POLITICS
Belgian delegation arrives
A group of eight Belgian lawmakers has arrived in Taiwan for a six-day trip during which they are to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and discuss future cooperation on issues including human rights and supply chain resilience, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The delegation is led by Els Van Hoof of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party, who chairs the Chamber of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and the Belgium-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group. Van Hoof is also a cochair of the international Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. The delegation also includes Georges Dallemagne, who is a member of the Belgian parliament’s Chamber of Representatives, the ministry said in a press release. The delegates are also to meet with private enterprises and research institutes to discuss future collaboration on issues including gender equality, human rights, environmental protection and supply chain resilience, it added. Both Van Hoof and Dallemagne are known for their Taiwan-friendly stance, the ministry said. In July 2020, they initiated a motion that urged the Belgian government to support Taiwan’s participation in international bodies.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via CNA
CRIME
Boy detained after threat
An 18-year-old suspect has been detained for questioning after he allegedly left a message threatening to commit a “massacre” at the Taipei Municipal Heping High School, the Taipei Police Department said on Saturday. The suspect is a high-school student who lives in Taipei with his parents, the department said, adding he was arrested at his home in the morning. He was released in the custody of his parents after being questioned by police and prosecutors. The case is now in the hands of prosecutors, who are investigating the teenager for potentially violating the Criminal Code by engaging in public intimidation. The threatening message was left in an Instagram account linked to the Taipei high school last week. Its author warned students there not to show up for class today, as there would be a massacre near the school’s entrance at noon. The alarming message has since been removed, but it still caused concern and caught the attention of local authorities. On Saturday, police said the student was believed to have threatened the school out of anxiety.
ARTS
Filmmaker wins award
Taiwanese filmmaker Hsiao Mei-ling (蕭美玲) has won the Directors Guild of Japan Award for her documentary Parallel World (平行世界) at the biennial Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF). The award ceremony was held on Wednesday in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, a National Taipei University of Education news release said on Saturday. Hsiao, who teaches at the university’s Department of Arts and Design, is also known for Somewhere Over the Cloud (雲的那端), a documentary that won a special mention in the New Asian Currents Awards category at the YIDFF in 2007. In her acceptance speech, Hsiao said she was happy that her dream of winning another award at the festival had finally come to fruition. Parallel World, which took 12 years to make, chronicles the special bond between Hsiao and her daughter, Elodie, who has Asperger’s syndrome. The film shows how Hsiao accompanies her daughter in the process of self-seeking, self-recognition and finding a way out. The YIDFF was first held in 1989 and recognizes achievements in documentary filmmaking, as well as aiming to promote and popularize the genre. The event this year was held from Oct. 5 to Thursday last week.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
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