■The Philippines
Typhoon aids escape
High waves whipped up by a typhoon helped 15 Taiwanese fishermen escape from a Philippine port where they had been detained for months for violating territorial boundaries, officials said yesterday. Typhoon Imbudo, which hit the northern Philippine island of Luzon last week, made the sea there so rough that ropes securing the four boats in the port of Aparri snapped just before dawn on Friday, and the vessels were swept out into the open sea, government officials said. The boats and their crews had been detained by the Philippine navy -- one in May this year and three in May last year -- for allegedly fishing illegally in Philippines waters. Some 17 Chinese and Indonesian sailors who had also been detained on the Taiwanese vessels arrived in Tungkang port in southern Taiwan on Saturday with the Taiwanese crews, the officials said.
■ Employment
Sanitation work attracts 234
Due to economic sluggishness, engineers and owners of small- and medium-sized enterprises were among candidates competing for 28 openings offered by the Taipei County Government yesterday in its public sanitation department. Many of the other candidates were college graduates seeking their first jobs. The 234 hopefuls sprinted down a running track carrying heavy sandbags on their backs, trying their utmost to cross the finishing line ahead of their opponents. With each male runner carrying a 40kg sandbag and the women carrying 20kg, the racers competed in a 30m dash competition to prove they were physically qualified to work as street cleaners and garbage collectors. Some runners managed to finish, but many stumbled and fell, either out of nervousness or because the weight was too much for them.
■ Liberia
Ambassador leaves Taiwan
Taiwan Ambassador to Liberia Chen Yeo-chio (陳永綽) left for Ivory Coast yesterday after a home consultation visit. Chen said prior to his departure that he and the other embassy staff will return to the strife-torn Liberian capital of Monrovia from Ivory Coast once an interim government has been installed in the West African state. Chen, along with the other embassy staffers, took shelter in Ivory Coast early this month because of escalating violence in Monrovia. He returned to Taipei from Ivory Coast last Monday for his first home consultation since Liberia lapsed into a civil war two months ago. His residence in the outskirts of Monrovia was looted by rebel forces in his absence and during his stay in Taipei.
■ United States
Alliance establishes branch
The Global Alliance for Democracy and Peace established a branch in Austin, Texas on Saturday. Deputy Minister Liao Sheng-hsiung (廖勝雄) of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, Deputy Representative C. H. Lee (李辰雄) of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US, and many overseas Chinese leaders attended the inauguration ceremony. The Austin branch of the alliance issued a statement expressing the hope that Taiwan's achievements in promoting democracy will become a catalyst for democratization in China. It said that only when democracy and peace prevail in China can peace and stability be maintained in the Taiwan Strait region on a long term basis.
Agencies
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai