■Charity
Jordan to receive donations
The Taiwan government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Jordan's semi-official Hashemite Charity Organization (HCO) Thursday on cooperation in delivering Taiwan-donated cash and relief goods to Iraqi charities. The agreement was signed by Republic of China. Representative to Jordan Chang Tien-neng (張添能) and HCO Secretary-General Abdul Salam Abbadi.
■ Education
Teachers plan protest
The National Teachers' Association announced yesterday that it will stage a demonstration in Taipei on Teacher's Day, Sept 28. The association said some 10,000 teachers will attend a rally at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and then march to the plaza in front of the Presidential Office to highlight the teachers' opinions. An organizer said the teachers want the government to, to reduce the financial burden on students' parents, to eliminate the chaotic conditions caused by unsuccessful educational reform measures and to fulfill the educational promises given by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) during his 2000 campaign.
■ Diplomacy
Ma invited to design show
The Israeli representative to Taiwan called on Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday to invite him to attend an Israeli contemporary design show that will open at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in December. Ruth Kahanoff, representative of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, assumed her post this May when Taiwan was in the grips of a SARS outbreak. She said that her husband, a clinical psychologist, had wanted to help the Taiwanese people at the time but did not know through which channels to offer his assistance.
■ Immigration
PFP blasts spouse policy
A legislator of the opposition People First Party (PFP) said Friday that it is "against human nature" for the Chinese spouses of Taiwan residents to have to wait for 11 years to obtain citizenship. Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) was referring to a revised draft statute governing the relations between the people of Taiwan and China that stipulates spouses born in China have to accumulate 11 years of residency in Taiwan before they are eligible for citizenship. Compared with women from other countries, who only have to wait for four years to get citizenship, Feng said the government's approach is not fair or just and is against the principles of humanity.
■ Labor
Railway union cuts strike
A seven-day walkout planned by the Taiwan Railway Labor Union during the Lunar New Year may be shortened to a half-day strike in order to serve travelers during the busiest travel season of the year, according to the railway union chairman. More than half of the union members voted in a walkout on the Mid-Autumn Festival in favor of launching a seven-day strike on the Lunar New Year. Chang Wen-cheng (張文正), chairman of the union, said that after the walkout experienced on the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is confident that the New Year strike will paralyze the rail service and make the government look bad, despite its latest decision to shorten the strike from seven days to half a day.
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
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
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard