■ Athletics
Taiwan nabs gold, bronze
Two university students won Taiwan its first medals -- a gold and a bronze -- yesterday in the 2005 World University Games, also known as the Universiade, in Izmir, Turkey. Huang Yi-hsue (黃怡學), 23, a graduate student at the National College of Physical Education and Sports, won the gold medal in the men's vault. It was the first medal win for Taiwan at this year's games, and the first ever Universiade gold medal for a Taiwanese. Lin Hsiang-wei (林祥威), 20, from National Taiwan Normal University, took the bronze in the men's pommel horse.
■ Diplomacy
AIT staff to visit Taichung
Representatives of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) will be in Taichung on Aug. 24 to provide consular services to US citizens in the area. Americans wishing to file applications for passports or to add pages to their passports, and all persons requiring the services of a notary public for US purposes, can go to the American Corner located in the National Taichung Library at 291-3 Jingwu Rd, Taichung, from 9am to 11am. Further information can be obtained by contacting AIT's Taipei office at (02) 2162-2000, ext. 2306. More information about the fees for different services can be found on AIT's Web site (www.ait.org.tw/en/uscitizens/).
■ Politics
New Party trio joins KMT
Three New Party legislators -- Fei Hung-tai (費鴻泰), Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) and Joanna Lei (雷倩) -- joined the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday in a step toward a merger of the two parties ahead of the 2008 presidential elections. "Hopefully the three outstanding legislators can give the KMT a new lease on life in reforms," New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) said. The New Party plans to integrate with the KMT in order to strengthen the pan-blue camp's chances in the 2008 elections. Yok, however, would not say when the merger would take place.
■ Diplomacy
Australia to maintain ban
The Australian government has rejected President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) recent request to lift its 33-year ban on visits by Taiwanese leaders, according to a report in the Australian newspaper yesterday. "We will just stick with the policy Australia has had since 1972," the paper quoted Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as saying. As for Chen's call for Australia's support in Taiwan's bid to gain admittance to the APEC leaders' summit to be held in South Korea in November, Downer said only that it was a "matter for the Koreans," as the summit's hosts. Green Party Senator Bob Brown said that keeping leaders of "this nearby democracy" from visiting Australia "would be an affront to Australia's own democratic values."
■ Food
Hsieh urges scallion boycott
Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday urged the public to go on strike against the high price of green onions. "If everyone stops eating green onions for three days, I believe that the price will drop to NT$10 per kilogram," he said. Hsieh said that consumers must stay united to fight against unreasonably high prices. "We will not die if we do not eat green onions, will we?" he said. Taiwan's production of green onions has been seriously impacted since three typhoons recently hit the country. The price of green onions peaked at NT$400 per kilogram two weeks ago, but the average market price remains around NT$280 per kilogram.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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