■ Weather
New typhoon nears
Typhoon Songda is spinning toward Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean and could lash the country this weekend, a forecaster said yesterday. If Songda sticks to its current course, its fringe could bring Taiwan heavy rain by Sunday, the Central Weather Bureau said. "There is a chance that
it may hit Taiwan by Monday, but much still depends on
the strength of atmospheric pressure in the north," the bureau said, adding that Songda might shift toward Japan if the high pressure system weakens. Songda was located in the Pacific Ocean about 2,000km east of Taiwan, with winds of 175km per hour, and was moving west at 22kph, the bureau said.
■ Tourism
China Air eyes Japan
China Airlines (CAL) has launched a month-long advertisement campaign on a busy Tokyo railway line as part of efforts to promote tourism in Japan, company officials said yesterday. Posters featuring CAL attendants and local tourist attractions have been placed inside an 11-carriage train on the Yamanote Line, which transports an average 3.6 million passengers
per day, the officials said.
The advertisement ties in
with a "Taiwan Theater" TV commercial produced by
the Tourism Bureau that
has been broadcast on
TV networks in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Osaka, Sendai and Nagoya. The bureau and CAL have also planned an event for Sept. 3 and Sept. 4 at Tokyo's main station to promote "2004 -- Taiwan Tourism Year."
CAL operates 53 flights per
week to Tokyo, Okinawa, Fukuoka, Nagoya and Hiroshima. The airline
also provides one chartered flight per week between Taipei and Hokkaido and has since Aug. 1 offered charter services between Kaohsiung and several popular destinations in Japan.
■ Politics
New KMT faction forms
A new sub-group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators was launched yesterday to push for party reform. The group, called the Taiwan New Hope
Link, has 15 members from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds. The average age of the members is 43 years. The group will first push for reforms to the KMT's nomination system for the legislative elections, group spokesman Apollo Chen (陳學聖) said. The group says the KMT's nomination system for legislators-at-large should also be more open to give more voice to the party's legislators.
■ Diplomacy
Aid for African allies
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will donate money
to four diplomatic allies in Africa to help them combat locust swarms, the ministry said yesterday. It said that northwestern Africa has been plagued by locusts since mid-July and that it would donate US$515,000
to Senegal, Chad, Burkina Faso and Gambia to help them buy pesticides and take other preventive measures. The donation
will convey the concern and friendship that Taiwan feels toward these countries, the ministry said. Meanwhile, under a scholarship set up to promote international exchanges that commenced in September, 37 students from Africa -- three from Burkina Faso, five from Sao Tome and Principe, six each from Malawi and Chad, seven from Gambia and 10 from Senegal -- will come to study in Taiwan. The students will receive up
to NT$30,000 per month during their stay. The program is meant to firm diplomatic ties with African allies.
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