■ Health
Stop smoking and win
The Department of Health yesterday urged smokers to join the biennial international Quit and Win stop-smoking competition. The competition, endorsed by the World Health Organization, would award one participant who successfully abstains from smoking between May 2 and May 29 with a prize of US$10,000. In addition, one participant registered in Taiwan will receive a NT$600,000 cash prize and another six participants will get prizes of NT$10,000 each. According to the Bureau of Health Promotion, 37.2 percent of the contestants who participated two years ago remained smoke-free one year later. Contestants must sign up before April 30. More information is available at www.quitandwin.org.tw or by calling (02) 2776-6133.
■ Traffic
Taipei bridges closed
Municipal authorities started to make security checks yesterday of 13 key bridges in Taipei and will continue the inspections until April 16 to ensure the public's safety. The 13 medium-sized and large-sized bridges scattered across the city, such as the Peiling Bridge in the Shihlin District and the Jingmei Bridge in the Wenshan District, will be wholly or partially closed for security checks from midnight until 5am each day during the inspection period, according to a spokesman for the Bureau of Public Works' Department of Maintenance. Pedestrians and vehicles using the bridges and adjacent areas should proceed slowly and with caution and keep a close watch on traffic lights and nearby maintenance facilities, the spokesman said.
■ Election
DPP says blues must pay
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus suggested yesterday that the pan-blue alliance use its election subsidy to serve as the deposit for a ballot recount of the March 20 presidential election. Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), DPP whip in the legislature, said that the Code of Civil Procedure (刑事訴訟法) stipulates that if a client will not pay for the expenditure, the court cannot carry out the recount. The DPP has, therefore, suggested that the pan-blue alliance use its subsidy, or NT$30 per vote garnered, to serve as the deposit. Pan-blue presidential candidate, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), and his running mate, People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), garnered 6,442,452 votes. "The people have no obligation to pay the estimated more than NT$100 million [as a deposit]," Tsai said, adding that it is "illegal and unreasonable" and the DPP "strongly opposes such a move." He said that Lien and Soong could use their more than NT$190 million subsidy to serve as the deposit for the vote recount, and that the party that loses the suit will pay the expenses.
■ Legislature
Hurry up, Liu says
Cabinet Secretary-General Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) yesterday urged the Legislative Yuan to hurry back to its review work. She said that the review of many major economic bills has been put on hold since the presidential election, adding that even in the heat of the presidential election campaign, the legislative process had not stalled. She said that, since the election, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance has been only concerned about the recount of the ballots and an investigation into the shooting of the president.
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