■ LEISURE
Presidential Office opens
The public is invited to take part in a day of fun and food in front of the Presidential Office on Sunday. From 8am to 4pm, a wide range of activities inside and outside the building are aimed at welcoming the public to a Presidential Office open house. The building will only be open to public visits four times this year, with this Sunday being the third. The open-house activities have been jointly organized by the Council for Cultural Affairs, Council of Agriculture, Sports Affairs Council and National Museum of Taiwanese Literature. The Sports Affairs Council has also organized a 1,000km round-the-island bicycle tour. Visitors to the Presidential Office must bring their ID or passport.
■ FOREIGN AFFAIRS
US visa waiver contested
US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said on Wednesday that a bill providing for the expansion of a US visa waiver program would mainly benefit US allies in Europe, adding that he had not heard of Taiwan being included in the list. Responding to Casey's comments, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman David Wang (王建業) said yesterday that it did not mean Taiwan was excluded from the act, as the US administration had not fleshed out the details or which countries would benefit from the visa-free program. While the US has the right to determine which countries should benefit, Wang pointed out that Taiwan meets the conditions set forth in the visa-waiver program, including a low overstay rate, low visa rejection rate and cooperation with the US on counterterrorism.
■ EDUCATION
Zoo hosts bear exhibit
The Taipei Zoo is holding a special exhibition about the need to protect bears. The exhibition, titled "Bear in Mind," opened on Wednesday in the zoo's Education Center and will run until the end of next month. It features life-size pictures of bears and information about their characteristics, living habits and how their habitats are being threatened. There are also hands-on workshops that allow visitors to play various bear-themed games. The eight species in the ursidae family are distributed from the Arctic coasts to tropical jungles. The zoo has three of the species among its inhabitants: brown bears, sun bears and Asian black bears, plus a subspecies of the Asian black bear -- the Formosan black bear.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Changhua tries oil recycling
The Changhua County Government will launch a waste cooking oil recycling program beginning next month on a trial basis as part of efforts to improve environmental protection, a county official said yesterday. The program will involve collecting waste edible oil from households, schools and government organizations, the county's Environmental Protection Bureau official said, adding that if successful, the program would be officially implemented. Noting that waste cooking oil produced by households, schools and public agencies accounts for some 20 percent to 28 percent of the national total, the official said that dumping it directly into rivers or drains causes serious contamination. The program is part of the Environmental Protection Administration's plan to reduce environmental pollution and increase raw material supply for the production of biodiesel and other products such as soap and feed additives.
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