■DIPLOMACY
Grenada seeks time to pay
Grenada’s government will seek to delay a court ordered payment of US$25 million to the Export-Import Bank, Grenadian Finance Minister Nazim Burke said on Monday. His country intends to resolve the dispute but cannot afford to pay all at once, he said in a radio interview. He blamed the failure to settle the debts earlier on the government of former prime minister Keith Mitchell. Lawyers for the Export-Import Bank recently served notice on Grenada’s new government of a February 2007 US federal court order to pay the money, which includes outstanding principal and interest on a series of loans in the 1990s intended to build a stadium and roads and develop the island’s economy. Grenada said in court papers that it stopped making payments after its economy was devastated by a series of storms, including Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and the drop in tourism that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the US. The government was unable to renegotiate repayment because it had severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of China in 2005.
■POLITICS
KMT gives nod to Huang
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday approved the nomination of KMT Legislator Justin Huang (黃健庭) as candidate for the Taitung County commissioner election in December, even though KMT Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-cheng (鄺麗貞) may run as an independent. Huang defeated Kuang in the KMT primary on Sunday. Kuang has refused to say whether she will withdraw from the party to run as an independent. KMT spokesman Lee Chien-rong (李建榮) said yesterday that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had promised to negotiate with Kuang for the sake of party unity.
■SPORTS
Swim race entry open
The Kinmen County Government yesterday invited swimmers to join its seventh annual long-distance swimming race in Liaolo Bay on Aug. 16. Registration for the 3km event is being accepted by the Kinmen County Stadium until July 15 and is open to all swimmers aged 10 and above who are in good health and capable of swimming a long distance, officials said. Those interested in taking part are required to form a team before signing up, they said, adding that 1,600 people have already signed up. For more information, swimmers can call the stadium at 082-311-229.
■CRIME
Ex-army officer convicted
Retired Army Colonel Yang Tung-shan (楊東山) was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday after being convicted by the Military High Court on corruption charges, the Ministry of National Defense said. Yang said he will consider appealing the verdict after studying the court’s ruling with his lawyers. Yang, who served in the Armaments Bureau’s Construction and Facility Division, was placed under investigation and temporarily stripped of his title for allegedly taking bribes and receiving illegal gains from suppliers in 2006. The court determined that the suppliers provided all-expenses paid trips to Malaysia and Japan for Yang and his wife and paid for the renovation of their home, with some of the money transferred directly into his wife’s bank account. The suppliers were also found to have given the couple cash and electronic items in exchange for help in winning contracts. Yang also lost his political rights for 10 years and was ordered to hand over NT$1.95 million (US$59,400) in cash and NT$210,000 worth of home electronic items he received.
‘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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