MILITARY
India cemetery re-dedicated
A cemetery in northeastern India where hundreds of Republic of China (ROC) military personnel who died during World War II are buried was re-dedicated yesterday after completion of its renovation. Taiwanese Representative to India Philip Ong (翁文祺) and Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsiung Hsiang-tai (熊湘台) jointly officiated at the re-dedication ceremony in Ramgarh, Jharkhand state. More than 600 ROC officers and soldiers, who fought with Allied troops in World War II near India and northern Indochina, are buried in the cemetery. However, there are only 200-odd tombs, 40 of them marked, since most of the soldiers buried there were unknown. The cemetery was built in 1942 and was renovated this year, according to Chen Hsueh-liang (陳學良), an ROC expatriate in India who has been in charge of the cemetery since 2006. The defense ministry spent NT$7.58 million (US$252,660) for the renovations, which began in July this year.
CRIMES
Man convicted in food scare
The owner of a chemical firm was sentenced yesterday to 18 years in jail for his involvement in a plasticizer-tainted food scandal that rocked the nation earlier this year. The Changhua District Court handed down the jail term to Yu Shen Chemical Co owner Lai Chun-chieh (賴俊傑) for adding chemicals that are banned from food and beverage products. The judges gave Lai’s wife, Chien Ling-yuan (簡玲媛), 16 years in jail for her role as an accomplice in the adulteration of food-processing additives with industrial-use plasticizers. Chin Tung Co owner Pan Shu-lan (潘淑蘭) was given 12 years for supplying Lai with di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, one of the six plasticizers that were detected in food and beverage products during the crisis. The case can be appealed.
CRIMES
Jail for teen killer upheld
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 30-year sentence for a teenaged killer involved in two murders, including the high-profile shooting of alleged gang leader Weng Chi-nan (翁奇楠) in May last year. The ruling also upheld the Taiwan High Court’s decision that Liao Kuo-hao (廖國豪) should pay a fine of NT$1.2 million for his two crimes — illegal possession of firearms and murder. Liao was convicted of attempted murder in an attack on a restaurant owner in Taichung in 2009 and for killing Weng and his friend, Lai Jung-chen (賴榮振), at Weng’s office on May 28 last year. He turned himself in 90 days later. As Liao was only 17 years old when he killed Weng and Lai, he was given a combined 25 years in prison in the first trial on Jan. 19. In the second trial in July, the High Court gave him a harsher 30-year sentence, saying that besides murder, he had been in possession of an illegal weapon.
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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