■ 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.
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