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Taiwan Quick Take

■ MEDIA
EU documentary to be aired
A documentary focusing on European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso will be aired to give people of Taiwan an inside view of EU negotiation processes, a Taiwan-based EU official said yesterday. The 52-minute documentary titled At the Heart of Europe, which will be aired at 10pm on July 5 on the Public Television Service (PTS) channel, follows Barroso for six months. "Taiwanese can see what it is like working in a big international organization and see the daily negotiation process of the EU," said Frederic Laplanche, deputy head of the European Economic and Trade Office, the EU's representative office in Taiwan.

■ CORRUPTION
Task force to target bribery
Law enforcement officers will launch a crackdown on bribery on July 4, Minister of Justice Morley Shih (施茂林) said yesterday. Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) and Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) were also at the press conference at the GIO when the announcement was made. Shih said a new task force would be created to head a crackdown during the elections. The force will be introduced on July 4, with police officers following prosecutors' leads during the crackdown. In addition, Shieh said, the government would offer NT$15 million (US$455,000) to anybody whose tip leads to conviction in a bribery case during the presidential election and NT$10 million to tipsters whose contribution leads to a conviction on bribery charges related to the legislative election. Shih said a total of NT$350 million has been given to tipsters in the past few years and vowed that the identity of informers would be kept secret.

■ MILITARY
Officers gain promotion
Nine majors-general are to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general and vice admiral, and 33 colonels and captains will be made majors-general and rear admirals on the first of next month, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The ministry has scheduled a ceremony to be held today to introduce the promoted personnel, but their promotions will not take effect until next month. In addition, the new military spokesman, Yu Szu-tzu (虞思祖), will be promoted to the rank of major-general. Yu is the youngest military spokesman in the nation's history and the first military spokesman from the Air Force in the past 40 years.

■ SOCIETY
Celebrations on schedule
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday that preparations for the Double Ten National Day celebrations were on schedule. Wang, who also serves as the chairman of the Oct. 10 National Day Organizing Committee, made the remarks after listening to reports by Vice Interior Minister Lin Chung-sheng (林中森) on the preparations. Noting that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had suggested on National Day last year that the event be scrapped this year, Wang said "all preparations are following set procedures." He said the committee has tentatively decided that the National Day celebration party be held at Zuoying (左營), Kaohsiung, while a National Day fireworks display will be held at Pingtung. "The committee will respect President Chen's decision on whether he wishes to attend the rally," Wang said, adding that the committee would have the final say on whether to hold National Day celebrations.

■ TOURISM
Park opens on Green Island
An ecological park featuring Formosan sika deer opened on Sunday on Green Island, attracting thousands of visitors who happened to be visiting the island over the weekend. The 23 hectare park was built by the local township administration and is being collectively run by several local tourism operators as part of efforts to boost the island's tourism. Huang Ching-an (黃慶安), a spokesman for Hoya Hot Springs Resort and Spa, a major shareholder in the park, said that the annual number of visitors to Green Island had reached 400,000, but most of them come to the island during the summer. In order to make the island an ideal tourist destination in all seasons, the locals decided to build the park, Huang said. The establishment of the park was also an attempt to boost the island's deer industry, Green Island Township Mayor Chen Chia-wen (陳嘉文) said, adding that the industry made a major contribution to the island's economy in the past.

■ ENVIRONMENT
Clean-up at Hohuanshan
A clean-up operation will take place on July 1 on Hohuanshan (合歡山), Nantou County, to remove trash left behind by tourists, the Taipei-based Good Neighbor Foundation announced on Sunday. The foundation, established by the 7-Eleven convenience store chain in 1999, has been holding "Clean Up the World" operations since 2001. A spokesman for the foundation said volunteers and members of the foundation will join servicemen from the Army's Airborne Command and retired paratroopers on July 1 to clean up the trash left by tourists on Hohuanshan and in the adjacent Taroko Gorge National Park. Hohuanshan is a favorite winter scenic spot, where visitors get a rare chance to see snow.


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