Taiwan Quick Take

■ Diplomacy
UK envoy pays courtesy call
Great Britain's top liaison officer in Taiwan, Derek Marsh, paid a courtesy call on Taipei County chief Su Chen-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday to exchange views on a wide range of topics. Marsh and Su exchanged opinions on matters pertaining to the prospects for the development of Taipei Harbor, as well as a MRT system linking the greater Taipei area with Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taoyuan County, and the Taipei MRT expansion project. Su also helped Marsh gain insight into the latest political and economic developments in Taiwan. Pointing to the defeat of the ruling DPP candidate in the recent Hualien county commissioner by-election, Marsh asked Su whether the DPP is also having difficulty maintaining grass-roots support in Taipei County. Su, a member of the DPP Central Standing Executive Committee, answered that the Hualien by-election was by no means a litmus test for next year's presidential election.

■ Aviation
CAA blamed for plane crash
Taiwan's civil aviation authority has been accused of failing to issue a bad-weather warning and was to blame for the crash of a Macau-bound cargo plane which killed two pilots, it was reported yesterday. Local television quoted a retired Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) official saying both Hong Kong and Japanese aviation authorities had issued warnings to aircraft in the Taiwan Strait both before and after last December's air tragedy. The SIGMET (significant meteorology) reports were designed to provide information concerning en-route weather phenomena which may affect aircraft safety. But the CAA had failed to issue similar alerts as the ATR-72 TransAsia Airways cargo aircraft plowed into the Taiwan Strait in bad weather on Dec. 21, said the retired official, who was not named. CAA denied negligence, saying it had followed international aviation procedures.

■ Politics
Lien wants pan-blue unity
KMT Chairman Lien Chan　(連戰) yesterday called for unity among members and supporters of the KMT and its ally the PFP to win the next presidential election to be held in March next year. Lien urged KMT members not to be complacent about the KMT's victory in the recent Hualien county commissioner by-election, in which KMT stalwart Hsieh Shen-shan beat his rival from the ruling DPP, You Ying-lung(游盈隆). Noting that next year's presidential election will be a much harder battle, Lien said "all the pan-blue alliance members should be even more firmly united."

■ Diplomacy
Tiaoyutais still thorny issue
The government is hoping to talk with Japan in the next month or two on the management of the fishery resources of the controversial Tiaoyutai Islands, the Fisheries Administration under the Council of Agriculture said yesterday. Fishery officials said that after a dozen consultations over the past seven years, Taiwan and Japan reached a tentative understanding on the Tiaoyutai Islands this June. Both sides agreed that they would shelve political disputes on sovereignty issues to protect the interests of the traditional fishing grounds of both countries, and would discuss only the issue of management of fishery resources.