■ CRIME
Kuo Kuan-ying indicted
Prosecutors charged former Toronto-based Government Information Office official Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英) yesterday with defamation for making personal attacks on former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) and Contemporary Magazine editor-in-chief Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒). Chen and Chin filed a lawsuit on April 1, accusing Kuo of publishing articles in which he called them“violent pro-independence dogs” and other names. Using the pen name Fan Lan-chin (范蘭欽), Kuo on Dec. 15 described the two as “violent pro-independence supporters” and “eunuch’s dogs,” adding that he himself was a “high-class Mainlander” and that Chen and Chin were “high-class Mainlander dogs,” the pair said. The indictment said Kuo’s comments had damaged Chen and Chin’s reputations. Kuo was stripped of his civil servant status in March in the wake of a controversy over online articles he wrote under Fan and other pen names that smeared Taiwan and Taiwanese.
■ SOCIETY
No decision on tombs site
The Tainan City Government said on Thursday that no decision would be made on relocating a group of ancient tombs unearthed at a military residential compound in January until the end of this month. Department of Culture and Tourism Director Hsu Geng-hsiu (許耿修) said the city government asked a professional archeology group to examine the site, where at least 60 tombs dating back to the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty are located. The tombs were unearthed in Shuijiao She (水交社), one of the largest military residential compounds in Tainan, when workers were clearing land for the development of new roads. The site is believed to be a graveyard for people who died during the era when Koxinga’s son, Zheng Jing (鄭經), ruled the Tainan area at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Artifacts unearthed from the site so far include tea pots, bronze coins and ceramics.
■ CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Wu in Changsha for forum
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) arrived yesterday in Changsha, Hunan Province, to attend the KMT-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forum on economic and cultural exchanges that begins today. Before boarding a chartered flight at Taipei’s Songshan Airport yesterday, Wu told reporters the forum would focus on education and culture. Talks will be held on how to preserve and ensure the continuation of Chinese culture while trying to innovate, he said, adding that other subjects include cross-strait cooperation in the promotion of the culture industry and educational exchanges. Wu said the forum was no longer limited to KMT and CCP participants.
■ POLITICS
Ex-lawmaker appeals
Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who last month lost his legislative seat because of vote-buying, filed an appeal with the Control Yuan yesterday, calling on it to impeach the prosecutors and judges in charge of his case. The Tainan Branch of the Taiwan High Court on June 30 upheld a lower court’s decision that invalidated Chang’s legislative victory last year. The final verdict said the election was not fair and valid because Chang’s father bought votes for his son. Chang said the witness statement was fabricated by prosecutors and that the lawyer of a suspect-turned-prosecution-witness and prosecutors did not record the whole investigation.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
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