■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.
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
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