■TRANSPORTATION
EasyCards support tennis
The Taipei EasyCard Corp yesterday celebrated the issue of 20 million EasyCards by presenting 300 sets of a special edition EasyCard featuring tennis player Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) for a charity sale. The company began issuing EasyCards in 2002, and expanded its usage from just a MRT and bus fare card to an electronic wallet in April. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and other guests at the celebration hosted an auction of five sets of the special-edition EasyCard, raising NT$1.01 million (US$31,800). That money, along with the proceeds of the 300 sets, will be given to Lu to fund his training. Lu made an appearance via video to thank his supporters. Last month he became the first Taiwanese to make it to the fourth round of the singles at Wimbledon. The special EasyCard costs NT$1,000. Details are available at www.rendylu.url.tw.
■POLITICS
Kaohsiung concert planned
A Chinese music concert will be held at the Kaohsiung National Stadium as one of the 10 activities celebrating the Republic of China’s centennial next year, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said yesterday. Siew, who chairs the Centenary Celebration Preparation Committee, said Chinese artists from all over the world will participate in the Nov. 12 concert. Committee members met at the Weiwuying Center for the Arts Preparation Office in Kaohsiung to exchange ideas with local artists and tourism groups about the celebration. Siew said it was time to transform the greater Kaohsiung region into an arts and culture area. The Weiwuying center, which was used by the military prior to the 1980s, will serve as a hub to integrate artistic resources in southern Taiwan, he said.
■CRIME
KMT ex-legislator indicted
Former KMT legislator Kwan Yuk-noan (關沃暖) was indicted on a corruption charge yesterday, accused of embezzling payments for legislative aides. Prosecutors requested a sentence of 12 years in prison, saying that Kwan has not shown remose for what he had done. Kwan served as a legislator-at-large representing overseas compatriots from 1998 to 2004. Taipei prosecutors said Kwan allegedly asked his former legislative aide Cheng Fang-kuo (鄭方國) to collect seven people’s names for him and claimed a total of NT$5,687,551 in payments for legislative aides. Kwan yesterday said he was innocent, adding that such activity was common practice in the legislature. Former KMT legislator Wu Cherng-dean (吳成典) was indicted by the Kinmen Prosecutors Office in 2008 on similar charges. His case is pending in the Kinmen District Court.
■CRIME
Mislabeled clothing seized
About 14,000 garments carrying “Made in Taiwan” labels that were actually made in China were confiscated during a raid on a Chiayi City warehouse on Thursday. Acting on a tip-off, female investigators from the Chiayi City branch of the Bureau of Investigation posed as customers of a hair salon and discovered the salon was selling Chinese-made clothing with the MIT label, deputy division chief Chang You-jen (張尤仁) said. Chang said police believe the husband of the salon owner, surnamed Chen (陳), was the mastermind of the operation. Chen is suspected of importing low-cost Chinese apparel and having workers replace the “Made in China” labels with “Made in Taiwan” ones before selling the clothing under the “Wuge” brand. The clothes cost between NT$100 and NT$200 per item, but sold for twice to three times to distributors around the country, Chang said.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
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