■ Health
SARS precautions started
To prevent a possible SARS outbreak during the peak flu season, the Department of Health yesterday raised the SARS alarm from a prepara-tive level to an initial zero level, which means that all passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong and Macao must take their tem-peratures for 10 consecutive days. All incoming passen-gers must also fill out a survey form before arriving in the country, the Center for Disease Control said. If any SARS syndromes -- fever, muscle ache, leth-argy, sore throat -- are identified, a person should report to a hospital. The center also reminded all travelers to China, Hong Kong, and Macau to refrain from eating poultry in those places.
■ Transportation
MOTC wants to keep CAL
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三) yesterday said he hoped the govern-ment would remain the major shareholder of China Airlines (CAL), the nation's largest carrier. The state-backed China Aviation Development Foundation, which holds about 71 per-cent of the airline's shares, has been trying to sell part of its stake since 1998. The foundation, which Lin chairs, has proposed a two-stage share-release plan and hopes to conclude the sale by the end of next year. For the first time, however, Lin said he though that "there is a need to have state-own airlines." He said the government needs to be CAL's biggest shareholder. While noting that CAL will continue to sell its shares in order to lower the ratio of shares held by the foundation, Lin said that he hopes the ministry could hold onto enough shares to keep control over CAL so that "there will be one com-pany able to implement the government's aviation policy."
■ Society
Computer, Web use rising
About 73 percent of people in this country have at least one computer at home and 53 percent of them are Internet surfers, according to the results of a recent government survey. Some 43 percent of the respon-dents said that they knew of an e-government plan being promoted by the administration, while 57 percent said that they had searched for information on Web sites run by govern-ment agencies, with 53 per-cent of them saying that they did so to purchase train tickets. Around 45 percent used the Web to make hospital appointments, while 42 percent used it to file their taxes. The sur-vey of people over the age of 20 was carried out Oct. 26 by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission. There were 1,094 valid questionnaires and the poll had a margin of error of 3 percent.
■ Cross-strait ties
Lee says talks are best
Academia Sinica chief Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) said yesterday that the most direct way to resolve cross-strait problems would be for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Chinese Presi-dent Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) to meet for discussions. Lee made the remark while answering questions during a legislative committee meet-ing about his representing Chen at the APEC summit in Chile on Nov. 20. Lee said he didn't know if he would have an opportunity to contact Hu during the meeting. He said that without careful arrange-ments, it might not be easy to have talks on cross-strait issues, but he hoped that one day there will be an chance for Chen and Hu to talk. Asked if he would be willing to serve as a convener of cross-strait negotiations, Lee said "this is not what I do."
■ Aviation
CAL opens museum
The China Airlines (CAL) Museum was inaugurated in Taipei yesterday, according to an announcement by CAL officials. The purposes of the museum are to mark the company's upcoming 45th anniversary in December and to present its rich flight history. The museum is divided into five display sections, including plane models, plane maintenance facilities, documents about the staff and a device that is supposed to signify that the company will reach a new peak. Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三) and CAL Chairman Chiang Yao-tsung (江耀宗) jointly cut a ribbon to mark the inauguration of the museum. CAL has a fleet of 62 jets and destinations in 47 cities in 21 countries.
■ Justice
DNA test points to Fung
The Shihlin District Prosecutors' Office yesterday accused former New Party legislator Elmer Fung (馮滬祥) of raping his Filipino maid after a DNA test proved Fung guilty of the sexual offense. In March, Fung, summoned to the prosecutors' office for questioning, denied any misconduct against his maid, who was identified as Rose. Fung told prosecutors at that time Rose had complicated relationships with men and that he was talking to friends over the phone around the time when he allegedly raped her. However, prosecutors said yesterday that the DNA of the semen collected from Rose's underwear matched Fung's. "According to the maid's testimony, Fung sexually assaulted her when his wife and daughter were not at home," prosecutors said. Fung is currently in China and it was not immediately clear whether the government will request the Chinese authorities to repatriate Fung.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
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