■Tiaoyutai
Officials express concern
Taiwan's Representative to Japan Lo Fu-chuan (羅福全) yesterday expressed Taiwan's concern to the Japanese Interchange Association (JIA) about a newspaper report that Tokyo has moved to reinforce its sovereignty claim over the Tiaoyutai Islands. Japan has claimed the uninhabited islands since 1895. Chinese claims are centuries old. Lo visited JIA Chairman Toshio Goto to assert the ROC's sovereignty over the Tiaoyutais. He asked the JIA and the Japanese government to verify the report and serve a detailed explanation to his office. The JIA is a quasi-official organization authorized to handle relations with Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties. The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest daily, reported last Wednesday that Japan had leased three of the five isles from an Okinawa resident.
■ Politics
Chen cheers economy
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) reaffirmed yesterday the government's determination to improve the investment climate in order to attract more investment from domestic and foreign enterprises. Chen made the remarks while receiving a group of outstanding entrepreneurs and manufacturers that were awarded the "Industrial Elite Prize," including China Motor Corp. Under the ongoing "Challenge 2008" six-year national development plan, the government will increase its investment in talent cultivation and R&D innovation, establish a global management center and improve the living environment in order to build Taiwan into a "green silicon island" and provide prospective investors with a high quality investment climate, Chen said.
■ Aviation
CAL plane misses building
China Airlines (CAL) admitted yesterday that one of its planes had a slightly off-course approach to Honolulu International Airport over the weekend but that the situation was under the control of air traffic controllers. Residents of a 41-story building near the airport, however, told of what they called a near miss by the Boeing 747. According to an Associated Press report, one witness, Ana Marie Vaisanen said she could see passengers inside the aircraft as it flew past her 12th-floor condominium at around 7am on Saturday. "This roar became louder and louder and louder ... and I looked out and there was a 747," she said. Television station KITV reported some residents as saying that the plane came within 9m of the building and that one of its wings passed over the fourth-floor recreation deck.
■ Judiciary
Justices asked to look at case
The Taipei Prosecutors Office decided yesterday to appeal to the Grand Justices again for a re-examination of the court's decision to unconditionally release Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英), chairman and CEO of the China Development Industrial Bank. Liu was re-arraigned by the prosecutors office on Dec. 31 as the High Court decided that the Taipei District Court should re-examine its decision to release Liu on Nov. 27. Suspected of receiving bribes and of embezzling while serving as chairman of the opposition KMT's Business Management Committee, Liu was first subpoenaed Nov. 27. The court ordered his release after hours of interrogation, on the ground that there was no urgency for his detention. A prosecutor said yesterday that he questioned not only the way that Liu's case was processed by the court, but also the professionalism of the judges who reached the conclusion of Liu's release.
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