■ Taipei City
Falling tiles injure two
Two people were hurt by marble tiles falling off a newly decorated wall of a restaurant on the fourth floor of Taipei 101 Mall yesterday afternoon. The pair were slightly injured and released after being sent to a hospital for treatment, said an official of the city's Bureau of Public Works. According to Scott Chen (陳文光), vice president of Taipei 101 Mall, the accident was probably caused by construction work being done by the restaurant as it redecorated for Christmas. The Bureau of Public Works ordered the restaurant to close its doors until an investigation into the incident is completed.
■ Cross-Strait Ties
MAC urges talks on charters
Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said yesterday that the council has demanded that the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) contact its Chinese counterpart about holding talks on charter flights for the Lunar New Year holiday. The council hopes that the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait will respond quickly, Chen said, adding that he strongly believes that the two sides can work out resolutions as long as both are sincere in dealing with the matter. Chen's remarks followed media reports that the council was trying to persuade six Taiwanese carriers to conduct charter flights again next year. The council has said the six are willing to cooperate. However, the Taipei Airline Association has said the demand for such flights is not very high, and no airline has submitted an application to provide the service.
■ Society
Custody struggle continues
Kaohsiung District Court held a civil court session yesterday in an attempt to settle the latest twist to the custody case of Taiwanese-Brazilian boy Iruan Ergui Wu's (吳憶樺), but no agreement was reached between Wu's uncle and the Brazilian representative office. Wu's Taiwanese relatives filed an appeal to a court order designating an member of the Brazil Business Center escort Wu back to Brazil. The lawyer representing the center requested that Wu be sent to Brazil within a week. The lawyer asked Wu's uncle, Wu Huo-yen (吳火眼), to bring the boy to CKS International Airport within a week and hand him over to a center staffer there. Wu Huo-yen said he will risk everything, including prosecution, to keep the boy with him if Iruan does not want to return to Brazil.
■ politics
Chen confident of victory
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday that he is confident that he will be re-elected in the March 20 presidential election. Chen spoke at a ceremony to express gratitude to the voluntary workers and several associations who have contributed significantly to the reformatory education of criminals. The president said they had carried out a most difficult task, one which needs tremendous patience and selfless love. "Saving a person equals saving a family and a whole society, " Chen said, adding that their devotion deserves respect. Chen has designated May 20 -- the date of his 2000 inauguration -- as the "Day of Volunteers" for Taiwan and marked it with a campaign of volunteer services led by him every year since then. Saying that he feels confident he will win re-election, Chen said he hopes he can continue volunteering his services next May 20.
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
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
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