■ POLITICS
Siew declines invitation
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) has declined an invitation to attend a world Chinese businessmen's conference in Japan, a KMT spokesman said yesterday. The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) reported yesterday that Siew was listed as one of the honorary chairmen of the 9th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention in Kobe. The convention, which is being sponsored by China, includes such pro-China figures as Zheng Bijian (鄭必堅) and Yotaro Kobayashi, the heads of the China-Japan Friendship 21st Century Committee. Su said Siew decided a year ago that he would be unable to attend the conference because of his busy itinerary. Su said he was baffled by reports describing the conference as opposing independence for Taiwan and promoting unification. He said there are many honorary chairmen listed for the conference, including several former Japanese prime ministers. Su said Siew's invitation was indicative of his stature in the world of international trade.
■ CRIME
Songshan police admit error
The Songshan Precinct of Taipei City Police Department admitted yesterday it had erred in identifying three decorators as thieves and apologized, but the trio refused to accept the apology. On May 30, an office on the seventh floor of a building in Sungshan reported NT$10,000 was missing. The precinct gave TV stations footage from the building's security video which showed Liao Keng-jen (廖庚仁) and his two sons passing cash to one another in the elevator about the time the robbery was reported. The police asked the public to "help catch these three men as quickly as possible." The Liaos, however, had been working on a renovation project on the 11th floor of the building and the money in the elevator was their pay. Liao and his sons went to the precinct to complain. Precinct Director Huang Chia-lu (黃嘉祿) admitted the error and apologized. Liao declined to accept the apology and asked Huang to step down. "I will step down if I have to," Huang said.
■ WEATHER
CWB watching storm
Tropical Storm Manyi formed at 2am yesterday near Guam, but it was unlikely to become a threat to Taiwan in the next few days, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. As of press time, the center of the storm was located 500km south-southwest of Guam and was moving northwest at a speed of 23kph. It was to early to say whether the storm will head toward Taiwan, the bureau said. However, the bureau issued a precipitation alert for Taipei city and county, and Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Chiayi and Tainan counties. The bureau estimated that the rain in Chiayi County's Taibao Township (太保) measured 76.5mm in less than an hour yesterday.
■ CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Dance troupe visits China
More than 40 members of Kinmen's Wuchiang Dance Troupe left for Xiamen yesterday to take part in a summer camp with Xiamen's Little Egret Folk Dance Troupe. The group, made up mostly of students, traveled by boat. The delegation will stay in Xiamen for eight days. Wuchiang troupe supervisor Chang Hui-ling (張慧玲) said the visit was intended to expose his dancers to a different techniques and a different environment. The Little Egret troupe was established in 1993 and was the first professional folk dance troupe in China. The Wuchiang Dance Troupe was established in 2002.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it