■ Music Piracy
IFPI to sue in Asia, Europe
The international record industry expanded its fight against music piracy yesterday, announcing that it will file hundreds more lawsuits across Europe and Asia against individuals and groups it accuses of illegally sharing music through the Internet. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said its affiliates are filing 963 new cases and are also adding five new countries to the list of litigation. In the new wave of lawsuits, Japan becomes the first Asian country to launch legal action against music piracy. It is also the first time such action has been taken in the Netherlands, Iceland, Finland and Ireland. Kazaa, which used to be the largest and most popular file-sharing service, has seen its users drop by approximately 45 percent -- from 4.2 million to 2.3 million concurrent users -- since the start of the warning and litigation campaign, the IFPI said.
■ Airlines
State aid row heats up
The future Airbus A350 aircraft, designed to rival Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, could be the first victim of a lengthy dispute between the EU and the US over state aid to the aeronautics sector. Brussels and Washington failed to meet their self-imposed deadline Monday to achieve a negotiated agreement on subsidies to Boeing and Airbus. The US has bitterly opposed European plans to subsidize the A350 and has threatened to seek arbitration by the WTO if the EU allows aid to the project before the end of bilateral negotiations. The situation has stymied the European aircraft maker, which intended to ask its four participating countries, Britain, France, Germany and Spain, for aid to finance the A350. The project's cost is estimated at 4 billion euros (US$5.19 billion).
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
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