CRIME
Signature suspects indicted
Three suspects, including a hotel operator in Kinmen County, have been indicted for allegedly buying signatures for tycoon Terry Gou (郭台銘) to help him gain endorsements needed to run in the presidential election. The hotel operator, surnamed Lin (林), entrusted two of his female employees with NT$40,000 (US$1,289) to collect 200 signatures for Gou’s petition drive in October last year, the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement yesterday. Using the money, the two decided to pay people NT$100 apiece for their signatures, and collected 156, prosecutors said. However, some people who gave their signatures complained of not receiving the promised payout, prosecutors said, adding that the two employees later pocketed NT$29,000 of the NT$40,000 Lin gave them. The three suspects were later questioned, with Lin taken into custody and his employees released on NT$100,000 and NT$50,000 bail respectively after questioning, prosecutors said. Under Article 87 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法), those found guilty of offering cash payments or other undue benefits in exchange for signatures could face a jail sentence of one to seven years and a fine of between NT$1 million and NT$10 million.
FOREIGN AID
Rice given to Philippines
The government donated 1,000 tonnes of rice to the Philippines for disaster relief on Thursday. The donation was made through Representative to the Philippines Wallace Chow (周民淦), and received by Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan Chairman and Resident Representative Silvestre III Hernando Bello. Chow said several typhoons hit the Philippines, severely compromising rice production in some provinces and leading to a shortage. Taiwan has promised to donate a total of 2,000 tonnes of rice, the first batch being on Thursday, with another 1,000 tonnes to be handed over when the need arises, Chow said. Bello said that Taiwan’s donation would help disadvantaged and vulnerable Filipinos. Bello added that Taiwan’s minimum wage increase from NT$26,400 to NT$27,470 this year benefited 120,000 Filipino factory migrant workers and is significant to them.
CULTURE
Writer Ma Sen passes
The Ministry of Culture paid its respects to writer, playwright and literary critic Ma Sen (馬森), who died in Canada on Dec. 3 at 91 years old, it said in a statement on Thursday. Minister of Culture Shih Che (史哲) said Ma’s knowledge spanned the Chinese-speaking world and the West. He wrote contemporary novels and plays with a sharp, vivid style, showing care for literature and society, Shih said. Isolation (孤絕), the title of one of his novels, has become synonymous with the modern individual and left a mark on readers, Shih added. Ma’s works were heavily influenced by existentialism and focused on the lonely Taiwanese soul amid East-West cultural conflicts, the ministry said. Ma’s one-act plays often centered on family conflicts and the individual’s struggle to escape traditional confines, introducing absurdism to Taiwan and the Sinophone world, it said. Born as Ma Fu-hsing (馬福星) in 1932 in China, Ma came to Taiwan in 1949. He obtained degrees at National Taiwan Normal University, Canada’s University of British Columbia and the University of Paris. He co-founded and was editor-in-chief of Europe Magazine with classmates in France. He taught at several universities in Taiwan and abroad, while working as editor-in-chief at Unitas Publishing Co.
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
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
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
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