■ Society
Suicide jumper hits passerby
A suicide jumper leaped from a hospital building yesterday, landing on a passer-by and seriously injuring her. According to the victim's husband, Lai Pei-ching was leaving St. Joseph's Hospital in Yuanlin County when the man jumped from one of the floor's in the 11-story hospital. "He landed on a parked car, bounced up and landed on my wife," he told the Broadcasting Corp of China. The man died on the spot and Lai was rushed into the hospital's operation room for surgery for a fractured skull. "She is in critical condition," a nurse said. Taiwan has one of the highest suicide rates in Asia, with seven people committing suicide every day, averaging one suicide every three-and-a-half hours.
■ Maritime
Coast guard brings boat back
The coast guard authorities yesterday escorted home a fishing boat allegedly hijacked by nine Chinese crew members who tried to sail it to the US, coast guard officers said. The Chinese fishermen on board the Hsiang Man Fu 31 were immediately whisked away for interrogation after the 150-tonne Hsiang Man Fu 31 returned to its base in the northern Keelung port, they said. The nine were accused of tying up captain Liu Hsin-chi (劉新吉) and chief engineer Chuang Ka-chi (莊改明) on Aug. 30 when the ship was in waters off Hawaii and diverting it towards the US west coast. The US Coast Guard spotted the vessel off California on Sept. 14 and urged Taiwan to take custody of the ship or it would face expulsion, the officers said. Seven Taiwanese coast guard officers were dispatched to take control of Hsiang Man Fu 31 and sail it home. The ship was joined by a Taiwanese patrol vessel near Hawaii. The two Taiwanese crew members were unharmed and two other Chinese crew members were not involved in the hijacking, the officers added.
■ Society
Man makes bad proposal
A love-sick Taipei man, who asked a woman to marry him in front of her husband, is being sued by the furious husband, local news media reported yesterday. The man, a van driver, identified by his surname, Lee, had been having an affair with his married colleague since April this year, a local Chinese-language newspaper said. He loved the woman so much that he finally went to her home to propose to her in front of her surprised husband and family, the paper said. The dumbfounded husband sued the couple for adultery, a crime that carries a prison sentence, the paper said.
■ Culture
Cartoon contest opens
An international contest for cartoonists, the 2002 Taipei International Cartoon Contest, opened yesterday in Taipei. The contest, with "world peace" and "counter-terrorism" as its themes, has drawn 938 works from artists of 40-odd countries, but only 60 works were put on display, including 20 works judged to be "excellent" and five as "best." Authors of excellent and best works will get cash prizes of various amounts in a ceremony today, organizers said. Cartoonists from China, eastern Europe and South America accounted for 60 percent of the prize winners while only two Taiwan artists made the grade, the organizers said. The display, which opened yesterday, will run until Nov. 10. Renowned artists will give instruction on cartooning at the exhibition at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
Staff writer, with agencies
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all