DIPLOMACY
Graham sends warning
If the US fails to back Ukraine enough in the war against Russia, that would send a signal to China that it could take Taiwan, US Senator Lindsey Graham said during a visit to Kyiv on Friday. Graham, a Republican, said after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that US President Joe Biden should send more weapons to Ukraine in addition to the more than US$35 billion of weaponry and military hardware already provided. “There can be no backing off of helping Ukraine because if we fail here, there goes Taiwan,” Graham told reporters. “If you’re running for president, as a Republican or Democrat, I don’t know how you can make the argument that we’re stronger against China if we pull the plug on Ukraine — that makes zero sense. What I want the Chinese to see is that invading a neighbor is not as easy as it looks.” “The best way to protect Taiwan and world order is for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to lose,” he added.
SOCIETY
Children swept out to sea
A 12-year-old boy has been found dead and a female junior-high school student remains missing after the two were swept out to sea in separate incidents along the east coast yesterday, local authorities said. Emergency services in Hualien County at about noon received a report of a child at sea. Coast guard personnel rescued the boy, surnamed Chou (周), but failed to locate a second boy, surnamed Lee (李), who was also missing. Lee, Chou and a third boy had been playing on the shore when Chou was swept into the sea by a strong wave, police said. Lee jumped in the water to rescue him, while the other boy ran home to call for help. Lee was later found unresponsive with a head injury. Meanwhile, authorities continued to search for a female student, surnamed Liu (柳), who went missing after being swept into the sea while walking along the shore in Yilan County.
DIPLOMACY
NZ lawmakers to visit
Two New Zealand lawmakers are to visit Taiwan from today through Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday. They are to meet with senior officials to discuss issues of mutual concern, it said. Brooke Van Velden, deputy head of ACT New Zealand, and James McDowall, ACT spokesperson for Immigration, Defense, Tourism, Internal Affairs, Economic Development, Civil Defense, and Research, Science, and Innovation, are members of the New Zealand All-Party Parliamentary Group, which was formed in March to promote exchanges with Taiwanese lawmakers. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan-New Zealand economic cooperation agreement.
SOCIETY
Body of river tracer found
The remains of a river tracing group member swept away by a surging waterfall in Pingtung County last weekend were recovered on Saturday, rescuers said. The remains of the man surnamed Hsiao (蕭) were spotted on Friday, but search-and-rescue personnel were unable to retrieve the body until the next day due to poor weather conditions, the county’s Bureau of Fire and Emergency Services said. The incident occurred at the Flying Dragon Waterfall in Wutai Township (霧台) on May 20, when five of the 10-people group were swept away by surging waters triggered by heavy rainfall. The remaining members of the group were stranded on a cliff and rescued by a helicopter the following morning.
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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