■ Fishing
One missing after boat sinks
Five crew members of a Keelung fishing boat have been rescued, but one other remains unaccounted for after the boat sank off the Pengchiayu islet Wednesday night, the national rescue center said yesterday. The Keelung-based Fusheng No. 266 fishing boat caught fire Wednesday when it was operating in waters some 110km north of Pengchiayu, a small islet northeast of Keelung in northern Taiwan. Five of the six crew members were rescued by other Taiwanese fishing boats operating in the region. The rescued men included the Taiwanese skipper of the vessel as well as two Taiwanese and two Vietnamese workers. The national rescue center sent helicopters to airlift the rescued crewmen to Taipei hospitals for medical treatment. Because they all sustained injuries in the boat fire, their conditions remain serious, according to hospital sources. The missing crew member was a Chinese fishery worker whose identity has yet to be determined, the rescue center said.
■ Defense
Taiwan taken off blacklist
Taiwan is set to buy a range of tanks from Germany after Berlin removed Taipei from an arms exports blacklist, it was reported yesterday. The odds of Taiwan buying 55-tonne Leopard 2 tanks made by Germany's Krauss-Maffei Wegmann have shortened after "the German government quietly removed Taiwan from its list of bans on arms export," a local Chinese-language newspaper said. The paper said Germany's ruling Social Democrat party and its economic ministry were in favor of the export of such military technology as Leopard 2 tanks to Taiwan, although the Green Party -- the minority party in the governing coalition -- opposes it. The Taiwan army earlier this year offered to buy M-A2 tanks from the US, but critics said that Taiwan's terrain would be difficult for the 70-tonne M-A2s to handle.
■ Cross-strait ties
China accused of spying
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday accused China of bugging the phones of Taiwan's overseas offices to thwart its efforts to win diplomatic recognition, CNA reported. The agency quoted Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) as saying the problem was so serious that anti-bugging efforts will be reinforced. The agency also quoted unidentified officials as saying China had intercepted information that nearly helped it foil several of Taiwan's secret diplomatic offensives. The officials said they suspect China learned about Vice President Annette Lu's (呂秀蓮) plan to visit Indonesia unannounced in August and tried unsuccessfully to get Jakarta to cancel her visa. Lu met several Indonesian officials during her trip, drawing diplomatic protests from China. Jakarta later stated it had not invited Lu and had no plans to open diplomatic links with Taiwan.
■ Foreign affairs
Vice minister sworn in
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) chaired a swearing-in ceremony yesterday for new Vice Minister Tu Chou-seng (杜筑生), as well as for three Taiwan representatives to foreign countries and a new department chief. Tu, a veteran career diplomat familiar with French-speaking cultures in Africa, Europe and America, served as the Taiwan ambassador to Senegal for six years and five months. Chiou Jong-nan (邱榮男) and Wu Wen-ya (吳文雅) assumed the post of Taiwan representative to France and Malaysia, respectively.
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