■ Weather
Storm brings rain
Typhoon Choiwan, located about 540km south of the Ryukyus as of 8am yesterday, is forecast to bring rains to the southern, eastern and northern parts of the country today. The Central Weather Bureau said Choiwan was moving northwest from the seas south of the Ryukyus at 11kph yesterday morning. Ships sailing in the area should take precautionary measures against the typhoon, the bureau said. Meanwhile, a tropical low-pressure weather system is moving west slowly from the seas near Luzon Island, the bureau said, adding that it is monitoring the system's movement.
■ Diplomacy
TSU group meets S Koreans
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) met South Korean political leaders and lawmakers in Seoul yesterday and pledged to further promote bilateral relations. Huang arrived in Seoul on Wednesday with a delegation of TSU officials and lawmakers for a four-day visit. Huang and his delegation called on Kim Jong-pil, president of the opposition United Liberal Democrats yesterday to exchange views on the development of Taiwan-South Korea relations and party-to-party interaction. They also expressed the hope that the economics ministers of the two countries can exchange visits and that there will be an increase in trade and economic cooperation. The TSU group also visited the Republic of Korea-Taiwan Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association. The delegation is scheduled to return home tomorrow.
■ Industry
China Shipbuilding upbeat
Officials of China Shipbuilding Corp said yesterday that the state-owned company will continue to improve its competitiveness after the company went from loss to profit in one year. The officials said the company will continue to solicit more orders, cut operational costs and stress efficiency, quality and modern marketing to provide the best service to customers. They said the company started a revitalization program, under which its work force was cut from 5,000 to 2,700 and employees agreed to a 35 percent cut in salary. They said profits in the first eight months of this year amounted to nearly NT$300 million and expressed confidence that they will be able to reach the goal of more than NT$362 million in profit this year. The company said it has more than 40 orders, which will last until the second half of 2007.
■ Industry
Bio-tech seminar scheduled
The Asia-Pacific Biotechnology Seminar is slated to open Sept. 29 in Taiwan, with about 20 experts from around the world to help build the country into a regional development and an investment hub for top industries. The seminar will be comprised of three large-scale conferences focusing on development strategies and business opportunities and stem cell-related issues. Among the speakers will be Cynthia Robbins-Roth from the US, author of the best seller The Business of Biotechnology. Lee Chung-hsi, president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, said the experts presence is expected to inject a new lease on life for the burgeoning domestic industry, which aims to gain a leadership role on the world stage. The institute and the Biotechnology Development Association are organizing the seminar, which will run through Oct. 2.
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