■ Society
Centenarians on the increase
Taiwan has 656 centenarians, with the oldest woman aged 119 and the oldest man aged 108, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of the Interior and released yesterday. Their average age is 101.8. Last year, Taiwan had 638 centenarians, according to the statistics. The interior ministry will hold gala activities in honor of the centenarians on Senior Citizen's Day, which falls on Oct. 4 this year.
■ Health
DOH launches calcium drive
The Department of Health is to establish a committee to encourage citizens to take sufficient calcium, a health official said yesterday. He said that on average, Taiwan people get only 500mg of calcium per day, approximately 50 percent of the recommended daily intake. Calcium is important for bone health. The committee will run a program to drive home the importance of calcium and offer advice to help the public make sure they get enough of the mineral.
■ Transport
Railway a boon for travelers
The Taiwan High Speed Railway will greatly reduce the travel time between major cities and thus facilitate the formation of big commuter belts in western Taiwan, the Bureau of Taiwan High Speed Rail said yesterday. The Bureau said that once the high speed railway begins commercial operation in October 2005, it will take only 45 minutes to commute between Taipei and Taichung in central Taiwan, and less than 60 minutes to travel between Taichung and Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. The high speed railway will form the backbone of a mass rapid transportation network in western Taiwan, the bureau said.
■ People
Chu Mei-feng heads to school
Former politician Chu Mei-feng (璩美鳳), disgraced after she was filmed having sex with a married man, has applied to study for a PhD in industrial economics at China's prestigious Fudan University (復旦大學), state media said yesterday. Fudan University officials said in an interview with an evening newspaper in China that Chu's notorious reputation will not affect a decision on whether she will be accepted. "As long as she meets the requirements of Fudan University, we have no reason to refuse her," a university official was quoted by the newspaper as saying. Chu, known as Ju Meifeng in China, took a college entrance examination and is awaiting the results, which will not be released until the end of September, to see if she gets in, the report said.
■ Events
Film festival announced
The second Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival will be held in Taipei from Oct. 3 to Oct. 7, the chairwoman of the film festival announced. Hu Tai-li (胡台麗) said that the festival received more than 200 overseas films and nearly 100 local works this year, with 11 Taiwan films and 17 foreign works being selected for screening at a theater in downtown Taipei during the festival. In addition to films from Taiwan, films from China, France, the US, Australia, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Montenegro, Sweden, Finland, the UK and Japan will be screened during the festival. The theme of this year's festival is "Migration Story" which aims to focus on various experiences in migration, Hu said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all