■ Crime
Man nabbed for smuggling
A Taiwanese man faces charges in Cambodia of attempting to smuggle 2.2kg of heroin out of the Phnom Penh airport, Cambodian officials said yesterday. Sho Shi-hie, 25, faces 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted. Police allege he was caught trying to board a flight to Taipei with the drugs concealed on his body. He is the latest in a spate of Taiwanese arrested for trying to smuggle heroin or opium from Cambodia to Taiwan, sparking speculation that a larger ring may be operating between the two countries, police sources said. Court officials said Sho admitted having purchased the heroin in Phnom Penh. Under Cambodian law, a defendant can be detained up to six months before trial while a criminal case is investigated.
■ Diplomacy
Petition drive launched
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles launched an online campaign on Monday to promote the nation's bid to join the World Health Organization (WHO). According to office staffers, a petition entitled "Say Yes to Taiwan's Bid to WHO" was posted on Monday on the online petitions Web site, gopetition.com, and people are urged to visit the site to sign in support. The site already has 28 signatures. The petition on the site with the most signatures is called, "Save Spongebob Squarepants." The petition calls for public support for Taiwan's bid to participate as an observer in the World Health Assembly scheduled to start May 16, noting that the WHO is responsible for ensuring that the people of Taiwan are provided sufficient health information.
■ Elections
CEC announces list
The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday the candidate list of various political parties and groups participating in the May 14 National Assembly elections. CEC officials also said that campaigning will formally kick off today and run through election day eve. A televised platform presentation of 12 political parties and groups participating in the National Assembly election will also be held on Saturday. The 300 seats for the ad hoc National Assembly will be allotted to the various parties and groups based on the proportion of votes they each garner in the upcoming election. The mission of the National Assembly will be to consider a constitutional amendment package adopted by the Legislative Yuan last August. Items in the package include reducing the number of legislative seats from the present 225 to 113 and adopting a "single seat, two votes" legislative electoral system starting with the seventh legislature to be elected in 2007.
■ Society
Charity raises funds
The Taipei-based Modern Women's Foundation began a charity sale of Mother's Day cards yesterday to raise funds for efforts to help domestic violence-suffering mothers. According to the foundation's statistics, 92.7 percent of the women who are victims of marital violence are also mothers, and on average, each family shadowed by marital violence raises 1.8 children. Taking Ministry of the Interior statistics regarding domestic violence as a standard, around 29,000 women in Taiwan face the threat of marital violence each year. It is estimated that the number of family violence-suffering mothers hits about 26,803 a year.
■ Diplomacy
Envoy kept from Lien
Taiwan's representative to Hong Kong was again refused permission to receive Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) during his transit stop at the territory's airport yesterday afternoon. Pao Cheng-kang (鮑正鋼), the managing director of the Chung Hwa Travel Service, was barred from meeting with Lien when he passed through Hong Kong en route to China on April 26. Hong Kong authorities said at the time that the Chung Hwa Travel Service was a non-governmental organization and therefore it was not necessary for Pao to receive Lien. The Mainland Affairs Council expressed regret yesterday for the latest incident and said that it hoped the territory's government would be able to approach ties with Taiwan in a practical and rational manner in the future.
■ Education
Cooperation pact inked
Taiwan and Canada signed a letter of intent on academic cooperation on Monday after representatives held a one-day conference in Taipei. Fourteen university presidents and other representatives from Canada, and 22 presidents and representatives from Taiwan took part in the 8th Canada-Taiwan Conference on Higher Education, which was held at National Taiwan University on Monday. Paul Perron, the principal of University College of the University of Toronto, and National Taiwan University president Chen Wei-chao signed the letter of intent on Canada-Taiwan Academic Cooperation. The new agreement is aimed at enhancing faculty and publications exchanges between the two countries, cooperation in research and hosting conferences as well as facilitating inter-country dual degrees.
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