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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Taipei City
Christmas tea in Youth Park
The Taipei City Government will hold an afternoon tea in the Youth Park on Sunday from 1pm to 6pm to mark Christmas. Many flower-related activities will be held during the tea, the city's Bureau of Urban Development said. Scented tea will be offered for free and 100 poinsettia plants will be given away. Floriculturists will demonstrate how to make flower wreaths and flower bookmarks. Several Santa Clauses will make appearances. There will also be music concerts and a magic performance.

■ Diplomacy
Minister denies report
Minister without Portfolio Tsay Ching-yen (蔡清彥) yesterday denied a Washington Times report that said his participation in a forum on global e-business at the UN headquarters in Geneva was aimed at turning the technical forum into a political one. According to the report, Tsay "slipped into" the conference earlier this week, where he publicly challenged the policy of excluding Taiwan from the UN. Commenting on the report, Tsay said he attended the forum in his capacity as an adviser to the AFACT secretariat, an international non-governmental organization, adding that he obtained an entry badge through proper procedures. The report said that Tsay "publicly chastised" China for its policy of blocking Taiwan's participation in international organizations. Tsay said that he never touched upon political issues in his speech. He said he regretted the fact that some news reports misinterpreted his speech. "We want to make it clear that Taiwan wants to be an active player to promote information and communications technology for humanitarian and development purposes and that it has no intention of mixing this up with politics," Tsay said.

■ Obituary
Presidential adviser dies
Lin Chin-ching (林金莖), national policy adviser to the president and former chairman of the Association of East Asian Relations (亞東關係協會), died of liver cancer on Wednesday afternoon at the Taiwan National University Hospital. He was 81. Lin had been diagnosed with cancer about one month ago, according to association secretary-general Kuo Ming-shan (郭明山), adding that the association would assist with funeral arrangements. Lin had made important contributions to Japanese relations, Kuo said. The association is a Taipei-based organization that has handled exchanges with Japan since Tokyo switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1972.

■ Earthquakes
Aftershocks deliver a jolt
Three sizable aftershocks to Wednesday's earthquake jolted the nation yesterday, with one measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale. A magnitude-5.7 temblor followed at 8:01am. A third, measuring 4.5, occurred at 10:22am. The Seismological Observation Center said the three tremors were aftershocks of Wednesday's magnitude-6.6 quake, which was the strongest to hit the country this year. Wednesday's quake was shallow. Its epicenter, near Taitung, was 10km underground. From Wednesday afternoon until 9:30am yesterday, the center had monitored more than 700 aftershocks, of which 35 could be felt by human beings and seven measured above 5 on the Richter scale. "They averaged 20 to 30 aftershocks per hour," said Lu Pei-ling (呂珮玲), deputy director of the center. "Aftershocks will continue for a month, but we predict they will not exceed 6.6 on the Richter scale."

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