The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday confirmed a report in a Singapore newspaper that it was seeking the return of nearly US$30 million intended to establish diplomatic relations with Papua New Guinea and which was allegedly embezzled by two Taiwanese men.
Ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) confirmed a report in yesterday’s Lianhe Zaobao that Singapore’s High Court on Monday granted a MOFA request to freeze the assets of Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖) and Wu Shih-tsai (吳思材), who acted as middlemen in the deal.
diplomatic ties
Yeh said that the nation sought to open diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea in 2006. As part of the deal, MOFA would send US$30 million intended as aid for the country to a joint account opened by Ching and Wu at OCBC bank in Singapore.
Ching and Wu were to withdraw the cash only after talks on establishing diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea had succeeded and had to return the fund to Taipei if the talks failed.
On September 14, 2006, the ministry remitted US$29.8 million into the bank account, with US$200,000 deducted from the sum as spending money for Ching and Wu.
But at the end of 2006, Taipei decided to end the talks, which apparently were going nowhere, and asked Ching and Wu to return the money.
Ching, who holds a US passport, has disappeared while Wu is being held in custody in Taiwan, the report said.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
RSS