and that the fine was handed out on Sunday. Successive fines will be levied for violating provisions of the Cultural Assets Preservation Law if the administration of the hall, which is under the the ministry's jurisdiction, fails to take action, she added. In response, Chu said he saw nothing illegal in "putting clothes" on the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. If the city government insisted on its stance, Chu said, the ministry would appeal the case after receiving the fine.
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
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
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