■ 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.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
The Republic of China Army Command yesterday relieved Kinmen Defense Battalion commander after authorities indicted the officer on charges connected to using methamphetamine. The Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday detained Colonel He (何) after the Coast Guard linked him to drug shipments and proceeded to charge him yesterday for using and possessing crystal meth. The man was released on a NT$50,000 bail and banned from leaving Kinmen, the office said. Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Chen Chien-yi (陳建義) told a news conference yesterday that He has been removed and another officer is taking over the unit as the acting commander. The military
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