■ DIPLOMACY
Maa appointed SEF deputy
Maa Shaw-chang (馬紹章), executive director of the Chinese Nationalist Party-affiliated think tank the National Policy Foundation, was appointed deputy secretary-general of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) yesterday. Maa, who will be the third deputy secretary-general of the organization, will not begin work until Monday because of the New Year’s holiday. The new position has been left vacant since February last year when Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) resigned to join DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh’s (謝長廷) presidential campaign. Maa obtained his doctoral degree in political science from Ohio State University. He once served at the Mainland Affairs Council as a researcher and at the Council for Economic Planning and Development as a specialist. He was a senior vice manager at Global Investment Holdings before taking up the job at the SEF.
■ ACCIDENTS
Stage collapses at concert
Two dozen performers were injured on Wednesday when a stage partially collapsed at a New Year’s party in Miaoli County. The accident occurred in Toufen Township (頭份), where more than 1,000 people were watching the New Year’s Eve performance. Shortly after the party started, the right part of the stage caved in and two dozen performers who were singing and dancing fell to the ground. “They were rushed to the hospital. Most of them suffered from cuts and scratches and were released from the hospital, but four remain hospitalized. Among the four, two have broken bones,” a duty officer from the Toufen Police Station said by phone. Local authorities are investigating if shoddy work caused the stage to collapse, the Broadcasting Corp of China said.
■ CRIME
Two arrested over cameras
Two men were arrested in California and charged with illegally exporting thermal-imaging cameras to China, a controlled item under national security, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Wednesday. The US Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said Sam Ching-sheng Lee, 63, and his nephew Charles Yu-hsu Lee, 31, were charged under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and face up to 25 years in federal prison if convicted. Charles Lee is a native of China and Ching Lee is a native of Taiwan, the DOJ said in a statement. The two men are suspected of exporting thermal-imaging cameras to China from 2002 to 2007 without a license and in circumvention of export laws, through MBA, an import/export business located in Hacienda Heights, California.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Siew releases sika deer
Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) attended a ceremony at Kenting National Park yesterday to witness the release of 20 Formosan sika deer into the wild. Addressing the ceremony that marked the deer’s release as well as the park’s 25th founding anniversary, Siew said that although Kenting National Park was established 110 years later than Yellowstone National Park in the US, it has made commendable achievements in terms of wildlife conservation. Beginning with a herd of 22 pure-bred Formosan sika deer, Kenting park authorities have raised nearly 300 offspring of the core herd, which was donated by Taipei Yuanshan Zoo in 1984. Since its establishment the same year, the park has released more than 100 of the protected animals that it bred into the wild.
‘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
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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