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.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
‘NEW NORMAL’: A Japanese official said the drills show that the PLA can carry out large maneuvers without announcement, ‘leaving all of us struggling to respond’ Beijing’s recent naval exercises have left Taiwan and the US “struggling” for a response as the two nations drew different conclusions about the implications of the Chinese military drills, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Sunday. Taiwan has been bracing for China to hold military drills to retaliate against President William Lai’s (賴清德) diplomatic visits abroad, the outlet said, referring to Lai’s Nov. 30 to Dec. 6 tour to Taiwan’s three South Pacific allies, which included stopovers in Hawaii and Guam. Beijing announced partial air traffic restrictions across seven time zones along its coast from Shanghai to Hong Kong over two days. Yet,
CONNECTED: A survey of students from third grade to university seniors showed that 80% had cellphones, spending on average 37.27 hours per week on them Line users in Taiwan made an average of 100 million voice or video calls each day this year, while “like/thumbs up” was the most frequently used emoji in reaction to a message on the service, the Tokyo-based operator of the messaging app said yesterday. The app’s ability to adjust the quality of video and voice calls helps contribute to its frequent use, LY Corp said in a statement. As of Nov. 30, Line users in Taiwan spent an average of about one hour per day on the app, often checking it in the morning for messages that might have come through overnight,
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