■ Charity
Call for donations
The Taiwan Red Cross
has joined with the International Red Cross and India Red Cross to raise funds for victims of the tsunamis that devastated coastlines across South and Southeast Asia. Taiwan
Red Cross is calling on the people of Taiwan to donate generously. This can be done by making a post office remittance to account number 1434-1596 or making a transfer to the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China at Hua Nan Bank, Hoping branch, account number 121-10-0072227. For more information on donations, contact Taiwan Red Cross at (02) 2363-8232.
■ Weather
Cold days to come
The approach of a cold mass from the north will bring several damp days while the temperature in
the north of the country will drop sharply to around 13oC today. However, the drop in temperature will continue to late next week, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. According to forecasters, a cold current will arrive this morning, pushing temperatures down. On Friday, a second wave will arrive, further lowering temperatures to below 10oC. From Friday
to Thursday next week,
colder temperatures will be sustained, with nighttime temperatures in coastal areas dropping to at least 8oC. Forecasters said that farmers in the agricultural and aquaculture sectors should take precautions to protect crops and fish or other aquatic products from being damaged during the cold snap.
■ Politics
Chen coy on new premier
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is unlikely to mention his choice for the next premier in his New Year's Day message, a Presidential Office spokesman said yesterday. The spokesman was responding to a newspaper report that Chen would do so during his New Year's Day message. He added
that Chen would speak
on his vision for national development and the government's agenda for the new year. Premier Yu Shyi-kun and other Cabinet members will resign en masse before the new Legislative Yuan is inaugurated on Feb. 1. Speculation on who the next premier will be is rife. After the pan-blue alliance of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party managed to retain its slim majority party in the Dec. 11 legislative elections, senior KMT officials have claimed that the majority party in the legislature should have the right to form a new Cabinet. However, the Democratic Progressive Party has said that the right to name a premier rests with the president under existing constitutional provisions.
■ Diplomacy
Chen meets minister
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) met with visiting Gambian Foreign Minister Sidi Morro Sanneh in
the Presidential Office yesterday. Chen said that Taiwan has entered into
a five-year cooperation agreement with Gambia, and that this would help with the promotion of bilateral exchanges. Chen thanked Gambia for its support for Taiwan in its
bid to join the UN and the World Health Organization, and extended an invitation to Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to visit Taiwan. Sanneh relayed Jammeh's greetings to Chen and confirmed Gambia's support for Taiwan's
access to international organizations.
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