■POLITICS
Movement changes name
The pro-independence Hand-in-Hand Taiwan Alliance (手護台灣大聯盟) yesterday changed its name to Taiwan National Alliance (台灣國家聯盟), with former Examination Yuan president Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) replacing former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) as convener. Yao told a press conference in Taipei yesterday that the 84-year-old Lee had decided to hand over the position because of his age, adding that Lee would continue to support the alliance. Yao said the group would continue to scrutinize the government and work to safeguard the nation’s sovereignty. The alliance said it hoped to cooperate with other pro-Taiwan groups to “build Taiwan as a new country.”
■SOCIETY
City eyes Sizihwan beach
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said yesterday the city government could assume control of Sizihwan beach (西子灣), which is currently administrated by National Sun Yat-sen University, after residents complained of being charged a fee by the university to access the beach. Chen told reporters the city government had agreed to allow the university to manage the beach for educational purposes after the school was founded. However, Sizihwan beach belongs to all residents of Kaohsiung and it was very “unreasonable” for the university to charge visitors an NT$100 admission fee, she said. Chen said the city government would hold talks with the university and consult the city’s Legal Affairs Bureau about the possibility of taking over the beach.
■ART
Literature catalogue unveiled
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature in Tainan said yesterday it would unveil on Friday a new databank that contains more than 100,000 titles of works by some 2,500 Taiwanese writers. The museum said the Chinese-language catalogue consists of three volumes covering all types of writing — narrative, novels, essays, poetry, drama, reportage, autobiographies, diaries, letters and children’s literature. The museum said it had commissioned Wen Hsun magazine, which is owned by the Taiwan Literature Development Foundation, to collect information and compile the catalogue, an exercise that required two years. After the catalogue is released on Friday, it will be accessible on the Internet and searchable by keyword.
■MEDICINE
‘Danshen’ mass produced
The Council of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Institute said on Monday it had developed a new technique to grow danshen, a herb widely used in Chinese medicine to treat cardiovascular disorders. Chen Wei-chen, an associate research fellow at the institute’s bio-technology division, said that after six years of experimentation, experts at the institute were now able to grow danshen on a large scale, with more than 90 percent of the seedlings transplanted from a nursery growing successfully on farmland. The danshen grown in this manner contains 50 percent more tanshinones, the anticoagulant agent found in the plant’s roots, than the herb sold on the market, Chen said. He said the technology would be shared with the private sector for mass production. Danshen, also known as Salvia miltiorrhiza, is widely used in herbal medicine to treat atherosclerosis — the hardening of the arteries with cholesterol plaque — and blood clotting abnormalities.
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