■ Elections
DPP to hold poll again
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Feng-hsi (林豐喜), who is competing with former DPP vice chairman Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) to become the party's candidate for Taichung County Commissioner yesterday said a telephone poll conducted in the second part of the primary race was unfair and asked the DPP to redo the survey. The DPP accepted Lin's demand and said it will commission a survey company to redo the poll this evening. The DPP originally planned to announce its candidate for Taichung County commissioner yesterday, as the telephone poll was done on Monday evening. According to the survey, Chiu came out on top and as such would have been selected as the candidate representing the DPP. But Lin suspects that one of the three survey companies falsified the results.
■ Trade
MOFA to push pact with US
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is trying to make contact with the US government and Congress, as well as industrial and commercial groups in the US, in the hope of opening formal negotiations on the issue of signing a free-trade agreement (FTA), a ministry official said yesterday. Victor Chin (秦日新), director-general of North American affairs, made the remarks one day after Senator John Rockefeller IV said in Taipei that he was willing to help Taiwan overcome difficulties in its efforts to sign an FTA with Washington. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) met the senator at the Presidential Office on Monday and urged the US to sign an FTA with Taiwan to maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
■ Society
New Party official off to jail
The Taiwan High Court yesterday sentenced New Party Taipei City Councilor Li Ching-yuan (李慶元) to a six-month jail term and will suspend his civil rights for two years on charges of violating the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法). In 2000, Li published a book accusing President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) -- who was then running for the presidency -- of having an extra-marital affair with a lady. In March, 2000, Li and former New Party presidential candidate Li Ao (李敖), the incumbent independent legislator jointly held a press conference in Taipei City Council to publicize book co-authored by them entitled Chen Shui-bian's True Face.
■ Diplomacy
Ambassador sought
Taipei is looking for the right person to serve as ambassador to Nauru, now that Chinese diplomats on the South-Pacific island nation have officially announced the severing of diplomatic relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶隆) said yesterday. Speaking at a regular news briefing at the ministry's headquarters, Lu said that Chinese diplomats stationed in Nauru made the announcement Monday in retaliation for Nauru's decision to switch its formal recognition from Beijing to Taipei on May 14. However, the Taiwanese ambassador has yet to be named, he added. According to Lu, Nauru's case is a clear indication that Beijing has been sparing no efforts to crowd out Taiwan in the international community, and the main purpose of Beijing's establishment of diplomatic ties with other countries is simply aimed at isolating Taiwan.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
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