■ CRIME
Teen arrested in drugs probe
Police arrested a 19-year-old senior high school student implicated in the smuggling of more than 6kg of marijuana into the country, Taipei County authorities said on Friday. The aviation police discovered the marijuana in items registered as snow boots shipped from Canada at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Following the delivery of the drugs to Taipei County, the police arrested the student, identified only by his last name, Wang, when he went to pick up the package. Wang told police that he was paid NT$50,000 (US$1,550) to handle the pick-up for a man nicknamed "Ah Kuang," and that he did not know the shipment contained marijuana.
■ ENERGY
Wind-power subsidiary opens
Leading wind-power firm Vestas Wind Systems A/S of Denmark opened a subsidiary company in Taiwan on Thursday, saying the nation was an "ideal place" to develop the alternative energy source. "Taiwan relies on imports for its energy needs, has environmental concerns and has a shallow seashore on its west coast, so it is an ideal place to develop wind power," said Thorbjorn Rasmussen, president of Vestas Asia Pacific. Taiwan has great potential for this "modern energy" as it is hoping to install 2,000 megawatts in wind-power projects by 2010, he said. "The purpose of launching Vestas Taiwan Ltd as a subsidiary is to further develop a local organization, including a larger after-sales and service department, for maintaining turbines in Taiwan," Rasmussen said.
■ AGRICULTURE
Premier urges tea protection
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday urged tea farmers not to let the nation's top-quality tea sprouts and tea producing technology flow overseas in order to protect Taiwan's competitive advantage in the industry. Chang made the comments while presenting awards at a ceremony in Taichung County on the opening day of a tea culture festival. The festival is being sponsored by the Taichung Tea Commercial Association with the aim of promoting the county's tea produce. Chang said the nation produced a total of 19,000 tonnes of tea last year, with a production value of NT$4.35 billion (US$135 million). He expressed hope that the nation's tea industry would develop based on the principles of "quality, sanitation and safety" in line with government policies to promote food safety in the agricultural sector. He urged domestic tea farmers to work to produce a wider variety of top quality teas in order to help "Taiwan tea become the best in the world."
■ AGRICULTURE
Fair promotes local produce
A traveling fair featuring fruits and other agricultural products is being held at a number of supermarkets in Indonesia, introducing Taiwanese produce to the southeast Asian nation's upper middle class and Chinese-speaking groups, a spokesman for the event's organizers said yesterday. The fair runs through Feb. 19, the spokesman said. The exhibition displays a wide range of foods, including fresh fruits, organic produce and processed food. Fruits such as Ponkan mandarin oranges, bell fruits, grapes, pineapples and persimmons have been included in the fair, the spokesman said. The event marks the beginning of the government's plan to promote agricultural produce in ten potentially lucrative markets, the spokesman said. The other nine countries targeted by the government are Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, Brazil, Malaysia, Turkey, Vietnam and Spain.
‘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
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
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