POLITICS
Ko’s detention continues
Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is to be held incommunicado detention for another two months for alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City (京華城) case during his tenure as Taipei mayor. Ko decided not to appeal the Taipei District Court’s decision on Nov. 1, which agreed to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office’s request to extend his detention. Ko’s lawyers could appeal the decision until yesterday, and they did not. It means his detention would be extended to Jan. 4 next year, unless the court decides to release him on bail. Aside from Ko, other major suspects in the case being held in detention include Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), chairman of the Core Pacific Group (威京集團), which was in charge of the controversial Core Pacific City redevelopment project, Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) and then-deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲). Prosecutors said Sheen allegedly paid bribes of NT$47.4 million (US$1.47 million at the current exchange rate) to sway city government officials to substantially increase the floor area ratio — the amount of floor space a developer can build on a given plot of land — of the project.
MILITARY
Vintage bomb found
An army unit yesterday removed a “corroded” unexploded 227kg bomb from a construction site for a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) semiconductor plant in Kaohsiung, authorities said. The “severely corroded” bomb was found at the Nanzih Technology Industrial Park. Construction workers were briefly evacuated from the site while the army bomb disposal unit recovered the bomb. The device appeared to be from an “early period,” but its exact vintage could not be determined due to its “unclear serial number,” 8th Field Army spokeswoman Kung Chiung-yu (龔瓊玉) said. The bomb was later taken to a secure storage facility where it would be destroyed, Kung said. The area where it was found had been used by the Japanese Navy as a fuel plant during World War II and it was later converted into a refinery, the Bureau of Cultural Heritage’s Web site said. “We prioritize the safety of on-site personnel and will collaborate with the relevant authorities to adhere to the prescribed procedures,” TSMC said in a statement.
CRIME
Pager probe closed
Taipei prosecutors yesterday said they had closed a probe into pagers that exploded in Lebanon in September, dealing a deadly blow to Iran-backed Hezbollah, saying no Taiwanese citizens or companies were involved. Security sources have previously said the pagers carried the name of Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, a company which has said that it did not produce them. The government has also said the pagers were not made in Taiwan. Taipei prosecutors said in a statement the AR-924 pager model that exploded in Lebanon was manufactured, traded and shipped by a firm called Frontier Group Entity, and made outside of Taiwan. However, Gold Apollo had authorized the company to use the Apollo trademark, they said. “There is no evidence indicating that any domestic manufacturers or individuals were accomplices in the relevant explosions, contravening the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, or engaging in other illegal activities,” they said in a statement. “No concrete evidence of criminal activity has been discovered in this case, nor have any specific individuals been implicated in any criminal activity, following a comprehensive investigation.”
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
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
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
RSS