GOVERNMENT
Acting minister named
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯) has been appointed acting minister, following the resignation of Li Men-yen (李孟諺), Cabinet spokesman Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said on Tuesday. A permanent replacement would be announced at a later date, he said. Chen Yen-po has served in the transportation ministry for more than two decades. He has experience in the Department of Railways and Highways, the Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau and the Highway Bureau, and had served as chief secretary of the ministry, the ministry’s Web site shows. Li on Monday tendered his resignation to President William Lai (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) following revelations of a decade-long extramarital affair. His resignation was accepted by Cho on the same day.
FOOD SAFETY
Pepper fails inspections
A batch of mini pepper packs imported by Zensho Taiwan, which operates the Japanese restaurant chains Sukiya and Hamasushi in Taiwan, was seized at the border for failing inspections, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Tuesday. The 10.8kg shipment was found to contain 0.36 parts per million (ppm) of the pesticide acetamiprid, above the limit of 0.05ppm, as well as 0.08ppm of chlorpyrifos, a banned pesticide, the agency said. The company’s imports would be subject to random inspections at an increased rate of 20 to 50 percent, as opposed to the original 2 to 10 percent, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said. Additionally, two shipments of dried chili from China, both totaling 16,000kg, were seized after they were found to contain 0.003ppm and 0.004ppm of fipronil residue respectively. The legal limit for the pesticide is 0.002ppm, the FDA said. A total of 78 batches of dried chili from China have been inspected at the border over the past six months.
CRIME
Two indicted for tech theft
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office has indicted two men for allegedly stealing technology from their former Japan-based employer on behalf of a Chinese company, the office said on Tuesday. The men, surnamed Wu (吳) and Huang (黃), are suspected of copying and revealing the company’s core technology to a man surnamed Wang (王), who owns a precision industry company in China, prosecutors said. They are accused of breach of trust and obtaining records from another’s computer without good reason, in contravention of the Criminal Code, as well as contraventions of the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法) and Copyright Act (著作權法). Their actions are believed to have resulted in the company losing at least NT$12.3 billion (US$385.12 million). Wu, a research and development manager, and Huang, a senior engineer, were involved in designing and developing manufacturing processes for the company’s patented microactuators, prosecutors said. Wang approached Wu after setting up a research and development center in Taiwan to obtain technology for his Chinese company. He interviewed Wu in 2019, promising an annual salary of NT$5 million. He also transferred US$98,000 and US$66,000 to Wu and his wife, and agreed to give her spouse stocks and a paid nominal company position, prosecutors said. Wu then recruited Huang, after which they proceeded with the alleged crimes before resigning from the Japanese company in February and May 2020 respectively.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
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