CRIME
Two charged with spying
Two men accused of accepting money from Chinese state security services in exchange for setting up an espionage ring in Taiwan were yesterday indicted on corruption and national security charges, the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office said. Businessman Hu Chi-yao (胡繼堯) and former army staff sergeant Chen Min-cheng (陳敏政), who retired in 2018, worked in concert with members of China’s People’s Armed Police to recruit members of the Taiwanese military to spy for Beijing, prosecutors said. In November 2019, Chen and Hu attempted to convince a major with the Penghu Defense Command surnamed Lin (林) to obtain classified military intelligence for China in exchange for money, prosecutors added. Lin refused and instead provided nonvital information, such as the military’s “physical examination standards,” which he downloaded from the Internet to get Chen and Hu off his back, they said. From September 2019 to April last year, Chen tried to lure a Taiwanese businessman working in Vietnam to work for China, but that attempt also failed, they added.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Japan delegation to visit
A delegation from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), led by Diet member Norikazu Suzuki, is to arrive in Taiwan tomorrow for a four-day visit to meet with Taiwanese presidential candidates, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Apart from Suzuki, who is the head of the LDP’s Youth Division, the group includes seven other members of the Diet, members of the Youth Division, as well as local representatives, the ministry said. The 65-member LDP delegation is scheduled to meet separately with all presidential nominees, as well as high-ranking government officials, it said. The group is also to visit National Taiwan University in Taipei and tourist attractions in Yilan, as well as pay a visit to former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) grave at a military cemetery in New Taipei City, it said. The group’s visit would allow for more exchanges and collaboration between young politicians in Taiwan and Japan, the ministry said. The LDP’s Youth Division has been an important window for bilateral exchanges between Taiwan and Japan while also nurturing future top Japanese leaders, it said.
SPORTS
Kouame gets ROC card
Soccer player Ange Samuel Kouame (安以恩), a naturalized Republic of China (ROC) citizen, promised to do his best if selected to play in Taiwan’s national team. Born in the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, the 27-year-old on Monday received his ROC identification card, making him Taiwan’s second naturalized soccer player, the National Immigration Agency’s Tainan service center said in a statement yesterday. The statement quoted Kouame, who plays for the Tainan-based Taiwan Steel Group Football Club in the eight-team Taiwan Football Premier League, as saying that he would seize every opportunity to represent Taiwan in international competitions and perform to the best of his ability. Kouame joined the Taiwan Leopard Cat Football Club five years ago, winning the league’s Golden Boot award in the 2020 season with the team after scoring 20 goals, and was last year recognized as the semi-professional league’s player of the year. Kouame has also led his team to finish top of the league multiple times since starting his soccer career in Taiwan. He attributed his success to his Taiwanese wife, who gave birth to their first child in June.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
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