■ Defense
Arms deal necessary: MND
Vice Minister of National Defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) yesterday called on the people to support the government's arms procurement plan, saying Taiwan must beef up its defense and counterattack capability in the face of China's continued military buildup. Tsai made the remarks while giving a speech on "national defense, trade and cross-Taiwan Strait relations" in Taichung City. Tsai pointed out that the international community generally agrees that there are three regions of crisis in the world: the Middle East, the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait. While China's defense budget is enjoying double-digit growth every year, the number of missiles deployed by the Chinese military targeting Taiwan has risen to more than 600 and is increasing by 60 to 70 per year, Tsai said. With defense spending as a share of the national budget declining year after year, the Ministry of National Defense has put forth a special budget proposal for the NT$610.8 billion (US$18.23 billion) arms procurement, Tsai noted. Tsai argued that Taiwan must keep its military capability strong to maintain cross-strait peace and that the military balance across the Strait in the past managed to deter China from invading Taiwan.
■ Energy
CPC to build gas tankers
Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) is planning to build four tankers to deliver liquefied natural gas from Qatar to the Taiwan Power Company's Tatan power plant, CPC officials said yesterday. The tankers are estimated to cost US$600 million and the CPC will invite tenders from shipbuilders later this year, the officials said. In addition to the CPC, the liquefied natural gas supplier in Qatar has expressed an interest in the project, they said. The CPC, the liquefied natural gas supplier and the shipbuilder winning the tender will form a partnership that will be in charge of building the ships, arranging the shipping schedule as well as managing and maintaining the ships, they added.
■ Diplomacy
New envoy arrives in UK
Lin Chun-yi (林俊義), Taiwan's new representative to the UK, arrived in London from Gambia to assume his post on Friday. Lin was greeted warmly at Heathrow International Airport by Taiwanese expatriates residing in the UK, as well as the staff of the Taipei Representative Office. The new representative will be briefed by office staff to learn about the London operations and will start calling on government agencies, parliament, think tanks and industrial and financial institutions next Monday. Lin holds a PhD in biology from Indiana University in the US and was a professor at Tunghai University and a member of the Environmen-tal Protection Agency before serving as ambassador to Gambia.
■ Politics
US anti-CCP march planned
About 30 Chinese groups in the US plan to stage a march in Washington today to protest against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and urging Chinese around the world to end communism. The march, staged to show solidarity with a campaign to end communism initiated by 60 private and human rights groups around the world, is aimed at encouraging CCP members to desert their party. Organizers of the march said the campaign was triggered by nine anti-communism articles published on an online Chinese-language weekly, the Epoch Times. They said the articles have prompted a "communism-deserting wave" in China, to the alarm of Beijing leaders.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai