■ TRANSPORTATION
Landslide halts trains
Rail services between Luye Township (鹿野鄉) in Taitung County and Taitung City were canceled after the track north of Shanli Station was covered by a landslide that caused a train to derail yesterday afternoon. No passengers were hurt, and transportation was temporarily being handled by the Diing Dong Bus company. The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA,) estimated that rail services would resume at 6pm yesterday evening. TRA said the landslide was probably the result of the recent heavy rain which may have loosened the soil in the area.
■ CULTURE
Wong to visit Washington
Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠), chairwoman of the Council for Cultural Affairs will make a two-day trip to Washington next week and is scheduled to visit the US Library of Congress, the National Museum of Natural History and several museums affiliated with the Smithsonian Institute, a Taiwanese official posted in the US capital said on Saturday. Stanley Kao (高碩泰), the deputy representative to the US, made the announcement while meeting Taiwanese reporters based in Washington. Kao said the representative office will arrange two activities for Wong during her first visit to Washington since assuming her post earlier this year. In addition to Washington, Wong will also visit other cities in the US and Canada, Kao said.
■ ENVIRONMENT
EPA issues caution
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) cautioned against the burning of environmentally harmful ghost money and incense yesterday. Officials reiterated that it is illegal to burn ghost money and incense outdoors and said violators will be fined from NT$5,000 to NT$100,000. EPA officials said that when ghost money is burned, hazardous pollutants are released into the atmosphere. EPA officials also quoted research published by the Consumers' Foundation as indicating that burning incense is equally harmful. So far, authorities in 15 cities and counties around the country have offered to burn ghost money and incense together for worshippers in closed-off area to reduce pollution, EPA officials said.
■ ECONOMY
Workshop opens today
Two think tanks from Taiwan and China are sponsoring an academic workshop on cross-strait economic development that is set to open in Taipei today, an academic source said yesterday. More than 20 research papers are expected to be presented and discussed during the one-day workshop organized by the Chunghua Institute for Economic Research (CIER) and the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a CIER source said. The CASS delegation, led by Li Yang, director of the CASS Institute of Finance and Banking, will include 20 academics and researchers from the Institute of Finance and Banking, the Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics, and the Institute of Finance and Trade Economics, as well as other institutes in other areas, the CIER official said. Throughout the workshop, Taiwanese researchers are expected to gain a better understanding of the problems that China faces in the process of economic development and transformation and to offer suggestions as references or reminders, the CIER official said.
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