DIPLOMACY
Thrower starts at AIT
Pope Thrower on Wednesday started his role as spokesman for the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Thrower was director for public engagement at the US embassy in Seoul prior to joining the AIT, which represents Washington’s interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties. His previous overseas assignments also included serving as spokesman for the US embassy in Hanoi and assistant spokesman at its embassy in Islamabad, the AIT said in a statement yesterday afternoon. Thrower has also served in Chengdu, China, and held Washington-based roles at the Pakistan Desk and the Sri Lanka and Maldives Desk, it said. In the same statement, the AIT introduced its new deputy spokesman, Andy Dilbert, who took office on Friday last week. Dilbert served as spokesman at the US embassy in Algeria before joining the AIT. His other assignments outside the US include serving as cultural and educational attache in Haiti and deputy cultural attache in Israel, the statement said.
CRIME
E-cigarette arrests made
A Taiwanese couple have been arrested on suspicion of unlawfully importing materials to produce e-cigarette cartridges, the National Police Agency’s Third Special Police Corps said on Wednesday. In December last year, it received information about a group led by a man surnamed Chang (張) that was operating a large e-cigarette factory in Taichung, the corps said. During an investigation, the group relocated its operations multiple times, the corps said. In late May, a task force raided three locations in Taichung, arresting Chang and his female partner, surnamed Lee (李), and detaining six Thai women who had overstayed their tourist visas, it said. The task force seized 940,000 e-cigarette cartridges, 13,298 vape pens, three large barrels of nicotine and 306 cans of flavorings, it said. The material had a combined estimated value of NT$140.6 million (US$4.28 million), it added. The task force also confiscated more than NT$10.15 million in cash, it said. The corps said that the suspects illegally imported nicotine and flavorings from China, mixed them with base liquids and unidentified compounds, and packaged them into cartridges and refill bottles. The suspects set up an online sales system using fake accounts to evade taxes, the corps said.
CRIME
Canadian man indicted
A Canadian was indicted on Thursday for allegedly smuggling a large amount of cannabis into Taiwan, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said. The office said in its indictment that the 31-year-old Canadian man, surnamed Awram, is suspected of conspiring with a man using the pseudonym David Du to smuggle the drugs into Taiwan. Du arranged flight tickets and accommodation, while Awram was responsible for bringing the marijuana into the country, it said, adding that he was to be paid C$2,000 to C$8,000 (US$1,441 to US$5,765) for his role. Awram was carrying 21 packets of cannabis with a net weight of 19.8kg in two suitcases as well as NT$12,700 and C$200 in cash when he arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on March 29, the indictment said. On March 28, suitcases were handed to Awram by Du, who accompanied Awram to Vancouver International Airport to check the luggage, it said. He also gave Awram C$700, it added. Awram was charged with contraventions of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), prosecutors said. Due to the large quantity of cannabis involved, a prison sentence of 14 years and a fine of NT$100,000 was being sought, the office said.
‘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
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
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
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