POLITICS
Ma fined for Facebook post
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) regrets the illegal campaign activity on his Facebook page during the presidential campaign and will pay a fine in accordance with the law, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday. The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Tuesday fined Ma NT$500,000 (US$16,800) for violating the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) by soliciting votes on his campaign headquarters’ Facebook page on Jan. 14, the day of the election. The Facebook page, titled Taiwan Bravo, posted the contents of Ma’s speech made at a campaign rally on the eve of the election, in which he called for voter support on election day. KMT spokesperson Lai Su-ju (賴素如) yesterday said Taiwan Bravo staff posted the article on the Facebook page following the speech without knowing that the move violated the law, as the content was posted after midnight.
DIPLOMACY
Former AIT diplomat dies
Darrell Jenks, chief of the American Institute in Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Branch Office from 1996 to 1999, passed away on Tuesday in Baltimore, Maryland, the AIT said in a statement yesterday. The AIT invited friends of Jenks who would like to pay their condolences to stop by the office from yesterday to May 31. The office has prepared a condolence book for people to sign and leave messages that will be forwarded to his family after May 31. During his tenure in Kaohsiung, Jenks was active in Taiwanese language studies and jazz performance, the AIT said. Jenks was admired for his outgoing personality and exceptional linguistic abilities. He spoke eight languages in addition to English, including Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese, the AIT said.
AVIATION
FAT plane leaves runway
A Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) plane appeared to overrun the runway when it landed at Magong airport yesterday morning. No injuries were reported. The Aviation Safety Council has begun an investigation into the incident, which delayed eight other flights. The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said the FAT plane departed from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at 9:45am and landed at Magong airport in Penghu County at 10:45am. The pilot apparently failed to brake in time to come to a stop at the end of the runway and the aircraft’s tires crushed lighting off the temporary runway. In a statement, FAT said the aircraft did not overrun the runway and simply exceeded a stop line on the runway. The company said the incident could have been caused by strong winds and rain.
SOCIETY
Kaohsiung gets i-pass
The Kaohsiung MRT system is to launch its first custom-made i-pass card in an effort to boost the system’s low ridership, Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) said yesterday. The stored-value cards, designed for residents living along MRT lines, can be used as security access control cards for their homes, and can also be used on city buses, the MRT and ferries, the KRTC said. Cardholders can also use them for purchases at some stores and for taking buses in Taipei, Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Pingtung County. KRTC general manager Hau Chien-sheng (郝建生) expressed hope that cooperating with a local real-estate development company would increase ridership. The average passenger count per day last month was 145,353.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
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