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.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
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