■ Diplomacy
Downer's comment `unwise'
Australia's opposition Labor Party said yesterday that Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was unwise to break the country's silence on what it would do in the event of a military crisis in the Taiwan Strait. Speaking in Beijing, Downer indicated that the US should not automatically expect
it would have Australian support if China launched
an attack against Taiwan. A
53-year-old military alliance between Australia and the US would be invoked only in the event of an attack on either country "so some other activity somewhere else in the world ... doesn't invoke" the pact, Downer said at a press conference after talks with Chinese officials. Labor foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said Downer's comment was unhelpful
and broke a long-standing protocol that Canberra
did not comment on hypotheticals concerning
the Taiwan Strait.
■ Tourism
Chinese vistors to missing
A group of 13 Chinese tourists went missing yesterday after arriving in Taiwan late Tuesday night, marking the second major disappearance of Chinese tourists in less than a month, the Mainland Affairs Council confirmed yesterday. According to the council, a total of 17 Chinese tourists arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday night and were escorted by the police to check in at a hotel in Taoyuan County. However, 13 member of the tour group failed to report to their tour guide yesterday morning. The remaining four tourists are now under the custody of the related authorities. The disappearance of the Chinese tourists, which coincided with the annual Hankuang military exercises, was the second time that Chinese tourists have been missing in Taiwan following the disappearance of 17 Chinese tourists in July 20 last month.
■ Welfare
Disability officials arrive
Two executives from a regional forum investigating circumstances facing the developmentally disabled will arrive in Taiwan tonight to assess the situation facing local disabled people, the Eden Social Welfare Foundation said yesterday. Asia Pacific Disability Forum secretary-general Ryosuke Matsui and information committee head Joseph Kwok (郭鍵勳) will also inspect the foundation's operations. The foundation failed in its bid to host the forum's bi-annual conference next year, a failure due to the nation's diplomatic difficulties, the foundation said. However, since Taiwan was a leader in disabled facilities and rights awareness within the region, the forum's executive committee had decided to learn more about the local situation, the foundation said. During their three day trip, Matsui and Kwok will also inspect accessibility for disabled people in tourist facilities.
■ Society
Pregnancy drive approved
The Cabinet yesterday approved a NT$84 million package over the next
three years to promote
earlier marriage and more pregnancies. It hopes to
stop the sliding birth rate by encouraging women to get married before age 30 and conceive before age 35. The average age for women to get married was 23.8 in 1980, but that figure has jumped to the high 20s in recent years. The Cabinet hopes to see
the percentage of married women aged between 22
and 39 wanting one child decrease from 20 percent this year to 15 percent in 2007, and those wanting
two children increase from
60 percent this year to 65 percent in 2007.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
The government yesterday donated US$200,000 to the Philippines to support post-earthquake relief and recovery efforts, following a powerful magnitude 6.9 quake that struck Cebu Province late last month, killing at least 72 people and injuring 559 others. The donation was presented earlier yesterday by Representative to the Philippines Wallace Chow (周民淦) to Cherbett Maralit, deputy resident representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, at Taiwan’s representative office in Manila. In his remarks, Chow expressed concern for those affected by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the central Philippines on the night of Sept. 30. "We sincerely hope for the earliest possible
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