MILITARY
Boot camp passing rate high
A total of 5,277 conscripts serving since the start of the year have taken their boot camp tests, with 98.3 percent of them passing, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, citing Ministry of National Defense data. Military service for men was increased from four months to one year in January, with the aim of strengthening the country’s combat readiness in the face of threats from China. Those who failed the tests would not be entitled to the NT$10,000 monthly allowance and would only receive a basic monthly salary of NT$10,550, the ministry said. The military is mainly a volunteer force of about 215,000, with conscripts serving a supporting role. As of June, there were 152,885 active-duty voluntary military personnel in the armed forces.
Photo courtesy of the Penghu Defense Command via CNA
DIPLOMACY
MOFA official promoted
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) deputy spokesperson Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) has been named the ministry’s next spokesperson, the ministry said over the weekend. Hsiao is to replace outgoing spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健), who was named the country’s new representative to Poland last month. Hsiao is likely to assume the post after Liu leaves for Poland later this month or early next year. He joined the ministry in 2002, and was previously posted in Miami, Singapore and Austria before becoming deputy spokesman in 2022.
SOCIETY
Court rules on drone case
The Taoyuan District Court has found two men who repeatedly flew a drone near Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport last year not guilty of endangering flight safety. Lien Yung-wang (連永旺) and Huang Kai-hui (黃凱暉) operated an uncrewed aerial vehicle in the vicinity of the airport at least 10 times between June 24 and July 25 last year, the ruling said. However, there was insufficient evidence to prove the pair’s conduct met the requirements for criminal conviction under the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法). The ruling can be appealed. During the trial, 62-year-old Lien said he was using the drone to “simply take aerial photographs of beautiful scenery,” but it entered the restricted area after he lost control of it due to signal problems. Huang, 35, said he had merely driven Lien to the area and waited in the car, and that he was unaware of the drone’s flight range. The drone’s activity disrupted traffic at the airport, with the most serious incident leading to a temporary suspension of takeoffs and landings at about 3pm on June 29 last year.
CRIME
Tutor center official indicted
The deputy director of an after-school tutoring center in New Taipei City last week was indicted for allegedly sexually harassing six girls aged nine to 13 while playing games and providing academic guidance. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), is suspected of touching the breasts, thighs and buttocks of several girls while playing hide-and-seek, tag and other games, and touching their breasts while they were sleeping, the indictment said. Prosecutors charged him under the Criminal Code and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法). They also requested that the acts be considered aggravated, in accordance with the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act (兒童及少年福利與權益保障法). Chiu denied the guilt, saying he might have inadvertently touched the girls. The case came to light after one of the girls asked the head of the center for help and described Chiu’s actions. Meanwhile, another girl said she had nightmares about being harassed.
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
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
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