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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Recreation
Activity seeks foreign friends
Taiwan's olympic committee will hold a sports activity tomorrow at the Da-an Forest Park in Taipei for foreigners living in Taiwan, a statement released yesterday said. The event will include various performances and activities, including shadow boxing, martial arts and "sport dances." Foreign residents in Taipei, including from the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, will perform traditional dances at the event, which is aimed to boost Taiwan's friendship with foreign residents, the statement said. The one-day event will be opened by committee chairman Huang Ta-chou (黃大洲), it said.

■ Education
School artifacts on show
An exhibition of artifacts from 21 100-year-old elementary schools will begin on Monday at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei. The exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Education, will display items such as photos, yearbooks and clocks made with bomb shells. The items, donated by schools built in 1904 or 1905, will give visitors the chance to get a taste of the history of the nation's education system, the ministry said. It will also mark the first time that Taiwan has held a school artifact exhibition on such a scale. The 21 schools include Tayuan Elementary School in Taoyuan County, Neihu Elementary School in Taipei City, Lungching Elementary School in Taichung County, Mingkang Elementary School in Nantou County, Yichang Elementary School in Hualien and Chengkung Elementary School in Kaohsiung City.

■ Diplomacy
Vanuatu ties in the balance
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is paying close attention to developments in Vanuatu, spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said yesterday. Vanuatu's Appeal Court ruled Tuesday that parliament has the right to hold a no-confidence vote for Prime Minister Serge Vohor. Vanuatu's chief grand justice of the Supreme Court delivered a similar ruling on Tuesday over the parliament's plan to launch the no-confidence vote over Vohor's decision to establish diplomatic ties with Taiwan. However, Vohor appealed the ruling. Lu said the ministry does not know when Vanuatu's parliament will discuss the issue, but will pay close attention to the situation as it develops in the South Pacific country. Vanuatu's opposition, which is angry with Vohor's firm support for diplomatic relations with Taiwan, intends to remove him from office.

■ Women's affairs
Islander meet opens
The first Women's Partnership Forum for Pacific Islanders opened in Taipei yesterday as part of efforts to boost mutual understanding between Taiwan and other Pacific Island nations. Thirteen foreign dignitaries, including ministers of women's affairs and interior affairs from Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, as well as female politicians from Tuvalu and Vanuatu, are attending the four-day forum organized by the government-sponsored Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. Foundation officials said representatives of Taiwan's leading women's organizations are also taking part in the forum, and are expected to build channels of communication and exchange with the foreign guests. They hoped the event would allow relationships between women's groups in the Pacific region to improve women's rights and welfare. The foreign guests will be hosted by Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) at a tea party tomorrow and will meet President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Monday, the day the forum concludes.

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