■Protests
Anti-war rally erupts
More than 100 anti-war and anti-US activists clashed yesterday with police in Taipei in what had originally been intended as a peaceful demonstration. Shouting slogans against the US-led invasion of Iraq, protesters hurled red paint at riot police deployed in front of the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto of the US. Two students were arrested which triggered further unrest. The two, charged with disrupting social order and attacking the police, were released three hours after their arrest. Yesterday's demonstration was one of a series of small protests in reaction to Washington's attack on Iraq.
■ Diplomacy
US senators to visit Taipei
A group of eight US senators, led by Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, will arrive in Taipei on April 18 for a brief visit. Chen Chien-jen (程建人), representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, said on Friday that the senators are expected to exchange views with the government leaders in Taipei on such topics as anti-terrorism, public health, and other matters of mutual concern. The Senate mission will also visit Japan, South Korea and China during the trip to Asia.
■ United States
US association on track
A preparatory committee for the establishment of The Association for US-Taiwan Sisterly Relations was set to be inaugurated on Saturday at Little Rock, Arkansas. Michael Tsai (蔡明憲), deputy representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, will attend the inauguration ceremony. A spokesman for the preparatory committee said the association will help promote mutual understanding and friendship between the American and Taiwanese people by helping them increase their cultural exchanges and economic cooperation.
■ Crime
Woman cuts off penis
For the second time in a week, a woman cut off her lover's penis yesterday following a quarrel. Lin Hsiu-chan (林秀嬋), 52, severed the penis of her boyfriend Chiang Chin-sheng (江金生), 42, after he fell asleep at their rented apartment in Tucheng, outside Taipei. Police rushed Chiang to hospital. Doctors reattached his penis, but said they did not know if Chiang would retain full use of it. After the attack, Lin locked herself up in a room in the apartment and slashed her wrists attempting to commit suicide. Police broke into the room and rushed Lin, who was lying unconscious in a pool of blood, to hospital. Doctors said Lin is in a critical condition. Chiang told police he and Lin had lived together for many years and often quarrelled. Last Wednesday, a Filipino woman cut off the penis of her Filipino-Chinese husband while he was sleeping and flushed it down the toilet.
■ Iraq
Government donates rice
The government yesterday donated 5,000 tonnes of rice to Iraq and pledged to offer more aid and assist in post war reconstruction. Taiwan hopes to develop ties with a new Iraqi government and maybe open a trade representative office in Iraq. The China External Trade Development Council (CETRA) plans to send a delegation to the Middle East when the Iraq war has ended. "In the aftermath of the war, there will be a great demand in the Middle East for medical equipment, building materials, machinery, hardware, auto parts and other products," CETRA Secretary-General Chao Yung-chuan said.
Agencies
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS