■WEATHER
CWB monitors Sinlaku
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) may issue a sea alert for Typhoon Sinlaku as it could move toward Taiwan, the bureau said yesterday. Sinlaku was upgraded from a tropical storm at 2am yesterday. As of 5:45pm, its center was located 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) in Pingtung County and it was moving north at a speed of 7km. The maximum wind speed near the center reached level 13 on the Beaufort scale. The radius of the storm topped 180km. Sinlaku was moving slowly because it lacked a guiding stream, and its path has been rather unpredictable as it has a tendency to shift from side to side. Because of the typhoon’s circumfluence, chances of showers or heavy rain remain high in the mountainous areas in the north and the northeast, the bureau said.
■SOCIETY
Adoptive parents sought
A charity in Kaohsiung City appealed on Tuesday for adoptive parents to care for six babies who range in age from one month to eight months. Guo Liang-ling (郭亮玲), chairwoman of the Hui Ji Charity of Kaohsiung, said a baby boy and five girls were left with the charity in the last few months by either unwed mothers or financially strapped parents who could not afford to raise their children. She said all six were in good health, although one appears to have a hereditary disease. The charity has limited facilities and a small staff, so it cannot take care of all six infants, Guo said.
■SOCIETY
Animal rights highlighted
Kaohsiung City Government will launch a series of animal rights education programs for elementary, junior high and high school students on Tuesday, the city government said yesterday. Deputy Kaohsiung Mayor Lin Jen-yi (林仁益) told a press conference that lectures will be given at 15 schools. The city government will also hold a painting competition for students to show their concern for animals through their creativity, he said. The city government hopes to help students learn compassion and respect for all living beings, he said.
■SOCIETY
Cross-strait marriages rise
One out of every six couples married in Taipei City in the first seven months of this year were cross-strait or cross-cultural couples, the city government said yesterday. A total of 1,604 Taipei residents married overseas nationals, including those from China, Hong Kong and Macau, between January and July, representing 15.83 percent of all residents who got married during that period, the Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said. Most of the foreign spouses came from China — 819 — with 789 men marrying Chinese women, and 30 women marrying Chinese men. Officials attributed the growing number of cross-strait and interracial marriages to increased business and trade between Taiwan and China, as well as Taipei’s increasing globalization.
■SOCIETY
Free bus rides for Taichung
Taichung City will offer free bus rides during peak hour next year to help its residents get used to taking public transport ahead of the construction of its metro system, Deputy Taichung Mayor Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家旗) said yesterday. Although the city’s bus ridership has increased to 1.8 million per month from the previous level of just over 300,000, Hsiao said, bus commuters account for only 10 percent of the city’s total population. The ratio must be raised to a range between 20 percent and 30 percent to reach a balance in the future metro operations, he 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