■ Politics
Hsieh sets press conference
Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) is to hold a press conference today to name Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) president Wu Rong-i (吳榮義) as vice premier, according to a Central News Agency report last night. Wu, who was due to depart for Hawaii yesterday for a week-long APEC preparatory meeting, canceled his trip and is expected to show up at the press conference. Hsieh had earlier offered the job to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤) and said he would give Chiang until Feb. 17 to accept. Chiang has also served as chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development.
■ Politics
Aides to finalize meeting
Top aides of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) are scheduled to meet today to finalize details of the much-anticipated Chen-Soong meeting. Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Yu Shyi-kun will meet with PFP Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng (秦金生) at the Taipei Guest House to hammer out the date, venue, format and agenda. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whip Lai Ching-teh (賴清德) said recently that the DPP hopes the meeting could contribute to the passage of major bills related to people's livelihoods, in addition to addressing cross-strait issues. Meanwhile, PFP whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) said that his party will stand firm during the Chen-Soong meeting on the issue of Taiwan's status. Liu said all topics, including cross-strait affairs, should be open to discussion during that meeting.
■ National Security
Taipei's defenses boosted
In a move to guard against a possible lightening attack by China on Taipei, the government is redeploying marines from central Taiwan, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense will move the marines, called Brigade 66, to Linkou starting next month, the report said. The deployment would be completed before July, the paper said. Brigade 66 is currently deployed at the Ching Chuan Kang Airbase in Taichung. The ministry has increased the number of military police in Taipei, and set up an artillery and an armored battalion near the Sungshan airport, the paper said. Media reports have said that China has drawn up a Decapitation Plan to attack Taiwan and take control of the island within five days.
■ Education
Pact inked for HK center
Buddhist Master Hsing Yun (星雲), founder of the Fo Guang Shan Foundation for Buddhist Culture and Education, signed a cooperation agreement yesterday with Daniel Law, dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, at Fo Guang Shan Temple in Kaohsiung County. The foundation will help the university to set up a Buddhism research center. The cooperation begins next month and runs to February 2010, with the foundation providing HK$1.2 million (US$725,000) each year to help the university promote the study of Buddhism. Master Hsing Yun noted that the establishment of the center represents a big step forward in world cultural exchanges and a milestone in the study of Buddhism. Chuo Chun-ying (卓春英), deputy public affairs director at the Presidential Office, who is an alumna of the university, said it would be good if the foundation set up more such centers in schools around the world as a way to promote cultural exchanges.
■ Tsunami
MOFA organizes event
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) will invite foreign ambassadors and envoys stationed in Taipei to pray for world peace in a traditional Taiwan folk activity tomorrow, a spokesman said Thursday. According to the MOFA official, foreign ambassadors and representatives, including those from various countries that were hit by the Dec. 26 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, will be invited to participate in the "sky lantern lighting" activity to be held tomorrow night in Pingsi township, Taipei County, to pray for world peace. Attending foreign diplomats will sign their names with calligraphy brushes on five huge lanterns that will be lit and allowed to rise into the sky, hot air balloon-style, in a gesture to appeal for world peace, the official said. The activity should help them gain a better understanding of Taiwan's traditions and lifestyles.
■ Society
Students face charges
Six college students, who staged a nude demonstration to protest the government's ignorance of the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol, may now face a charge of "offenses against morals" (妨害風化). To highlight their demonstration, the six students took off their underwear, leaving their private parts covered only by a piece of paper outside the Executive Yuan on Tuesday. However, police authorities have digitally recorded the nude protest, and have send the case to the Taiwan District Prosecutors' Office. Taipei District Prosecutors' Office Spokesman Lin Bang-liang (林邦樑) said if prosecutors consider the nude protest made people uncomfortable and disgusted, the students might be charged.
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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
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
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner