■ Cross-strait Ties
China must take nationals
China should quickly take back its nationals detained in Taiwan for illegal entry, Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said yesterday. Taiwan is presently holding around 2,400 detainees in Hsinchu, Ilan and Matsu who are waiting to be shipped back to China, Chiu said, adding that if Beijing cares about them, it should take them back. Under the terms of an existing bilateral agreement, Beijing is supposed to take back detained stowaways three times every two months, but the number repatriated last year is only half of the scheduled target, Chiu said.
■ Society
Swim kills one, injures two
An early morning dragon boat practice session left 2 Fu Jen University students injured and one dead yesterday. The three students, members of the university dragon boat team, had been swimming in the Er Chung Weifeng canal (二重疏洪道-微風運河) at the time. Due to low water temperature, below 10?C yesterday, all three were unable to stay afloat. While two of the students were pulled to shore by classmates, one was not found until noon by rescuers. The student showed no vital signs of life upon being rescued.
■ Business
Group urges change
The Allied Association for Science Park Industries in Taiwan urged the government yesterday to accelerate the overhaul or liberalization of regulations that are either outdated or insufficient. Tung Chao-chin (童兆勤), chairman of the association, called for the government to pay heed to the trends of industrial developments at home and abroad and readjust laws and regulations to meet the actual needs. Tung said that only by allowing these mature high technologies to be transferred overseas, where production costs are much lower, will Taiwan's hi-tech industries be able to maintain their international competitiveness. This is a trend that has been practiced for years in industrially advanced countries such as Japan and the US, Tung argued.
■ Society
Black History event held
To celebrate Black History Month, which takes place every February in the US, a group of people of African ethnicity will hold a Black History Festival & Celebration today, hosting a day full of activities and African cultural performances. Organized by Descendants of African People (DAP), a group of people of African descent living in Taiwan, the event is designed to provide an enriching cultural experience for both the foreign and local communities through various activities, according to the group. Elissa Russell, leader of DAP, said that Taipei has a unique mixture of people of African descent. By sharing different parts of the culture and history of African descendants, the group hopes to unveil the lives of the black community in Taiwan. The one-day festival, which begins at 11am and ends at 6pm, will include a marketplace featuring African jewelry, clothes and food, and a Children's Fair with games, songs and dances from Africa. Classes in Capoeira, Salsa, Hip Hop, and West African dances will be offered from 1pm to 4pm. Dancing and singing performances will be shared from 7pm to 9pm. The admission charge for the festival is NT$250 (including registration for a prize drawing). To learn more about the festival, visit the group's Web page at http://groups.msn.com/DapTaiwan.
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