■ Politics
Beijing denies Chu in China
China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Zhang Mingqing (莊銘清) said yesterday that former Kaohsiung city council speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) is not hiding in China. Chu disappeared earlier this month just days before he was to begin serving a 22-month prison term for vote buying. Local media reports have said that Chu had been recently spotted in Zhuhai, southern China. In Beijing, Zhang told reporters that the reports were wrong. ``Chu An-hsiung absolutely isn't on mainland China,'' Zhang said. Chu was convicted of bribing voters in last December's city council elections. He still faces trial for allegedly buying votes from his colleagues on the city council before his election as council speaker.
■ Society
Foreigner crime on the rise
The number of offenses involving foreigners has been rising steadily in Taipei, city officials said yesterday. According to Taipei City Government tallies, the annual number of offenses involving foreign nationals increased from 693 cases in 2000 to 899 last year. In the first nine months of this year, a total of 779 offenses involving foreigners were reported, up 24.64 percent from the same period of last year. As of the end of last month, Taipei had 71,608 expatriates, a 11.72 percent decrease from the number recorded at the end of last year. Among them, 77 percent had residence status and the remaining 23 percent were visitors. Expatriates accounted for 2.73 percent of the city's total population. Meanwhile, officials said 1,236 foreign nationals were found to have either illegally taken jobs in Taipei or overstayed their visas between January and last month. During the same nine-month period, 1,264 foreigners were repatriated or ordered to leave the country because they had illegally taken jobs or overstayed their visas.
■ Labor
Rail union votes for strike
The Taiwan Railway Labor Union (TRLU) yesterday held a member's conference to vote on a plan to strike over the Lunar New Year holiday and to select a new president. Union spokesman Chen Wei (陳偉) announced that Chen Han-ching (陳漢卿), known to be more militant and aggressive than the group's former president, had been promoted from secretary general to president. The members also voted in a plan of action for the strike. Chen Wei said that the strike will have two stages. The first stage will be a series of small strikes in select stations and departments before the holiday and be aimed at putting pressure on the government.
■ Charities
Help sought for Vietnamese
The Taiwanese charity group Compassion International (CITW, 中華至善社會服務協會) is urging the public to donate money for a medical program it runs in Vietnam. The charity has been funding medical treatment for poor disabled children in central Vietnam since 2001. It said that many Vietnamese suffer health problems attributed to Agent Orange, a defoliant used by the US military during the Vietnam War, and blamed for an unusually high ratio of birth defects. During the past three years, CITW has helped over 600 children receive surgery in Vietnamese hospitals and covered expenses for those with more serious disabilities who were sent to Taiwan for treatment. CITW is now hoping to get 600 people to donate NT$600 a month for the program for the next year. More information is available by calling 02-23560118 or visit the group's Chinese-language Web site (http://www.citw.org.tw).
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