●Dozens of Ethnic Tibetan students staged a candle-lit vigil inside the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing on Monday, saying it was to pray for the dead. Police kept reporters well away from the peaceful protest.
● Washington said on Monday that it would increase radio broadcasts to Tibet via Voice of America and Radio Free Asia as China clamped down on media coverage.
● Italian media on Monday questioned Pope Benedict's silence and speculated that the pontiff did not want to antagonize Beijing.
● UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called on China to show restraint in handling protests and urged all concerned "to avoid further confrontation and violence."
● But the UN Security Council will likely keep silent about China's crackdown on demonstrations in Tibet, mostly because of the belief that provoking Beijing would accomplish nothing, diplomats said on Monday.
● German police detained 26 Tibetan demonstrators on Monday after they tried to force their way into the Chinese Consulate in Munich.
● Around 200 protesters threw eggs, tomatoes and sticks at the Chinese embassy in London on Monday.
● Some 300 protesters rallied on Monday outside the Chinese consulate in Barcelona, Spain, to denounce Beijing's crackdown.
● A protester who tried to drape the Tibetan flag over the Yahoo billboard in Times Square in New York was arrested.
● In Switzerland, some 400 people protested yesterday, demanding the International Olympic Committee (IOC) intervene. They chanted a prayer and waved Tibetan flags and banners as they marched through Lausanne toward IOC headquarters.
● The IOC said on Monday that it hoped the unrest in Tibet would not prevent the Olympic torch from making its trek through China.
● Tibetan activists sent a letter to the IOC yesterday demanding that the Tibetan region and Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu provinces be excluded from the torch relay.
● The Swiss Olympic Committee on Monday urged the IOC to release a statement and urged IOC head Jacques Rogge to remind China of the world's expectations on human rights and civil liberties.
● John Kenwood, a 19-year-old tourist from Victoria, Canada, said before leaving Lhasa that he saw street cleaners wearing orange vests emblazoned with the Beijing Olympics symbol.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
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