■ TRANSPORTATION
TV coverage canned
The government will axe a public exhibition of military might from annual training exercises next month to further ease tensions with China, a defense official said yesterday. Under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who took office in May on pledges to make peace with China, the Sept. 22 to Sept. 26 Han Kuang series of exercises will leave out the televised live-fire displays that Ma’s predecessors would use to flex muscle before Beijing. “No show this year,” a military official said, adding that public displays of military exercises have political implications. “Political intrigue and military preparedness do not gel together well,” said Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief for Defense News. “Ma has stated repeatedly [that] his administration will seek a peace accord with China.”
■ TRANSPORTATION
MRT lines delayed
The Council for Economic Planning and Development said on Monday it would push back by one year the scheduled completion of five mass rapid transit (MRT) lines in Taipei’s second-stage MRT plan. The 11 members of the council approved a motion at a regular meeting to delay the completion of the Neihu, Xinyi, Xinzhuang, Luzhou Branch and Songshan lines by one year from the scheduled launch dates. The Nangang Line’s eastward extension, however, will become operational by the end of this year as scheduled, the council said. The Taipei MRT system currently has eight lines — Muzha, Danshui, Zhonghe, Xindian, Banqiao, Nangang, Tucheng and the Xiaonanmen— totaling 76.6km. Construction on six additional lines — initially scheduled to open between next year and 2013 — began five years ago, but a number of factors have caused various delays in the projects, the council said.
■ CRIME
Unarmed man robs bank
A man with a motorcycle helmet broke into Chinfon Bank’s Da-an branch in Taipei City yesterday and robbed it of NT$610,000 without using any weapons. The robbery took place at 11:30am. Police said the robbery was captured on closed-circuit surveillance video. The man wore a blue shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers. Witnesses told police that as some of the bank clerks were on their lunch break, there were only two female clerks behind the counter, while security officers were not inside the bank. Witnesses said the man, without saying anything or flashing any weapons, jumped over the counter and began loading cash from one of the drawers. It took him just 47 seconds to take the money and take off on a scooter.
■ ECONOMY
Milk prices to stabilize
The price of milk powder, which has constantly gone up since last year, is not expected to rise again in the coming months, as production prices have dropped from their peak in February, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a report yesterday. Government Information Office Deputy Minister Albert Lin (林清修) told reporters that New Zealand has been Taiwan’s main source of milk powder, followed by China and the Netherlands. The price of both wholesale milk powder imported from New Zealand and international fresh milk had dropped in the past two months, he said. Lin said the price of milk powder imported from New Zealand was now back to the same level as in February last year and that between Aug. 1 and last Wednesday, the price of domestic fresh milk had dropped 1.2 percent from last month. The price of milk powder, however, was up 0.5 percent.
■ SOCIETY
Beef noodle votes welcome
The 2008 Taipei Beef Noodle Festival was announced yesterday, with 60 selected shops offering 10 percent discounts every Thursday from Sept. 4 to Nov. 13. The Taipei City Government invited the public to join an online voting activity to select the best noodle shops in Taipei City by visiting the event’s official Web site at www.2008tbnf.com.tw to cast votes between Sept. 17 and Oct. 31. A beef noodle carnival will be held from Nov. 14 to Nov. 16 with creative beef noodle cooking contests and various activities to promote the local dish, said Liu Chia-chun (劉家均), director of Taipei City’s Office of Commerce. The festival, which enters its fourth year, was first held in 2005 to revive the popularity of beef noodles.
■ EDUCATION
Kinmen readies for Russian
The National Kinmen Institute of Technology is to forge sisterhood ties with the Far Eastern State Technical University located in Vladivostok, Russia, the president of the Kinmen school said yesterday. Lee Chin-chen (李金振) said that as Kinmen had been on the frontline in the battle against communist regimes, including the Soviet Union, for over 60 years, the island had no contact with the Russian language. However, under the current situation, with Kinmen’s warming ties with China and the establishment of the “small three links,” the island has been working to increase its ties with Russia, which shares a 4,000km border with China, he said. He added that he would travel to the Far Eastern State Technical University on Sept. 23. Lee said that the exchanges with the Vladivostok-based school under the sisterhood agreement would mean that the Kinmen technical institute’s practical foreign language curriculum would not be restricted to English.
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