■ Cross-strait ties
China tries to block interview
The Seoul correspondent of Beijing's People's Daily is trying to prevent the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club (SFCC) from holding a videoconference with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the head of the association said. Club president Lee Su-wan said that the club's managing director, Lee Byung-jong, who is Newsweek's correspondent in Seoul, came up with the idea of a videoconference last month. However, Lee Su-wan said the proposal met strong opposition from People's Daily correspondent Xu Baokong (徐寶康) when it was discussed at a SFCC board meeting. Lee Su-wan said he supports the holding of a videoconference and that if the event can't be held inside the club's headquarters, he would be willing to hold the event at another venue. He said behind-the-scenes discussions on the proposal are still going on and that he and other board members are considering revising the club's regulations to allow for the proposed videoconference.
■ Society
Fireworks in Taipei tonight
The Taipei City Government is holding a fireworks display and musical performance at Dadaocheng (大稻埕) along the Danshui River tonight to celebrate Retrocession Day, which falls on Tuesday. The concert will begin at 6:30pm featuring Taiwanese songs performed by traditional singers, including Lee Ping-jui (李炳輝) and Liu Fu-zhu (劉福助). The fireworks, sponsored by the Department of Information and the Taipei Broadcasting Station, will light up the sky between 9pm and 9:30pm. More information is available from the city's government's Web site (www.taipei.gov.tw/event/1022/).
■ Charity
Blankets sent to Pakistan
Victims of the massive earthquake in Pakistan will be getting 7,000 blankets from the people of Taiwan soon. China Airlines and Pakistan Airlines have agreed to transport the blankets for free after the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation initiated a blanket drive. Tzu Chi sent a 15-member team to Islamabad on Wednesday to join the relief operations. The team is made up of Tzu Chi volunteers, medical personnel and journalists from Taiwan, Jordan, Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia. They brought 700kg of relief materials and medicines to Muzaffarabad for residents needing help. Tzu Chi is also preparing 220,000 vegetarian meal packages for shipment to the disaster area by air.
■ Society
Food fair at TAS
The Parents-Teacher Association of the Taipei American School (TAS) is hosting its 23rd Internatinal Food Fair today from 10am to 3pm. There will be booths offering food from many countries, plus activities for children. TAS is located at 800 Zhongshan N Rd, Sec. 6 in Tienmu.
■ Society
Demand for caregivers rises
With the number of elderly growing steadily, the number of foreign caregivers now stands at more than 120,000, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said. The number of people aged 65 or older had reached 2.18 million as of the end of June, accounting for 9.6 percent of the total population, officials said, adding that the ratio marked a 0.3 percent growth year-on-year. The steady increase in the numbers of elderly has given rise to the demand for foreign caregivers. According to the agency's figures, the number of foreign caregivers had risen to 124,000 as of the end of June, up 5 percent from the year earlier.
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
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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition