CRIME
Suspects ‘sent’ to China
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it is still trying to verify reports that six Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects were sent to China after being arrested in the self-governing Wa State, Myanmar. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said a lack of official relationships with either Myanmar or the de facto independent Wa State government made verifying information about the matter difficult, but that the ministry would continue to work with the Ministry of Justice, the National Police Agency and the National Immigration Agency to closely follow the case and ensure any Taiwanese are extradited back to Taiwan to face trial. On Wednesday, a WeChat account affiliated with the Wa State government posted a video that it said showed the extradition of nearly 300 telecom fraud suspects, including six from Taiwan, to China. According to the report, the suspects were handed over to Chinese police after being apprehended in Wa State’s territory. The arrests were made as part of a joint crackdown on telecom fraud launched by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security in cooperation with law enforcement agencies in Myanmar, Laos and Thailand in August, the report said.
CRIME
Two killed in fight
An early morning street fight involving sanitation workers in Taipei yesterday has left two men dead and one in critical condition, police said. A report of people fighting on Lanzhou Street in Datong District (大同) was received at 4:36am, police said. When officers arrived at the scene, they found two men — a 56-year-old surnamed Kao (高) and a 57-year-old surnamed Liao (廖) — lying in a pool of blood with no vital signs, police said. Kao and Liao, who sustained lacerations to the chest and left thigh respectively, were later pronounced dead, police added. A third man, a 58-year-old surnamed Wang (王), was in a critical condition after being stabbed in the chest, police said, adding that two paring knives, one folding knife and a baton were found at the scene. According to police, there was mutual enmity between Kao and Wang, who worked together as municipal garbage collectors. Police said a preliminary investigation indicated that Kao and his friend Liao went to Wang’s residence intending to start a fight, but the exact cause was still under investigation.
CRIME
Teacher guilty of sex crime
A teacher who had sex with a sixth-grade student multiple times in school and later gave birth to his child has been sentenced to a jail term of 17-and-a-half years, the Taoyuan District Court said. In a verdict handed down on Thursday last week, the court said that the teacher forced the student — who was under the age of consent — to have sex with her nine times during class breaks from Feb. 25 to June 23, 2020. The teacher became pregnant in May 2020, with a paternity test later showing that the student was the father, the court said. The case was exposed by the student’s father, who reported it to police, the verdict said. The court said that it handed the teacher a 17-and-a-half-year sentence in light of the severe impact of her actions on the student’s physical and mental development. Following the conviction, which can be appealed, the Taoyuan Department of Education on Wednesday said that the teacher had been dismissed and banned from working in schools for life.
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
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
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
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