■ Diplomacy
US losing patience: official
A high-ranking official speaking on condition of anonymity yesterday said that Washington has warned Taiwan to pass the arms procurement package within six months, or else the US may lose interest in Taiwan's affairs. The official said that the US' acting National Security Council director for Asia Dennis Wilder and the US State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs revealed this position to Taiwan during Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-Pyng's (王金平) recent visit to the US. The US officials told Wang that people who have always taken Taiwan's side in cross-strait disputes are losing sympathy and are starting to doubt Taiwan's determination to defend itself.
■ Culture
Ma lauds traditional script
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has urged the UN to declare traditional Chinese characters a world cultural heritage, fearing they are fading into oblivion. At a meeting with Taiwanese in Geneva, Ma said the adoption by China of simplified characters has rendered them less and less recognizable in the Chinese-speaking world. Ma said he was barred from applying to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to preserve the traditional characters because Taiwan is not a UN member.
■ Diplomacy
`Hongbao' faux pas denied
Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) yesterday dismissed claims in the local media that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) insulted foreign dignitaries by giving red envelopes to foreign ambassadors and representatives on Thursday. Huang said the foreign dignitaries all responded very positively to the president's gesture. During a Lunar New Year gala on Thursday night, Chen offered each of the ambassadors and representatives a specially designed red envelope containing a NT$10 coin. Local media claimed yesterday that since older people give traditionally give red envelopes to young people, the action of giving red envelopes to foreign dignitaries acquires a condescending meaning.
■ Security
Airport security fails again
Premier Su Tseng-chang yesterday (蘇貞昌) ordered the creation of an inter-ministerial coordination mechanism to beef up the government's management of CKS International Airport, which recently saw a passenger slip through unstopped during customs inspection. Su instructed Minister without Portfolio Lin Si-yao (林錫耀) to get all the relevant authorities together to upgrade security and efficiency at the airport. Meanwhile, another passenger slipped through customs yesterday afternoon. Canadian Robert George flew to Taipei from Hong Kong in possession of an overdue passport and decided to make a run for the airport exit, according to a CNA report. He was caught as he tried to hail a taxi and deported last night.
■ Culture
Gifts overpackaged: EPA
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday released the results of a survey showing that 70 percent of the Valentine's Day gifts sold locally come with excessive packaging. A total of 450 packaged gifts from five department stores were sampled for the survey, EPA officials said. Of 250 processed food products surveyed, less than 20 percent passed the inspection, while about half the 200 cosmetics products surveyed passed the inspection, the officials said.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening 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) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
BACK TO WINTER: A strong continental cold air mass would move south on Tuesday next week, bringing colder temperatures to northern and central Taiwan A tropical depression east of the Philippines could soon be upgraded to be the first tropical storm of this year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the next cold air mass is forecast to arrive on Monday next week. CWA forecaster Cheng Jie-ren (鄭傑仁) said the first tropical depression of this year is over waters east of the Philippines, about 1,867km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and could strengthen into Tropical Storm Nokaen by early today. The system is moving slowly from northwest to north, and is expected to remain east of the Philippines with little chance of affecting Taiwan,
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