■ COAST GUARD
Maritime drill scheduled
A maritime drill will be held in Suao (蘇澳) tomorrow to hone the coast guard's capability to respond to hijack threats as the number of incidents rises, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. Late last month, an Ilan-registered fishing boat, the Yu Chang 66, was hijacked by a Chinese deckhand and forced to head to Fujian Province in China. Earlier this month, a Nanfangao-registered fishing boat, the Chin Fu Yu, was also hijacked and forced to sail to the Fujian coast, CGA officials said, adding that both vessels were able to return to Taiwan and none of the crew members were hurt in the incidents. Tomorrow's drill is also aimed at honing the coast guard's combat readiness and ability to respond to other undesirable incidents, the officials said.
■ POLITICS
Ma rejects academic's claim
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday rejected a US academic's remarks that he supports the "one country, two systems" framework originally proposed by late Chinese president Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) during the early 1980s, arguing that he had never agreed with it. "I strongly oppose such a proposal, and my stance has never changed. I feel sorry that an American who isn't familiar with the situation at all would make such an accusation," Ma said, in response to comments made by Bruce Herschensohn, a professor of public policy who served in the administrations of US presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) published yesterday. Herschensohn was quoted in the interview as saying that he would not be surprised if Ma adopted the "one country, two systems" policy if he were elected president.
■ WEATHER
Temperature hits record
The temperature in Dawu Township (大武) in Taitung County soared to 37.4?C yesterday, a new high for the nation so far this year, the Central Weather Bureau reported yesterday. The peak temperature, which was recorded at 12:16pm, was caused by foehn winds, bureau officials said, adding that a foehn wind occurs when a deep layer of prevailing wind is forced over a mountain range -- in this case, the Central Mountain Range. In Keelung, the temperature rose to 37.3?C at 1:14pm, making it the hottest day in May in the city's history, the officials added.
■ CRIME
Counterfeit suspects nabbed
Three people have been turned over to the prosecution after being caught selling fake or substandard products on a local auction Web site, the Criminal Investigation Bureau announced yesterday. The three suspects, identified only by their surnames Hu, Chen and Yeh, were handed over to the Banciao Prosecutor's Office a day earlier for investigation on charges of trademark infringement. The detentions came after police, acting on tip-offs provided by online buyers who claimed to have been cheated, raided their offices and warehouses in Taipei County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, where more than 1,000 counterfeit goods fabricated in China were stored. Police said the products the three men auctioned on local Web sites -- mainly memory chips, batteries and cellphone components -- were counterfeits neatly packaged and sold at unfairly low prices.
■ EDUCATION
Professor awarded title
A civil engineering professor of National Taiwan University was awarded the title of Academician by the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna on Thursday. Yang Yeong-bin (楊永斌), who is also secretary-general of the Institute of Engineering Education Taiwan, was granted the title by the academy's president, Peter Schuster, becoming the first Taiwanese scholar to have earned the honor. The academy's former president, Herbert Mang, recommended Yang for the honor on the strength of his research papers on the theory of spatial structure stability and vibration of high-speed railway bridges, which have earned him respect in the international academic community. The academy, established in 1847, is similar to Taiwan's Academia Sinica in status and function.
■ POLITICS
Official in blog trouble
Taipei City Government Law and Regulation Committee commissioner Yeh Chin-yuan (葉慶元) came under attack from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors yesterday after he was caught updating his personal blog during a question-and-answer session at Taipei City Council. DPP City Councilor Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) slammed Yeh for ignoring the session to write blog articles and urged Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) to keep a closer eye on his team. "Not only did Yeh use work time to do personal things, but he spent a lot of time criticizing the DPP in his articles," Wu said. Yeh acknowledged the wrongdoing, and promised not to commit the same error. Yeh, however, was not the only city official to be caught slacking off at work. Department of Labor Director Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴) has been caught updating a personal blog during office hours, while the former commissioner of the Research and Development Evaluation Commission, Jessica Chou (周韻采), was fired after being found doing yoga during office hours.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS