■ Society
Giant rice cake complete
After working for two days and two nights, Wu Tien-chang (吳天彰) finally completed the nation's largest and heaviest migaotao (米糕桃), a sticky rice cake weighing in at 4.6 tonnes. The creation was put on display yesterday at Shoutien Temple in Nantou County's Mingchien Township (名間) and will be cut up and divided out to devotees in a cake cutting ceremony today. Wu, who has 30 years' experience making migaotao, was first asked by the temple to make one for temple devotees 15 years ago. The first one was a baby-sized version by comparison, but the size of the rice cake has increased every year. The migaotao is made outdoors, the whole process taking place inside a mosquito net to keep insects away. Five industrial-size fans are used to cool the sticky rice before it is formed into a cake.
■ Travel
Dogs sniff out contraband
Sniffer dogs at Taoyuan International Airport have managed to detect 70 tonnes of contraband farm produce over the past four years, inspection officials said over the weekend. Under quarantine regulations, incoming passengers are prohibited from bringing in fresh vegetables, fruit, live animals and plants, raw or cooked meat and related processed foodstuffs. However, many people bring back fresh fruit and meat from overseas trips. During the Lunar New Year holiday, garbage cans installed by the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine received 221kg of discarded fresh farm produce and meat products, officials said.
■ Economy
Electricity use increases
The country's total electric power generation reached 235.93 billion kilowatt-hours last year, an increase of 3.4 percent from the 2005 level, while consumption of electricity amounted to 221.37 billion kilowatt-hours, an increase of 3.43 percent year-on-year, the Energy Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Of the total power generated last year, state-owned Taiwan Power Co's thermopower generation accounted for 46.02 percent, followed by its nuclear power generation at 16.96 percent and hydraulic power generation at 3.38 percent. Electricity generated by private power plants accounted for 15.68 percent and cogeneration made up 17.96 percent. The industrial and energy sectors topped the list, accounting for 57.55 percent of the total power consumed last year, up 4.48 percent from the year-earlier level. Energy consumption by the transportation sector increased by 11.67 percent, followed by the financial, insurance, communication and warehousing sectors at 4.77 percent.
■ Travel
Singapore mulls route
Singapore Airlines may reopen the Singapore-Kaohsiung route that was closed in 2003 during the SARS crisis, reliable sources in local travel circles said yesterday. The sources indicated that Singapore Airlines was likely to resume its air service between Singapore and Kaohsiung in May. Singapore Airlines' Taipei office confirmed that the airline was working on such a plan after its recent assessment has established that a market demand for its Singapore-Kaohsiung route does exist at present, although the air route is currently served by China Airlines and EVA Airways. A spokesman for Singapore Airlines said that his company's plans had not been finalized yet.
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
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
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard