■ Health
Depression on the agenda
The nation's top health official yesterday said the government will step up training of doctors to diagnose depression earlier. Department of Health Director-General Chen Chien-jen (程建人) was speaking in Taichung during a seminar on helping traumatized people. Chen said that the department is planning a national center on suicide prevention which would be able to integrate and coordinate suicide and depression prevention efforts. Before the inauguration of the center, the department will provide general practitioners with information so that risk cases can be referred for treatment earlier. Participants in the two-day seminar delivered papers and discussed disaster management and psychological health policies, as well as the ongoing healing process in the wake of the 921 Earthquake.
■ Crime
Big gem haul in Vietnam
A Taiwanese man was arrested at an airport in southern Vietnam after customs officials found over US$500,000 in diamonds in his baggage, a customs officer said yesterday. Chen Hsin-hsuing, 50, was detained as he was passing through customs at Ton Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Officers found 229 diamonds weighing between 0.21 and 1.4 carats, the official said. Chen told customs officials that he intended to sell the diamonds to shops in Ho Chi Minh City. It was one of the biggest cases ever of gemstone trafficking into Vietnam at the airport, the officer said. The man, who flew into Vietnam from Taipei, was handed over to police for further investigation and prosecution, the customs officer said. Under Vietnamese law, the death penalty can be imposed for smuggling products valued at more than US$64,000. Large financial transactions in Vietnam have traditionally been made with gold, but diamonds are becoming an increasingly common investment and trading tool for Vietnam's emerging middle class. Around US$200 million in diamonds is smuggled into Vietnam every year, according to the Vietnamese Association of Gold and Jewelry.
■ Commerce
Textiles show next week
The Taipei International Textile and Apparel Show 2004 will be held from next Tuesday to Thursday at the Taipei World Trade Center, organizers said yesterday. A total of 280 local and foreign companies have registered to take part in the three-day fair, the organizers said, adding that they will display their latest products in 550 booths. The exhibits will be divided into two areas, they said. The Function Plaza will exhibit functional textiles for apparel, home decoration and industrial use, while the Fashion Plaza will showcase fashion apparel, fabric accessories, fashion accessories and fashion-related products and services. The Function Plaza will also contain special sections for research and development, textile inspection and certification services, and so on. Several fashion shows and seminars will be held, the organizers said.
■ Trade
Nicaragua talks to start
The first round of talks on a Taiwan-Nicaragua free trade agreement (FTA) will be held in Taipei from Monday, Ministry of Economic Affairs officials said yesterday. The meeting will include panel discussions on market access, regulations and processes, investment and the service industry, labor and environmental protection, and trade cooperation. The Nicaraguan vice minister of commerce and industry will head a 20-member delegation at the meeting.
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
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
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