■ DEFENSE
Ma targets military changes
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that the country will move from compulsory military service toward all-volunteer armed forces in four to six years. After a voluntary enlistment system is in place, the president said, “the military will be further streamlined and a smaller, but stronger military will be established.” Ma made the remarks during an address at a ceremony to mark the 84th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China Military Academy in Fengshan, Kaohsiung County. The president noted that “neutrality of the military has taken root in Taiwan, a sign that the military will be loyal to the country rather than to a specific party or individual.” The president praised the academy, founded in Whampoa, in China’s Guangdong Province, in 1924, for its contributions in conflicts over the past eight decades.
■ POLICE
Top official to take office
The nation’s top police official is scheduled to assume office on Friday, a press statement released by the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞), currently the Taipei City Police Department director-general, will leave his post and take over as director-general of the National Police Agency, overseeing all of Taiwan’s police forces following a personnel reshuffle announced by Minister of the Interior Liao Liao-yi (廖了以) last month. Wang replaces Hou You-yi (侯友宜), who has been appointed as the new president of the Central Police University (CPU), Taiwan’s highest police force training institute, replacing outgoing CPU President Shieh Ing-dan (謝銀黨). Yesterday’s statement said that Shieh has been appointed as a counselor to the Executive Yuan on social security affairs. Shieh will provide counseling to the Cabinet on crime prevention and control, and will participate in cross-strait meetings on crime crackdowns on behalf of the Executive Yuan, the statement said.
■ HEALTH
Healthcare receives boost
Taiwan’s first “digital medical treatment” touring vehicle was launched yesterday to take high-tech health care services to villages and small towns far from large hospitals. The vehicle, which is equipped with a digital X-ray machine, an advanced ultrasound device and pap-smear equipment as well as other state-of-the-art medical equipment, will be used in Taichung County to offer residents better quality health services, Taichung County Commissioner Chuang Chung-sheng (黃仲生) said. Speaking outside the Taichung County Hall, Huang said that because of changes in people’s lifestyles and diets, the prevalence of chronic diseases and cancer have gradually increased in recent years. He said the vehicle would help the health department’s efforts to increase early detection of diseases by providing the county’s residents with more opportunities for medical checkups.
■ TRANSPORT
Retail space up for grabs
Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) is set to begin inviting bids by retailers today to lease space at stations along the MRT’s Orange Line, which is scheduled to begin operations in August. At the Formosa Boulevard Station, which connects the Orange Line to the north-south Red Line, a total of 89 retail outlet spaces will be available for lease, the KRTC said. The 14.3km Orange Line extends east-west across Kaohsiung City and into Kaohsiung County, beginning from Sizihwan Station in the city’s Gushan District (鼓山) and ending at Daliao Station in Kaohsiung County.
‘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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
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
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