■ POLITICS
St. Lucian PM dies
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will send a representative to attend the funeral of St. Lucian Prime Minister Sir John Compton, who died on Friday aged 82. Compton engineered the resumption of diplomatic ties with Taiwan in May. Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) yesterday said that he broke the news to Chen yesterday morning at the Taiwan-Africa Summit in Taipei. Huang said Chen was sorry to learn of the death of Compton and immediately extended condolences to his wife. Huang added that Chen will send a special envoy to attend the state funeral and that he did not think Compton's death would affect the relations between the two countries.
■ TRADE
PRC importing more goods
Taiwan was China's third-largest source of imports in the first seven months of this year, trailing only Japan and South Korea, according to tallies published by the Chinese customs office. China imported some US$53.02 billion worth of products and services from Taiwan during the January-July period, marking an increase of 11.43 percent year-on-year, Chinese customs statistics showed. In terms of growth in exports to China, Taiwan ranked only 9th among 11 major exporting countries to China during the seven-month period, with a growth of 11.43 percent, compared to Japan's 17.1 percent and South Korea's 14.9 percent. Nevertheless, Taiwan surpassed Japan and South Korea in terms of integrated circuit and liquid-crystal-display (LCD) products exported to China in the seven-month period, according to the statistics. Integrated circuits and LCD products made up the bulk of products that Japan, South Korea and Taiwan exported to China over the seven-month period. Taiwanese-made integrated circuits and LCD products currently constitute 22.6 percent and 36.5 percent respectively of the domestic market in China.
■ DIPLOMACY
You Ching arrives in Berlin
Taiwan's new representative to Germany, You Ching (尤清), arrived in Berlin on Saturday to assume his post. You, his wife and son, were warmly welcomed upon their arrival, where dozens of people, including officials from the Taipei Representative Office in Berlin and Taiwanese expatriates in Germany, showed up to greet them. You is no stranger to Germany, having studied there for five years. He later returned to Germany for advanced studies at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. During his tenure as Taipei County commissioner, You actively promoted "city diplomacy," enabling Taipei County to form ties with the southern German county of Starnberg.
■ CRIME
Police bust vice ring
Police busted a human smuggling and prostitution ring yesterday in Miaoli County consisting of six members from the same family, and took five Indonesian women into custody. Officers from the National Highway Police Bureau's Criminal Investigation Brigade arrested Lin Hsi-ling (林錫鈴), 50, his son, daughter, sister's husband and two other family members in Houlung Township (後龍) on charges of smuggling foreign women for prostitution. A police spokesman said the ring quartered the women in a worker's dormitory in a remote mountainous area and placed them under strict control, and that ring members would escort the women to customers. He said police had kept the ring under surveillance for two months before taking action.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost