■ Security
Pipe bomb strikes toilet
A pipe bomb exploded in a portable toilet 300m from the presidential office last night, causing police to go on heightened alert. The bomb went off around 7pm, leaving a 20cm hole in the wall. Passers-by saw smoke and informed police, who sealed off the area. Blackened rice grains were found at the site. Police were also examining a suspicious package left in a mailbox near the Chiehshou police station. National Police Administration criminal investigation commissioner Hou You-yi (侯友宜) confirmed that a bomb had gone off. He speculated that the bomb was left by "rice bombers," an underground group protesting WTO regulations on rice.
■ Propaganda
China's netizens in a dither
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will get burnt in
the process of trying to seek independence for
Taiwan, according to the results of an online poll in China. About 95 percent of people who participated in the poll on the Web site of the official Xinhua news agency thought Chen would "cling obstinately to his course, vainly attempt to separate Taiwan from China and get burnt by playing with fire." Just 5.4 percent said Chen would "wake up and stop the horse at the cliff's edge, ceasing `Taiwan independence' splittist activities and promoting
the development of cross-strait ties," the poll said.
Xinhua did not say how many people participated in the poll.
■ Society
Chen calls on handicapped
Following his inauguration, President Chen Shui-bian visited mentally and physically challenged children and adults yesterday at the Aichi Development Center in Banchiao, Taipei County, and helped them make dumplings. Wearing aprons, caps, facemasks and gloves, Chen and incoming Presidential Office Secretary General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) wrapped dumplings for 15 minutes, asking the children sitting around them for help and providing encouragement. The center, which is affiliated with the First Social Welfare Foundation, makes and sells dumplings for NT$2.5 each to employ its adult clients. Center representatives said the point of the exercise
was not so much making money from the dumplings,
but providing a sense of independence to its clients. After making the dumplings, Chen and Su joined the youngsters for an impromptu music lesson.
■ Diplomacy
China rails over health bid
China yesterday ruled out allowing Taiwan to join the World Health Organization (WHO), only hours after President Chen Shui-bian used his inauguration speech to say he would continue to push for membership in the world body. "The WHO is a specialized United Nations agency limited to sovereign states. As part of the People's Republic of China, Taiwan can't join the WHO in any form," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (劉建超) told a regular briefing. "China's justified position has been widely accepted and recognized
by the world. It can't be realized," he said. In yesterday's briefing, Liu declined to comment on specific details of Chen's inauguration address,
merely urging the
US not to encourage
Taiwan to move towards independence.
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
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
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard