■ Diplomacy
Remengesau in Taiwan
Palau President Tommy Remengesau arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a five-day visit to promote ties between the two countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Remengesau was scheduled to meet President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to discuss international affairs and bilateral cooperation projects, the ministry said. Remengesau will also visit Kaohsiung and Taroko National Park, the ministry added. Palau established diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1999, and it is one of 24 countries which recognize Taiwan. Chen visited the Pacific nation last September.
■ Culture
Thirteenth tribe recognized
The Sakiraya will become Taiwan's 13th Aboriginal tribe today when the Cabinet is expected to approve the proposal. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has scheduled a reception to officially introduce the tribe to the public at the Executive Yuan at 11am following the weekly Cabinet meeting. The official said the Sakiraya were categorized as members of the Ami tribe by Japanese ethnologists during the Japanese colonial period. However, later academics distinguished between the two because their languages differ significantly. Encouraged by the recognition of the Kavalan and Taroko tribes, Sakiraya representatives traced their tribe's history and culture and applied to the Council of Indigenous People for recognition in 2004.
■ Disasters
Offshore quake rattles east
An undersea earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale rattled the nation yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The tremor struck at 11:10am with its epicenter located 85km east of Hualien at a depth of 17km. Two people were killed and at least 42 injured last month when a 7.1-magnitude quake rocked southern Taiwan. The quake sparked a telecoms chaos across Asia, with Internet and telephone connections disrupted for days.
■ Weather
Heavy rain predicted
The recent hot spell, which saw the temperature in Taipei peaking at 27?C yesterday, will be followed by cooler weather and rain, the Central Weather Bureau said. With a cold front approaching, abundant rain is forecast throughout the country, with highs in the northern and northeastern parts of the country expected to drop by four to five degrees, the bureau said. The unstable weather is likely to continue until Sunday. The approaching front is moist and could produce snow if it meets with cold air masses on Hohuanshan (合歡山) and Yushan (玉山) on Friday and Saturday, the bureau said.
■ Military
Weapons sales defended
Taiwan's military exchanges with other countries are based on the principle of not tipping the regional military balance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Ministry spokesman David Wang (王建業) was responding to reports that light weapons produced in the nation were offered to several of the country's diplomatic allies, including Liberia, Paraguay, Haiti and Nicaragua, and then used in civil conflicts following changes in regimes in those countries. Wang dismissed the reports as untrue, saying that military exchanges are part of Taiwan's overall diplomatic effort.
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400