This Week in Taiwan 1025-1101
October 26: The hearing on the license renewal of CtiTV News was held. During the nearly five hours of debate, the National Communications Commission (NCC) raised eight major questions, and CtiTV responded with a nine-point rebuttal. Want Want China Chairman Tsai Eng-meng personally attended the hearing. The NCC is expected to make a final determination by December 11.
October 26: Microsoft announced for new plans to invest in Taiwan's digital economy, including setting up landing data center, a cloud computing team, and an industrial ecosystem as well as injecting resources in international data security. This is Microsoft's largest investment in Taiwan in 31 years. The plans are expected to bring more than NT$300 billion (about US$10.5 billion) in economic value and create more than 30,000 job opportunities.
October 27: The Taiwan Railways Administration announced that the electrified south-link line is expected to reopen on December 23. The Puyuma Express and Tze-Chiang lines will both resume operations, which is expected to increase weekend and holiday capacity by 13 percent and allow passengers to save up to 27 minutes traveling from Kaohsiung to Taitung. The south-link railway from Chaozhou in Pingtung to Ziben in Taitung is 123.4 kilometers (76.7 miles). In 2019, the section from Chaozhou to Fangliao in Pingtung completed electrification. The Fangliao to Zhiben section resuming operations starting December 23 represents the comprehensive electrification of Taiwan's cross-island railway.
October 28: The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) misplaced coronavirus (COVID-19) test samples. A Taiwanese businessman who returned to Taiwan from China's Jiangsu Province was named Case No. 530. Because the mainland has not exported any coronavirus cases for eight months, China watched the case with great attention. Later, Case No. 530 tested negative three consecutive times, and the CECC found that the actual confirmed case is a Taiwanese man who returned to Taiwan from France (Case No. 536). The CECC admitted negligence and removed the Taiwanese businessman from Jiangsu from the list of infected people.
October 29: The 29-year-old Air Force Captain Chu Kuan-meng piloted a single-seat Northrop F-5E fighter jet to carry out basic combat and flight training, but the jet crashed in the sea surrounding Taitung, potentially due to the failure of the right engine two minutes after takeoff. Chu parachuted into the sea but was found dead from severe head injuries. Chu is survived by his parents, wife, and a one-year-old daughter. This incident marks the Taiwan military's sixth air crash in five years and the 15th military officer to die in the line of duty this year.
October 30: The central government indicated that once Taiwan lifts import restrictions on pork containing ractopamine, local self-governance ordinances mandating inspection of zero ractopamine will become invalid, triggering backlash and reaction from various localities. The Taoyuan City Council fired the first shot by passing an amended food safety ordinance, imposing more stringent regulations that beef, chicken, and pork prepared for human consumption within the city many not contain beta-adrenergic agonist chemicals. Violators may be subject to a fine up to NT$100,000 (about US$3,500).
November 1: A Malaysian female student who attended Chang Jung Christian University in Tainan was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and killed on the evening of October 28. The police arrested the 28-year-old suspect who admitted sexual assault and murder and that he unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap another female student at the end of September. The prosecution's request to detain the suspect based on suspected murder and abandonment of the related corpse was approved.
It was later found that the police did not properly report to the higher-level authorities an earlier case last month involving the unsuccessful kidnap of the university student, allowing the suspect to succeed on a later attempt. The chief of the Guiren Precinct, Tainan City Police Department, was disciplined and transferred to a new position.