■ ENVIRONMENT
Saving butterflies in Kenting
Drivers should slow down in Kenting National Park to avoid killing thousands of Common Mormon butterflies in the park, officials said. The Kenting National Park Administration said that the number of Common Mormon butterflies is expected to peak this week and that great quantities of them have been killed by passing cars. The Common Mormon butterfly, also known as the Papilio polytes, is an endemic species of the swallowtail butterfly. It is renowned for how its females mimic inedible Red-bodied Swallowtails such as the Common Rose and the Crimson Rose.
■ CONFERENCES
Former E German PM visits
Former East German prime minister Lothar de Maiziere will be in Taiwan to attend a forum on transitional justice later this week, a statement from the sponsor of the forum said yesterday. Officials from Taiwan Thinktank said that the former leader's participation at the conference on Saturday had been arranged by Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), whose tenure as representative to Germany ended last month. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will give the opening address, officials said. Invited academics will come mostly from former communist countries, including Hungary, Lithuania and Mongolia, most of which still have a single dominant political party and substantial party assets, the officials said, adding that aside from party assets, transitional justice would also be a topic of discussion.
■ POLITICS
KMT sues Frank Hsieh
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) filed a defamation lawsuit yesterday against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) for NT$100 million (US$3 million) over his reference to the party as a killer and a rapist during the Martial Law era. "We wanted to safeguard the truth through legal means and prevent politicians from humiliating Taiwan, which is a daughter of all the people," said Yang Tu (楊渡), commissioner of the party's culture and communication committee. During a speech earlier this month, Hsieh compared the KMT to a housekeeper who "killed our people, raped our daughters and robbed our fortune." Condemning Hsieh's remarks, Yang said the KMT had worked hard to make Taiwan a better country and that Hsieh's remarks were nothing but malicious. Yang said that if it won the case, the party would use the money to care for comfort women.
■ EDUCATION
Students win at Olympiad
Four students won a total of two gold and two silver medals at the 39th International Chemistry Olympiad, held in Moscow from July 16 to last Monday. The event -- one of the International Science Olympiads -- is an annual chemistry competition for high school students. A total of 500 talented students from 72 countries participated in the event, which consists of chemistry experiments and theoretical and practical questions. Accompanied by National Taiwan Normal University Professor Fang Tai-shan (方泰山) and a Ministry of Education official, the four winners received their awards at the closing ceremony on Monday. The two gold medalists are Ho Ying-you (何應佑), a student at National Experimental High School in Hsinchu, and Huang Wei-lun (黃韋綸) of Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School (TMJHS). Chang Kai-jui (張凱瑞) of National Taichung First Senior High School and Lin Chi-yang (林記揚) of TMJHS won silver medals.
■ IMMIGRATION
NIA to speed up repatriation
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) will speed up repatriation of illegal immigrants as part of its efforts to solve the problem of overcrowding at its temporary shelters around the country, agency Deputy Director Steve Wu (吳學燕) said yesterday. Responding to media reports that the shelters were notorious for overcrowding and poor sanitation, Wu said the temporary shelters at the NIA's various outposts could accommodate up to 500 people, and the three special detention centers for illegal immigrants in Taoyuan, Sansia and Ilan could accommodate up to 2,400 people. He added that the crackdown on illegal immigrants and runaway laborers had led to the sharp rise in the number of foreigners awaiting repatriation, and hence overcrowding at the shelters.
■ ARTS AND CULTURE
Art camp begins for 60 kids
Netherlands-based ABN AMRO Bank's Taiwan branch has teamed up with the Child Welfare League Foundation and the Taipei City Government to fund a summer art camp for 60 disadvantaged children nationwide, branch CEO Terry King (經天瑞) told a press conference yesterday. The camp, held in various locations in Taipei, began yesterday and will run until Sunday. Underprivileged elementary school students with an aptitude for art are producing artwork that will be displayed in public exhibitions around Taipei in late August, King said. The three best junior artists will win cash prizes or an all-expenses-paid trip to the Netherlands. Ten runners-up will receive generous scholarships, he added. The camp, which includes classes by art professionals, as well as room and board, is free to participants.
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