CRIME
Fake banknotes reported
Police yesterday said they had received information about counterfeit NT$100 (US$3.29) banknotes in Yunlin County and were working to trace the source of the bills. Police said they had received word that businesses in a traditional market in Beigang Township (北港) had been given fake NT$100 bills all bearing the serial number CQ281880VJ. A task force would investigate the incident, police said. A vendor who received two of the notes at once said they had an “unusual texture” and identical serial numbers, police said. A resident wrote on social media that they also received fake banknotes while buying seafood at the market, police said. The reports follow an announcement on Wednesday that bogus NT$1,000 banknotes had been seized in the county.
HEALTH
Chinese positivity drops
The COVID-19 positivity rate among arrivals from China dropped to 11.8 percent on Wednesday, likely due to an easing of the pandemic across the Strait, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, adding that the data indicated there would be three waves of infections among them. On Wednesday, 201 of the 1,685 arrivals from China tested positive, down from one-quarter on Jan. 1, the CECC said. The first wave was among people from cities in China, while a second would likely arise after the Lunar New Year as city residents infect people in rural areas of China, it said, adding that there would be a reflected wave from rural to urban.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
President offers condolences
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday visited the Holy See’s apostolic nunciature in Taipei, where she offered condolences over the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Tsai, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and Stefano Mazzotti, the Vatican’s charge d’affaires at its Taiwan mission, made the visit together, the Presidential Office said in a statement. Tsai wrote: “May the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose humanity has a constant place in all our hearts, rest in eternal peace; and may the longstanding friendship between Taiwan and the Vatican remain firm and enduring,” the office said. Benedict passed away on Dec. 31.
SOCIETY
McDonald’s ordered to pay
A McDonald’s restaurant in Kaohsiung has been ordered to pay NT$4.72 million to the family of a 23-year-old employee who died several months after collapsing in a walk-in freezer. The Kaohsiung District Court said in its ruling on Wednesday last week that the part-time employee, surnamed Lee (李), had fainted while moving an estimated 1.1 tonnes of food for 40 minutes between the kitchen and the fifth-floor freezer of the Yixin branch of McDonald’s on May 29, 2021. Lee was taken to hospital in a taxi with help from the store manager and other employees, but died nearly four months later on Oct. 5 after a brain hemorrhage and entering septic shock. The Bureau of Labor Insurance initially said the incident was not work-related, determining that Lee had died due to “spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage combined with communicating hydrocephalus.” However, Lee’s parents sought NT$10.05 million from the McDonald’s branch to cover medical, funeral and other costs, accusing the employer of negligence and failure to comply with safety standards. The court ruled that there was a causal relationship between the work Lee had done on the day of his collapse and his death. The ruling can be appealed.
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
HSINCHU CASES: Five people among 35 who were reported being sick were still in hospital after eating at a vendor in a market in Jhubei, the local health agency said Thirty-five people have sought medical treatment for acute symptoms after allegedly eating banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from a vendor in Jhubei City (竹北), the Hsinchu County Public Health Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said that since Saturday, it has received several reports of suspected food poisoning from hospitals. The vendor has been ordered to temporarily suspend its business, it said, adding that tests were being conducted to determine whether the people had food poisoning, with results expected in about two weeks. A preliminary investigation showed that the people who sought treatment had recently eaten banh mi at a vendor at a retail market
GOOD MODEL: Speaking at his book launch, Law said that Taiwan is the most democratic Chinese-speaking country, which is why Hong Kongers relocated here China has suffocated Hong Kong’s civil society and its next target could be Taiwan, Nathan Law (羅冠聰), cofounder of the disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong political party Demosisto, said in Taipei yesterday. Law made the remarks at a launch in Taipei for his book When the Wind Blows — the Struggles for Freedom of Hong Kong (時代推著我們前行:羅冠聰的香港備忘錄). Law has been living in the UK since he fled Hong Kong in 2020, and the book is about his fighting for the cause of freedom in the area. He was granted political asylum in 2021. “Fleeing is a long and distressing process, but it also
IMITATING OTHERS? Tsai Ing-wen’s office said the former president rents a commercial unit for her personal office and had never used election funds to purchase real estate Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday confirmed that he used about NT$43 million (US$1.35 million) from his presidential election subsidy to purchase an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in May. Ko made the remarks after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) earlier in the day told a news conference that she received a tip-off that the TPP chairman had purchased a 48.76 ping (161.2m2) office unit at Jinan Building (濟南大樓), a commercial building in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正). Lin said that Ko purchased the unit on May 10, paying about NT$43 million in cash,