President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) paid tribute yesterday to the late Yin Tsung-wen (殷宗文), former secretary-general of the National Security Council, praising his dedication to safeguarding the the nation's security for decades.
Yin, also a senior adviser to the president, died of adenocarcinoma, a kind of lung cancer, at Taipei Veterans General Hospital yesterday morning. He was 71 years old.
Chen offered his condolences to Yin's family at the hospital yesterday afternoon. He praised Yin as the staunchest guard of the nation, who had made invaluable efforts toward bolstering the nation's defenses, refining the nation's security strategies and planning the nation's intelligence systems.
Yin had in 1999 checked into Taipei Veterans General Hospital for an examination after suffering chest pains and shortness of breath while hiking in the mountains. He was diagnosed as having a malignant tumor originating in the glandular tissue. Chemotherapy failed to cure the disease and his condition deteriorated.
In mid-February of this year, he checked into the hospital for the last time and died in intensive care.
Other important posts that Yin held during his career included director general of the National Security Bureau, director general of the Military Intelligence Bureau and commander of the Penghu Defense Command.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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