■ Politics
Speculation over Lien
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday said that it is inappropriate to discuss whether Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) should resign and who should take over the party's leadership. "The most pressing issue on hand now for the party is the year-end legislative election," said Wang, one of the KMT's vice chairmen who is largely regarded by pan-blue supporters as the key representative of the party's pro-localization faction. Wang's remark was in response to a mounting buzz that members of the faction had voiced support for Wang as the party's future chairman and proposed that he and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) run on a joint ticket in the 2008 presidential election.
■ Polls
Tang appears popular
Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) was the most popular Cabinet member, even though he has asked to resign because of health problems, a newspaper poll showed yesterday. The survey by the China Times reported that 61 percent of those polled were satisfied with Tang. Only 8 percent were dissatisfied with him and the rest had no opinion or had never heard of him, the poll said. Tang tried to resign after the March 20 presidential poll, citing eye problems, but the government persuaded him to stay, as it grapples with a dispute over results that saw President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) narrowly win re-election. The newspaper said the telephone poll, conducted from April 1 to April 3, involved 1,233 successful responses and had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
■ Crime
Authorities seize ketamine
Police said yesterday they seized more than 27kg of liquid ketamine and arrested two suspects at Kaohsiung International Airport a day earlier for smuggling the illegal drug in liquor bottles. Police said they were tipped off in January that a woman drug trafficker surnamed Fu was planning to smuggling ketamine after she saw how popular it was in pubs and that the ketamine in China was cheap and only a controlled substance. After three months, police were able to find Fu's connection and trace the source of the ketamine from the manufacturer in China. Police learned that Fu, together with three other women and an eight-year-old, left for Zhuhai in Guangdong Province via Macau on March 31 and were scheduled to return last Sunday. Fu and another suspect surnamed Lee arrived at Kaohsiung's Hsiaokang International Airport Sunday afternoon and were found to have 96 bottles of Chinese liquor in which the ketamine was hidden.
■ Languages
Russians to hold contest
Russia's representative office in Taiwan will host a Russian language proficiency contest later this month in a bid to forge mutual understanding and boost exchanges, a spokesman for the mission said yesterday. George Zinoviev, the first deputy representative of the Moscow-Taipei Economic and Cultural Coordination Commission, said the mission is slated to host the competition April 22 and sponsor relevant activities in cooperation with National Chengchi University, Tamkang University and Chinese Culture University. Zinoviev expressed his hope that the people of Taiwan will gain a better understanding of Russia's culture and language through the series of activities to lay a foundation for more frequent and closer bilateral ties.
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