■ Trade
Japan lifts poultry ban
Japan has lifted a ban on Taiwan's poultry products after Japanese inspectors verified that Taiwan had recovered from a bird-flu outbreak that hit seven months ago, officials said yesterday. Japan began blocking poultry imports from Taiwan on Jan. 16 as officials slaughtered tens of thousands of chickens infected by the virus that has ravaged the poultry industry throughout Asia. But Taiwan's birds were infected with a less dangerous strain of bird flu, not the version that has killed people in other parts of the region. The Council of Agriculture said yesterday that Japanese inspectors visited the country from July 5 to July 9, and that Japan decided on Monday to lift the ban immediately. Poultry products produced or raised after June 11 will be allowed into the Japanese market, the council said.
■ Typhoon damage
Taoyuan losses jump
Typhoon Aere has delivered a significant blow to Taoyuan County's industrial and private sectors, with industrial losses rising to NT$2.5 billion and business losses to NT$84.5 million. Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) said water shortages had affected 250 of the county's businesses and 2 million people. To help county residents with the expense of buying drinking water, the Cabinet yesterday agreed to allocate NT$200 million to the county government for disposal. Ho restated the government's determination to have the county's water supply restored by next Wednesday and southern Taoyuan's water supply partially restored by tomorrow. About 320,000 families living in the south of the county are still without water, while rationing has been in force in the county's north since last Thursday.
■ Business
Magazine lauds its readers
People in their 30s are the most enterprising, with 41.8 percent wanting to start their own business, according to the results of a survey released by the newly launched 30 Magazine yesterday. This compares with 37 percent of those in their 40s and 36 percent in their 20s, the survey said. The survey was conducted from Aug. 5 to Aug. 8 among 1,207 adults aged between 20 and 49. It said that the top three entrepreneurial icons are Formosa Plastics Group chairman Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀). As to the kind of businesses they would run, 30 percent said they would open a fashion store, boutique or restaurant, while 12.3 percent said they would open a regular shop and 7.8 percent said they wanted to launch a company.
■ Politics
Lu speaks on land use
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday called on the government to hammer out measures to improve land preservation. Lu made the appeal while addressing a hearing at the Presidential Office on soil preservation in which experts presented positions on the issue. The nation suffered considerable damage from torrential rain and mudslides after typhoons Mindulle and Aere. Claiming that land preservation and guidelines for industrial development and relocation of residents living in areas "unsuitable for human habitation" are very important, Lu said the government should implement comprehensive and viable soil safeguarding measures. Mudslides were mainly due to the fragility of the land, coupled with a lack of ecological protection and overexploitation of resources, Lu said.
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