HEALTHCARE
MOU signed with UK
Taiwan and the UK have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on health cooperation, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said in a statement on Monday. The MOU, which was signed on Friday last week, covers areas such as pandemic preparedness, digital health, health insurance, mental health and healthy aging, the ministry said, adding that it also expects it to serve as a guide for cooperation, including information exchanges and mutual visits. Ministry official Liu Li-ling (劉麗玲) described the MOU as a milestone in Taiwan-UK health cooperation, adding that London was particularly keen on establishing bilateral healthcare reciprocity. The details of the mooted reciprocal healthcare agreement are set to be discussed at a workshop, Liu added. The MOU was inked by Representative to the UK Kelly Hsieh (謝武樵) and British Representative to Taiwan John Dennis. “This new MOU on health cooperation marks a new level of ambition to deepen our existing collaboration on health,” Dennis said in a statement.
DIPLOMACY
Dutch visit canceled
A group of lawmakers from the Netherlands who were scheduled to visit Taiwan this week have canceled their trip due to the collapse of the coalition government there, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced late on Monday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said that the delegation of members of the Netherlands’ House of Representatives’ Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Committee was originally set to visit from Sunday to Friday. However, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced his resignation on Friday last week after 13 years in power after his coalition government collapsed over an internal row related to migration policy.
WEATHER
Temperatures to ease
Rainfall from a southeasterly wind system bringing moisture to the nation is expected to bring temperatures down by about 2°C for the rest of the week, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Daytime highs yesterday hovered at about 34°C to 35°C, down about 2°C from Monday, the bureau said, and the same weather pattern is expected to continue until the end of the week and even into Monday next week. The highest temperature recorded on Monday was 38.8°C at the bureau’s Jinlun monitoring station in Taitung County.
CRIME
Wuhu Group boss bailed
A Kaohsiung-based businesswoman who received a 10-and-a-half-year prison sentence for fraud in May has been released on bail after prosecutors questioned her on suspicion of committing similar financial crimes. The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office on Monday said that Wuhu Group boss Chen Chiu-pai (陳秋白) was released on bail of NT$3 million (US$95,785) following questioning. Law enforcement seized NT$79.8 million in cash and NT$16.33 million from bank accounts after raiding Wuhu Group’s offices in Kaohsiung, New Taipei City, Taichung, Changhua County and Tainan after a tip-off on Monday last week. Another 13 employees who were also brought in for questioning by prosecutors were released on bail of NT$150,000 to NT$1 million, prosecutors said. An initial probe showed that more than 10,000 people might have purchased fraudulent financial products from Wuhu Group, they said. Chen was convicted in May of contravening the Banking Act (銀行法) after being found guilty of amassing NT$21.1 billion from investors since 2013 through the sale of fraudulent financial products. Chen has appealed the sentence.
‘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
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