Two Chinese fishermen were arrested for smuggling Taiwan betel nut to China, coast guard officials on the outlying island of Kinmen reported yesterday.
Tipped off recently that underground transactions across the Taiwan Strait are rampant, the coast guard sent a cutter to step up patrols over the past days.
Coast guard officials spotted the Chinese fishing vessel headed toward China Sunday night after it had received "the cargo" from a Kinmen fishing vessel.
The officials intercepted the Chinese ship and found on board 780kg of betel nut, 80kg of unripe piper linn fruit and 15kg of betel nut leaves of piper linn with a total market value of more than NT$500,000 (US$14,705).
The vessel's captain, identified as Wang Jianhua (王建華), and fisherman Wang Jiatai (王加泰), who both come from Xiamen, Fujian Province, were sent to the Kinmen Prosecutor's Office for violation of anti-smuggling regulations and the statute governing the relations between the people across the Taiwan Strait.
Wang Jiatai said that he was paid 100 yuan (about NT$4,110) for shipping the goods, claiming he risked being arrested because his family needs the money.
The Kinmen coast guard intercepted 12,000kg of betel nut being smuggled to Kinmen from China in mid-June. But this time, they seized Taiwan betel nuts.
Taiwan betel nuts are more expensive, but they are considered to be of higher quality and are therefore favored by Taiwan businesspeople operating in China, the officials said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS