DIPLOMACY
Ma departs for summit
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday departed for Singapore to attend the Asia Future Summit being held today and tomorrow, his office said. Ma was invited by the Chinese-language Lianhe Zaobao newspaper to speak at the summit, which is being organized for the first time by the Straits Times and the Business Times to mark the contribution of former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) to promoting peace across the Taiwan Strait, the statement said. During the visit, Ma is also to lead a delegation of 30 Taiwanese students from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation’s Dajiu Academy to visit Singapore’s public housing units, port operation control centers and the Singapore City Gallery, it said.
DIPLOMACY
Paris deputy mayor to visit
Paris Deputy Mayor Jean-Luc Romero-Michel on Monday announced a plan to visit Taiwan and attend the LGBT Pride parade at the end of this month. In addition to making the announcement on X after meeting with Representative to France Francois Wu (吳志中) on Monday, Romero-Michel said: “I reaffirmed my support against pressure from China.” Taiwan, the first nation in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage, is to hold the parade on Oct. 28. “I will be there,” Romero-Michel said. As deputy mayor, Romero-Michel is in charge of human rights affairs, and is at the forefront of supporting democracy and freedom. He has attended many demonstrations in Paris in support of the rights of Uighurs and Tibetans. He has also on several occasions publicly supported Taiwan and condemned China’s intimidation, including at the centenary celebration of the International Federation for Human Rights in October last year.
DIPLOMACY
St Lucia trip a success
Forty “youth ambassadors” have concluded a 10-day-trip to St Lucia to enhance bilateral exchanges and people-to-people ties with the Caribbean ally, said Constance Wang (王雪虹), head of the Department of NGO International Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Taiwanese aged 18 to 35 were in St Lucia from Sept. 2 to 11. Wang said that the ministry recruited people who have won cooking contests to be part of the delegation for the first time. Having four skilled young Taiwanese chefs in St Lucia was a success, she said, adding that they had planned to hold one baking workshop, but eventually held two due to strong demand. The delegation also hosted “Taiwan Cultural Camps” at four schools and met with local political leaders.
HEALTH
Mangosteens seized
Mangosteens imported from Thailand were stopped at the border for the second consecutive week because they contained excessive amounts of an insecticide, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. The mangosteens imported by Greather Fruit Trading Co contained 0.05mg/kg of the insecticide cypermethrin, well above the maximum permissible limit of 0.01mg/kg, the FDA said, adding that the 1,704kg batch would be destroyed or returned to its country of origin. Mangosteens imported by the same company were also blocked at the border last week because they contained excessive levels of cadmium. The FDA’s weekly report on intercepted imports showed that 15 other goods, including Vietnamese durians, Japanese peaches and pears, and parsley from the Netherlands, were also either destroyed or returned to their country of origin.
‘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
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
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
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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