■ Politics
Wang to chair meeting
After having said he would not be present at the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Central Standing Committee meeting today, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-Pyng (王金平) late last night said he would attend the meeting, but refrained from revealing whether or not he would remain in his post as a party vice chairman. Wang will preside over the meeting on behalf of KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), who is in the US. The committee is scheduled to approve a motion endorsed by the party's five vice chairmen, including Ma and Wang, and all 31 committee members to make Lien the KMT's first honorary chairman. Wang has been avoiding Ma since losing last Saturday's chairmanship election, while the chairman-elect has been trying to get him on the phone or see him in person.
■ Diplomacy
Japanese response awaited
The government has filed nine requests ahead of a formal round of fishery talks with with Japan and is looking forward to a positive response, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said at a news conference yesterday. Lu said the requests were filed at a July 12 preparatory meeting for the 15th round of fishery talks set for July 29 in Tokyo. He declined to reveal any details of the requests. As for Taiwanese fishermen's demands that their representatives be invited to join the negotiating team and that the level of bilateral talks be upgraded, Lu said the requests have been submitted to Japan and that the Japanese side is studying their feasibility.
■ Labor
CLA to review brokers
The Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) will evaluate more than 800 foreign labor brokerages nationwide next month, council officials said yesterday. The results of the evaluation are expected to be released by the end of December. The council conducted a similar review last year, in which 86 brokerages were placed in the A-category of an A to E ranking system, with A being the highest-ranking. At present there are no laws controlling the quality of such businesses. The council plans to draft an amendment to the law governing the operations of labor brokerages in order to weed out poorly performing ones, they said. An amendment will allow the authorities to refuse to renew business certificates for firms that are rank E in two consecutive evaluations, the officials said.
■ Health
Ethnicity a cancer factor
A study spanning 14 Asian cities has found the highest incidence of colorectal cancer among ethnic Chinese, a trend which researchers in Hong Kong on Monday blamed on a Westernized diet. Between last October and April this year, doctors performed colonoscopies on 5,055 people and found polyps in 19.4 percent. Of these, 4 percent had cancer. Colorectal polyps and cancers were found in more than 18 percent of ethnic Chinese, followed by just over 12 percent of Indonesians, 12 percent of Malaysians, 10 percent of Thais and eight percent of Filipinos. Only 5 percent of ethnic Indians suffered the same condition. One of the researchers blamed the phenomenon on the genetic makeup of ethnic Chinese and their changing diet. Researchers found the ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong the most susceptible to advanced colorectal polyps and cancer -- 11 percent of them were diagnosed with the condition -- compared to just over 2 percent of ethnic Chinese in Taiwan.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all