■ Politics
Rally not `off-limits': KMT
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday that it will leave the decision of whether to join today's march against China's "Anti-Secession" Law up to individual members."This is an event organized by the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP]. The political platform, national ideology and stance on cross-strait relations are all different from the KMT. If there are party members that want to participate in the rally, then the KMT is unable to prevent them from joining. However, we trust the judgement of our party members," KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) said. He added that if there are KMT party members who attend to show their support of the Republic of China and call upon President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to uphold his "four noes" policy, then the KMT will not "hinder" them. Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), a KMT vice chairman, said yesterday that he was unsure whether or he would attend.
■ Fisheries
Seminar set for Monday
A seminar on deep-sea fishing manpower issues will be held on Monday as part of the government's efforts to formulate new policy and strategies for sustainable fishery industry development, a Council of Agriculture official said yesterday. The seminar, to be organized by the council's Fishery Administration, will focus on the supply and demand of fishing manpower, upgrading the quality of the industry's workforce and improvement of the shipboard working environment, the official said. The one-day seminar will bring together officials from city and county governments, representatives of fishing industry associations, academics and experts to explore manpower-related problems faced by fishing-boat owners and feasible measures to resolve them, the official said. The seminar will be the first of a series of forums to be held this year on issues affecting the fishing industry.
■ Politics
KMT revises nominee list
The KMT has released a list on Thursday night of three principles it will use when considering who it will nominate for the National Assembly Representatives' election on May 14. It said it would rank Chen Chin-jang (陳金讓), the party's nominee for the assembly's speaker, as No.1, while city mayors and county commissioners are to be ranked outside of the number the party expects to win seats. Chen is a former National Assembly speaker. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was originally ranked No.1 in the party's original list of nominees but on the new list he is ranked 135 out of 160. Penghu County Commissioner Lai Feng-wei (賴峰偉 ) is No.126 on the new list, the highest of any local official. The statement said the changes reflect the party's emphasis on academics and youth.
■ National security
Official punished
The Judicial Yuan announced yesterday that the president's former chief aide-de-camp, Lieutenant General Chen Tsai-fu (陳再福), would be barred for one year from working in government for failing in his responsibilities in connection with the March 19 assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (陳水扁). The report said Chen Tsai-fu's poor leadership contributed to the incident. The report said Chen Tsai-fu failed to ask the president and vice-president to put on bullet-proof vests and he broke rules regarding motorcade formation, which resulted in the failure to properly guard the two leaders.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
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