■ Diplomacy
Nauru embassy opens
Nauruan Foreign Affairs, Trade and Finance Minister David Adeang cut the ribbon to open his South Pacific island nation's newest embassy yesterday in Taipei. The opening was marked with a cocktail party last night. Adeang met President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) at the Presidential Office on Monday. Chen said that Nauru had expressed its willingness to set up an embassy during his visit to that country last year. Chen thanked Adeang and Nauruan President Ludwig Scotty for their firm, unstinting support of Taiwan in its attempts to join international organizations such as the UN, the WHO and the Pacific Islands Forum.
PHOTO: LIU HSIH-DEH, TAIPEI TIMES
■ Politics
DPP lawmakers sentenced
Two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators have been found guilty of slandering former DPP Chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) at a press conference last September. The Taipei District Court said DPP legislators Lin Kuo-ching (林國慶) and Huang Chao-hui (黃昭輝) used offensive language against Shih on Sept. 7 last year. The presiding judge ruled that the press conference was not related to their pair's legislative duties, so their legislative immunity did not apply. Lin was sentenced to 50 days detention, while Huang received a 30-day sentence. Both men can avoid jail time, however, by paying a NT$1,000 per day fine. Lin said he would consult his lawyer about what to do next, while Huang said he would consider whether to appeal.
■ Politics
Su slams Chiu over riot
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) should be jailed immediately and that he should be deprived of his civil rights. "Chiu is a disgrace to the legislature," Su said. "As a result of his attempt to ram a vehicle into the Kaohsiung District Court, not only should he serve his 14-month jail sentence, but judges should also strip him of his civil rights ... And yet, he is still out there, in public. This is not right. He should be jailed immediately." The premier made his remarks during conversations with KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) at a legislative meeting. Su said Chiu continued to take advantage of this case to promote himself as a hero being jailed for political reasons. The truth, however, is that he led a riot at the Kaohsiung District Court and sullied the image of the KMT and the legislature, Su said. "What he did ... was very humiliating to the legislature," he said.
■ Diplomacy
Hu happy with Japan trip
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) said yesterday that he was pleased with the results of his six-day visit to Japan. He told a press conference in Japan that he had received positive responses from Yasuchika Negoro, head of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) leagues organization, and NPB Secretary General Kazuo Hasegawa, about exchanges between the baseball organizations in Taichung and Japan. Hu said he had also invited Japanese professional baseball teams to conduct training sessions at Taichung's new Intercontinental Baseball Stadium. Hu arrived home yesterday.
■ Welfare
No child care planned
The government does not have any plans to introduce a child care subsidy program next year as reported in a local daily, Interior Minister Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) told lawmakers yesterday during an question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan. In its Tuesday edition, the Chinese-language China Times revealed the contents of a research report by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) on the government's population policy. The daily claimed that the MOI plans to provide a "child care subsidy" to families in an effort to stem the nation's declining birth rates. Under the reported "child care program," families with one child will be entitled to a monthly subsidy of NT$2,000 (US$60), while those with two children will receive NT$3,000 per month, and families with three or more children will be eligible for a monthly subsidy of NT$5,000.
■ Diplomacy
China blasts Huang's trip
China criticized St. Lucia yesterday for allowing the foreign minister of Taiwan to visit the Carribean nation and blasted Taipei for trying to split China. Foreign Minister James Huang (黃志芳) visited St. Lucia last week at the host government's invitation, despite the fact that the tiny Carribean island broke ties with Taiwan in 1997 and now has formal diplomatic relations with China. "It is against the principle set in the communique between China and St. Lucia and hurt the feelings of the Chinese people," Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang (秦剛) said of the visit. "China expressed its strong dissatisfaction and opposition to it," Qin told a news conference. Qin said St. Lucia should respect the "one China" principle and also expressed anger at Taiwan over the visit.
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
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