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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Transportation
Taichung celebrates airport
A caravan of cars and horses decorated with colorful flowers moved through the streets of downtown Taichung yesterday to mark the opening of the city's international airport. The parade was sponsored by the Cabinet's Central Coordination Office to celebrate the March 6 inauguration of Chingchuankang International Airport. Office director and former Taichung County chief Liao Yung-lai (廖永來) hailed the charter flights that will depart the new facility on March 6, saying that they mark the very first step for the airport that will serve the 6 million people living in central Taiwan. Taichung Chamber of Commerce chairman Lai Cheng-i (賴正鎰) said he is optimistic about the business prospects for Chingchuankang airport.

■ Defense
US expert warns about China
A US defense academic said in Taipei yesterday that he has learned that the Chinese military has been pondering a sweeping attack on Taiwan. Andrew Scobell, an associate research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College, said at an international symposium on Taiwan's national defense that while he had considered a conventional and sweeping invasion of Taiwan by Chinese forces impossible in the past, he has since the beginning of this year not excluded the possibility of Beijing taking this option. Scobell, author of China's Use of Military Force: Beyond the Great Wall and the Long March, said that he is positive that the People's Liberation Army has been considering, planning and exercising this attack scenario. Scobell suggested that Taiwan beef up its counter-attack capabilities by strengthening its air and sea combat tactics and giving top priority to upgrading its anti-submarine and anti-torpedo capabilities. Strategically, he said, the best way to smash a PLA attempt to invade Taiwan is to demonstrate strength and determination without being provocative.

■ Obituary
Former Fu Jen president dies
A former president of Fu Jen Catholic University, Archbishop Stanislaus Lokuang (羅光), died of multiple organ failure at the age of 92 on Saturday at the Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, university officials said yesterday. Lokuang was admitted to the hospital three years ago for treatment of respiratory disease, his doctors said, adding that he then suffered from high blood pressure, arrhythmia, nephralgia and various other complications. Lokuang succeeded the late Cardinal Yu Pin as president of Fu Jen in 1978 and resigned due to poor health in 1992, when he was conferred the honorary title of rector emeritus of the university.

■ Tourism
Election slows bookings
The presidential election has sent a chill through travel agencies, as demand for package tours departing the country before March 20, is extremely low, business sources said yesterday. To encourage travelers to holiday abroad in the runup to the election, tourism agencies are offering reduced prices to lure customers, the sources said, adding that the election is having a major impact on their business. Pointing to the last presidential election as an example, they said bookings for outbound travel before noon on March 20 were only half full, pushing tourist agencies to lower their prices by two-thirds to cope with the situation. Groups that left after noon on March 20 four years ago were also offered lower prices, they noted.

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