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Taiwan Quick Take

■ China
Newspaper backs protesters
A weekend rally in Taipei to oppose independence drew about 3,000 people. But you'd think it was many more by looking at China's main English-language newspaper yesterday: State-controlled China Daily said protesters numbered in five digits. "Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Taipei yesterday to oppose moves toward independence in the island province," the newspaper reported in its lead story yesterday. The anti-independence rally Sunday came a day after about 150,000 people, according to protest organizers, marched in Taipei demanding a change of the nation's official name from the "Republic of China" to "Taiwan." Reporters who were at the anti-independence rally on Sunday counted about 3,000 protesters. The China Daily quoted an unidentified spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office as saying the name-change demonstration is part of "a move which intends to separate Taiwan from China" and undermines stability and development. "It has seriously damaged cross-Straits relations and gone against the primary interests of Taiwan people," the spokesman was quoted as saying.

■ Defense
Air force to upgrade AT-3
The air force plans to develop a next generation trainer and upgrade the existing AT-3 training aircraft at a combined cost of NT$20 billion (US$586.5 million) over the next 10 years, it was reported yesterday. The major part of the program would be to develop a new trainer modelled on the Indigenous Defensive Fighter (IDF) by next year, a Chinese-language newspaper cited a source from the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC) as saying. It said the company could also participate in trainer development projects in other countries. The 63 AT-3 aircraft would be installed with a modernized cabin under a project that could extend the life of the aircraft for another 15 years, the paper said. The AT-3, designed by the AIDC, joined the air force in 1989. AIDC officials would not comment on the report. The air force was forced to scale back its order for 250 IDFs from the AIDC after Washington agreed to sell the government 150 F-16 fighters in 1992.

■ Education
Malaysians to study here
One thousand Malaysian-born Chinese youths have been admitted to higher education institutions in Taiwan this year, the highest number in 10 years, W. Y. Wu (吳文雅), representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, said yesterday. Speaking at a party of the Chengkung University Alumna's Association in Kuala Lumpur, Wu said 3,300 Malaysia-born Chinese youths applied for admission to universities in Taiwan this year, and 1,000 of them were accepted. Some 12,000 overseas Chinese students in Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Macau and many other parts of the world applied for admission to Taiwan's universities this year, he said.

■ Aid
Rice donated to Iraq
The Hashemite Charity Organization of Jordan received 5,000 tonnes of rice yesterday as a gift for Iraq from Taiwan, state television and the Petra news agency reported. A Taiwanese diplomat handed over the food to the secretary general of the state-run charity, Abdel Salam Abbadi, Petra said. Abbadi, whose agency oversees the dispatch of humanitarian assistance to Iraq, said the rice will be transported to Baghdad next week.

■ Politics
Plebiscite first, says Hsieh
Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said Taiwan will conduct a referendum before the presidential election next March, a major Japanese daily reported yesterday. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted Hsieh, who completed a visit to Japan on Sunday, as saying that the referendum will have nothing to do with the nation's sovereignty. The report said independence advocates had hoped that the referendum will help boost the support rate for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Hsieh also said that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will have its campaign theme center on bridging the gap between the rich and the poor, and will not stress the tensions between Taiwan and China as in the 2000 election. Asked about the Lien Chan (連戰)-James Soong (宋楚瑜). ticket, which seems to have enjoyed an edge in recent polls, Hsieh said the situation might "reverse."

■ Sports
Ilan regatta this weekend
The 2003 Ilan International Collegiate Invitational Regatta will be held on Saturday on the scenic Tongshan River in Ilan County with 25 teams from some of the world's most famous universities participating. An official of the Ilan County Government, which has sponsored the yearly sports event for eight years, said rowing teams from Cambridge, Oxford, Yale, Harvard and 21 other famous universities in Japan, Canada, Australia, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, Italy, Finland and Taiwan have registered to participate. The rowing races will begin at 7.30pm on Saturday, when magnificent fireworks will be displayed on the bank of the Tongshan River. The races will continue on Sunday evening.

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