■ POLITICS
Let Hsieh decide, Chen says
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) is the person best qualified to choose his running mate, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday. Amid speculation that Chen favored former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) as a running mate for Hsieh, Chen declined to comment on a Hsieh-Su ticket. While Hsieh has said he would let the matter be decided by opinion polls, Chen said that he disagreed, as he believed Hsieh would make the best decision himself. Chen made the remarks during an inspection trip to Taichung City.
■ ENERGY
Wind-power cable planned
State-run Taiwan Power Co on Monday announced a plan to construct a 60km undersea electric cable linking Taiwan and offshore Penghu County as part of the company's efforts to secure supplies of wind-powered electricity between the two. The NT$14.68 billion (US$445 million) plan is undergoing an environmental impact assessment, a company spokesman said. The project would be completed in November 2012 if the assessment is finished by the end of this year, he said. Once the cable is in place, wind-powered electricity could be produced on a massive scale on Penghu, the spokesman said. The undersea electric cable would serve as a backup system, but one which the spokesman said had to be put in place in advance. Without a backup system, the island's power system would be compromised if the wind becomes unstable, leading to the possibility of a comprehensive shutdown, the spokesman added.
Globally, the Penghu area is one of the most suitable places for generating wind power, the spokesman said.
■ POLITICS
Schriver seeks latest facts
Former US deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs Randall Schriver arrived in Taiwan on Monday for a five-day visit at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' (MOFA) Department of North American Affairs. Schriver hopes to obtain the latest information on the nation's political and electoral situation and will hold a press conference with local media tomorrow, MOFA spokesman David Wang (王建業) said. Schriver will visit the Democratic Progressive Party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, the Environmental Protection Administration and other government departments. Christopher Griffin, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is accompanying Schriver.
■ CULTURE
Festival cancelation possible
An announcement by Ilan County Commissioner Lu Kuo-hua (呂國華) yesterday that the county's annual Children's Folklore and Folk Game festival would not be held next year drew fire from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chin-de (陳金德), who demanded that he consult with local travel companies and county councilors. Lu said that the decision had been made out of cost considerations, but that the county government would immediately begin working on a replacement summer activity. Chen, a legislator from Ilan, released a statement yesterday saying that the festival had a 12-year history and the decision to cancel it should not be taken so lightly. He said that he had not ruled out initiating a recall motion should Lu not reconsider his decision.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
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