DIPLOMACY
France’s Olivier Cadic lands
French Senator Olivier Cadic has arrived on his third visit to Taiwan and is to meet with high-level government officials over the next four days, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Cadic, the vice president of the French Senate’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces, is to be the guest of honor at banquets hosted by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Roy Lee (李淳) and Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應), chairperson of the Taiwan-France Interparliamentary Amity Association, the ministry said. The senator is also scheduled to meet with French business representatives and expatriates in Taiwan and visit Penghu County, it said. Cadic’s visit is the fourth by a French parliamentary delegation this year.
CULTURE
Ministry obtains Paris booth
Taiwan has secured a display area in Paris for the Cultural Olympiad next year, Minister of Culture Shih Che (史哲) said on Saturday. With the Paris Olympics scheduled for July 26 to Aug. 11 next year and the Summer Paralympics for Aug. 28 to Sept. 8 next year, a Cultural Olympiad is taking place across France to celebrate the upcoming athletic competitions. The Cultural Olympiad is to conclude at the end of the Paralympics. Shih, who is visiting Europe, said that Taiwan would attend the cultural celebration to showcase the nation. As next year is also the 30th anniversary of the Taiwan Cultural Center in Paris, Shih said: “We have already rented an area for Taiwan’s booth. Taiwan will not miss out.” The booth would focus on Taiwan’s freedom, democracy, human rights and cross-strait relations, he said. These issues would be addressed using a wide range of medis, including literature, film and fine art depicted using technology, he said.
DEFENSE
More corporals to be trained
The Ministry of National Defense has allocated funding to train more corporals after the government last year announced that the length of compulsory military service would be extended from four months to one year from January next year. The budget for next year, released on Aug. 31, showed that the ministry would promote 1,000 corporals from its pool of one-year draftees. Next year, Taiwan would have about 9,127 one-year draftees and 69,523 four-month conscripts, the ministry said. The new budget means that one in nine one-year draftees could be recruited as corporals. The number of one-year draftees is forecast to climb to about 35,050 in 2027, while that of four-month conscripts would drop to about 32,731.
CRIME
Doctor’s sentence upheld
The Supreme Court on Sept. 12 upheld a four-year sentence handed to a Taichung-based doctor charged with negligent homicide after he was found guilty of giving illegal injections that caused three heroin addicts seeking to treat their withdrawal symptoms to die of shock. The doctor, surnamed Lin (林), was convicted of illegally administering the jabs, which contained propofol, an anesthetic, mixed with anticholinergics, which are restricted substances. Taichung prosecutors found that the three addicts all died of shock at Lin’s clinic shortly after receiving the injections between June 2015 and April 2016. The Taichung District Court sentenced Lin to six years in jail on the grounds that he ignored the potential risks when administering the injections. The High Court’s Taichung branch reduced the sentence to four years after Lin reached settlements with all three families. The Supreme Court’s verdict is final and cannot be appealed.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
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