This Week in Taiwan 0312-0318
March 13: After operating for 40 years, the second (Kuosheng) nuclear power plant has been officially shut down and disconnected. Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua stated that small-scale units for the Tongxiao power plant in Miaoli and the No. 8 unit at the Datan Power Plant in Guanyin District, Taoyuan, will be added. This, paired with solar photovoltaics, night-time pumped-storage hydroelectricity, and conventional hydraulic power, power supply will be sufficient. However, scholars have questioned that the No. 8 unit at Datan has yet to be tested, and the incorporation of pumped-storage hydroelectricity shows there may be a power supply crisis at any time in the future.
March 14: Digital images of the National Palace Museum were copied and leaked, even put on Baidu, Taobao and other websites for cheap sale. Deputy Director Huang Yung-tai confirmed that an estimated 100,000 images were leaked, and the museum is planning to retain legal counsel to claim damages based on intellectual property rights, request that the images be removed, or file lawsuits.
March 15: President Xiomara Castro of Honduras, a diplomatic ally of the Republic of China (Taiwan), stated on Twitter that she has instructed Foreign Minister Eduardo Reina to establish formal diplomatic relations with China. The United Daily News reported that Reina had face-to-face meetings with mainland Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng in January. The administration of President Tsai Ing-wen had known about the issue but concealed unfavorable diplomatic information. President Tsai will soon visit Central America but had excluded Honduras.
March 15: Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang of the National Communications Commission (NCC) is suspected of malfeasance in office and favoring of certain parties when handling Mirror TV's license application and was named criminal defendant by the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office. In January last year, Mirror TV obtained the first news station license issued by the NCC in a decade. Then in September, opposition party legislators exposed three audio recordings, with content indicating that founder Pei Wei told shareholders that then Premier Su Tseng-chang had asked Mr. Chen to let Mirror TV obtain a license as soon as possible. Former Secretary-General Hung Yao-fu even stated that this is the will of the president, but relevant parties have denied the allegation.
March 16: The Mini-Three Links, which have been interrupted for more than three years, will resume on March 25. R.O.C. nationals and their mainland Chinese spouses, no longer limited to Kinmen and Matsu residents, can travel to and from the mainland, but mainland Chinese still are not allowed to transit through the main island of Taiwan. Current caps on flights between Kinmen and Xiamen and Matsu will also be lifted.
March 16: The Kuomintang's (KMT) Central Electoral Strategy Report for fielding 2024 legislator candidates included Lee Chuan-chiao, former speaker of the Tainan City Council, and Legislator Fu Kun-chi, generating criticism that the committee list contains names of people associated with "black gold" corruption. In a Facebook post, New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih stated that he rejects the existence of "black gold" in any political party and called Chairman Eric Chu of the KMT to convey that he felt the committee list inappropriate. Lee has since resigned from the selection committee.
March 16: Lu Chi-ming, a former legislator affiliated with the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), and Hsia Fu-hsiang, a retired Navy major general, are suspected of inviting veteran generals to go to mainland China to attend banquets where Chinese Communist officials or retired generals of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) would be present. The acts are tantamount to letting mainland Chinese intelligence officials establish contact with Taiwan's retired generals. The prosecutor determined that Luo and Hsia helped the mainland develop organized networks and pressed charges against them for violating the National Security Act.
March 17: The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) decided to increase electricity prices by an average of 11 percent starting in April, an increase of a magnitude rarely seen in previous years. Residential, commercial, and industrial electricity prices all increased but with different calculation methods, making it the most complicated electricity price mechanism in history. According to the MOEA, the price increase will affect about 1.7 million households.
March 19: The Ma Ying-jeou Foundation announced that the former president will visit mainland China to pay respects to his ancestors and lead a delegation of young students to engage with mainland students. Mr. Ma will become the first former president of the Republic of China to set foot on the mainland in 74 years since the two sides of the Taiwan Strait became separately governed in 1949.