■ 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.
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
Tropical Storm Mekkhala is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon tomorrow and could come close enough to Taiwan later in the week to prompt a sea warning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2 pm, the storm was located 1,870 kilometers southeast of Taiwan's southern tip and moving west- northwest at 23 km per hour. CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said Mekkhala is expected to continue moving west-northwest through Tuesday under the influence of the Pacific high- pressure system before gradually turning north toward waters east of Taiwan or south of the Ryukyu Islands. The timing and angle of the
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
RSS