■ EDUCATION
Chen hails name change
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday commended the renaming of a maritime technology college in Shezi (社子), saying that it reflected the status of Taiwan. The China College of Marine Technology and Commerce changed its name to Taipei College of Maritime Technology on Wednesday. Its status was upgraded from a two-year vocational college to a four-year vocational college. Speaking at a ceremony yesterday morning, Chen said the school had been right to change its name. Founded in 1966, China Marine College changed its name to China College of Marine Technology and Commerce in 1998 and became a two-year vocational college. The school later expanded to a second campus in Tamsui, Taipei County. The school plans to become a technology university in 2011.
■ HEALTH
COA bans meat from UK
The Council of Agriculture (COA) has temporarily banned imports of meat and related products from the UK after London announced an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) on a farm in Britain, an official said yesterday. Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Director Sung Hua-tsung (宋華聰) said that pork, mutton and beef imports from the UK were banned on Saturday, shortly after the British government announced the outbreak. Sung said that the ban would have little impact on the local market since British meat products constitute only a tiny fraction of the nation's total meat imports.
■ WEATHER
CWB watching typhoon
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Pabuk, the sixth tropical storm of this year, formed yesterday afternoon, and a sea warning for Bashi Channel might be issued later today if the storm continues on its present path. The center of Pabuk was located 1,090km away from the southeast coast of Okinawa yesterday, moving west-southwest at a speed of 24kph. The maximum wind speed near the storm's center was measured at 65kph. The bureau said the typhoon was 1,600km away from Hengchun (恆春), Pingtung County, and was likely to move toward Taiwan. The bureau was also monitoring another tropical low pressure system that was located near the coast of Vietnam, which was likely to turn into a tropical storm as well. The bureau also said that western Taiwan will likely see thunderstorms and showers over the next two to five days because of a receding ridge of high pressure in the Pacific.
■ TRAVEL
Chen launches bike tour
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) presided over a ceremony in front of the Presidential Office yesterday to launch an 11-day, 1,000km round-the-nation cycling trip. Organized by the Sports Affairs Council, 150 cyclists -- a record for the five-year-old tour -- are taking part in the ride, mostly college students from the US, the UK, Denmark, Ukraine, Germany, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Macau and Taiwan. They will visit 18 cities and counties and 100 townships during their trip, which is sponsored by Farglory Business Group. The company has paid for an insurance policy for each cyclist and a paramedic vehicle to accompany the cyclists on their journey.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all