DIPLOMACY
Czech center to open in Taipei
The Czech Republic on Monday said it would open a new center this week to boost cultural and diplomatic ties in Taipei, a move likely to anger China. Although the EU and NATO member officially maintains a “one China” policy, its officials have sought to foster close ties with Taiwan. “The Czech Centre in Taiwan will launch its activity on Friday” with an exhibition of Czech photographs, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The Czech news agency CTK quoted Czech Centres Director-General Jitka Panek Jurkova as saying that Czechs “want to be seen and heard in Taipei.” “The Czech Centre in Taipei is designed to deepen the understanding among the Taiwanese public of traditional and especially contemporary Czech culture,” she added. The foreign ministry has 28 Czech Centres promoting the Czech Republic in 25 countries across the world, but not in China.
SOCIETY
Poisoning deaths rise to 6
A woman passed away yesterday, bringing the number of people who have died in an apparent case of food poisoning in Taipei to six, health officials said. The people became ill after in late March eating at a Taipei branch of Polam Kopitiam, a Malaysian restaurant chain where a deadly bongkrek acid poisoning outbreak occurred. The 46-year-old woman had a liver transplant in mid-April and was moved to a regular hospital ward on Wednesday last week, the Taipei Department of Health said. However, she was transferred to an intensive care unit after her condition worsened on Monday evening. She was unable to recover and passed away yesterday afternoon, the department said.
SPORTS
Rakuten player fired over DUI
The Rakuten Monkeys baseball team yesterday terminated the contract of outfielder Chiu Tan (邱丹) after he was caught the previous day after crashing his car while driving under the influence (DUI). The Monkeys, one of six teams in Taiwan’s CPBL, said 23-year-old Chiu had breached the terms of his contract and was fired with immediate effect. According to the National Highway Police Bureau, Chiu was determined to have been drunk driving using a breath alcohol test after he crashed his vehicle into a guardrail early on Monday morning on a northbound section of Freeway No. 1 near Tainan’s Madou District (麻豆). No one was injured in the apparent single-vehicle collision, the bureau said, indicating that the case had been handed over to the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office. Chiu apologized in a statement. “As a professional baseball player, a husband and father, I’m sorry I let everyone down,” he said, adding that he regretted that his actions had harmed the Monkeys’ reputation.
SPORTS
Taiwanese win gold in Hanoi
Taiwan won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the ninth Aerobic Gymnastics Asian Championship, which concluded on Monday in Hanoi, Vietnam. The three-day competition featured more than 300 athletes from 14 countries and territories competing in 18 events, including aerobic dance. Taiwanese Wang Fei-chu (王飛掬), 14, won gold in the girls’ singles, while Chueh Tzu-cheng (闕子承), 12, won bronze in boys’ singles. Together, they won silver in mixed doubles on Sunday. The two excelled in a sport that requires balance between difficult movements while achieving aesthetics through rigorous training, coach Chang Chun-chi (張淳智) said. “Dedication and hard work are essential to achieving top results in this competition,” he said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
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