■ Transportation
Military drill delays flights
Six flights were delayed when Kaohsiung International Airport closed its runways for one hour yesterday morning due to a military exercise held in the area from 10am to 11am. The delayed flights included Mandarin Airlines and Uni Air flights arriving from Taipei, Hualien and Makung, as well as a Uni Air flight from Kaohsiung to Taipei. Passengers complained about not being notified in advance that there would be delays due to the military exercise.
■ Cross-strait ties
Injured journalist returns
A Taiwanese journalist who was injured last Thursday in a bus crash in western China returned to Taiwan yesterday for medical treatment. Ho Wen-han (何文翰), a cameraman with ERA Cable TV, was rushed to Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital for emergency treatment after arriving at CKS International Airport aboard a chartered China Airlines plane. Ho was paralyzed after sustaining serious injuries to his neck in the crash in Xinjiang. He was part of a group of reporters from 15 news organizations on both sides of the Taiwan Strait traveling from Fujian to Xinjiang. The group, traveling on nine buses, was on its way to Urumuqi when the accident occurred. Five of the vehicles were involved in the pile-up, which has been blamed on an unmarked road barrier.
■ Academics
New institute inaugurated
The Academia Sinica's Institute of Taiwan History was inaugurated yesterday after 11 years of preparations. Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) said he hopes the new institute will have vision and adopt a comprehensive, circumspect and open-minded approach in researching Taiwan's history. The institute is the Academia Sinica's 22nd research organization. Institute Director Chuang Ying-chang (莊英章) said systematic research into Taiwan's history didn't begin until the 1970s when Academia Sinica launched the "Choshui-Tatu Creek Research Project." "Since the 1980s, research into Taiwan's history has gained steam with the launch of various large research programs and with the participation of new talented people," Chuang said. He said the institute will conduct in-depth studies on five major subjects: Taiwan's socioeconomics, ethnicity, colonial rule, culture and environment.
■ Overseas Chinese
Officials brief NY group
Two senior government officials paid a visit to the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) in New York on Monday to brief its board members on Taipei's policy toward China. Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and Lin Fang-mei (林芳玫), chairwoman of the Coordination Council for North American Affairs, are among few senior officials to visit traditional Chinese expatriates groups in the New York area since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power in 2000. CBA chairman Chen Yu-chu (陳玉駒) said that his group is concerned about the administration's cross-strait policy goals. Wu told the CBA officials that the administration will continue to promote cross-strait rapprochement. Since President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) second inauguration, Wu said, the government has taken active steps and extended olive branches to Beijing on many occasions with the view to boosting cross-strait ties and moving them in a positive, constructive and peaceful direction.
■ Cross-Strait Ties
Detained newsmen freed
Two journalists from Next magazine have been released from apparent detention in Shanghai and were due to return home, Pei Wei (斐偉), chief editor of the magazine, said yesterday. Reports said that the two journalists lost contact with Taipei when they were in Shanghai on Saturday afternoon, and it was thought that they might have been held by Chinese policemen. Other sources said that one of them had contacted friends via cellphone and indicated that he had been arrested. Pei said that he has no idea why the two might have been held and would have to wait until they return home for an explanation.
■ Defense
Military helps in clean-up
Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) has instructed the military to continue to help with disaster relief work, a spokesman said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Major General Huang Suey-sheng (黃穗生) said the Central Disaster Relief Center was relieved of its duties on Sunday night, but out of concerns that the areas ravaged by flooding and mudslides caused by Tropical Storm Mindulle may still need support, Lee has instructed continued relief efforts. Huang noted that as of yesterday morning, the army had mobilized more than 80,000 military personnel and various equipment for the disaster relief. They have helped disinfect, fix embankments, airlift needed material and housed 1,493 residents from affected areas.
■ Immigration
Orientation help offered
Chiayi County will offer a month-long program for foreign brides to help them better integrate into life in this country. County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) said that there are 8,332 foreign brides in Chiayi and more than half are Chinese -- 4,371. With more children being born to cross-cultural marriages, he said that the situation deserves attention and concern from the government, as these children will be crucial to the nation's development and the nation's competitiveness in the world. The program will last until Aug. 19 and will offer language training, settlement counseling, information on local customs, an introduction to festivals, cooking classes and information on medical care and traffic safety. Chen said he hoped that after being in the program, the foreign brides would be able to obtain driver's licenses without help. He also urged family members of the brides to spend more time talking with them.
■ Diplomacy
Technicians get training
Officials attached to technical missions in countries that have diplomatic relations with this country have returned home to receive organizational skills training, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. Liu Jung-tsou (劉榮座), director-general of the Economic and Trade Affairs Department said there are 276 technicians in 39 teams serving in 33 countries that either have formal diplomatic relations or are on friendly terms with Taiwan. The teams specialize in the areas of agriculture, fishery, medical services and trade. A total of 28 mission leaders met yesterday with Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) who recognized their achievements and encouraged them to continue their service. Liu said the missions strengthen ties with allies and extend help to other countries.
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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
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
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner