■ANIMAL WELFARE
Legislator calls for rules
Animal rights advocates and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) yesterday urged the government to regulate animal adoption procedures after a series of kitten abuse cases were reported in Taipei. The call came after a National Taiwan University (NTU) doctoral student was recently accused of abusing and killing kittens he had adopted. Huang said people wanting to adopt animals should be obliged to leave their personal information for verification so that people who give away the animals can regularly check on their living conditions to prevent potential abuse cases. Currently, only organizations such as public animal shelters check the authenticity of adopters’ personal information, said Yen I-feng (嚴一峰), director of the Taipei Municipal Institute for Animal Health. Statistics from government agencies tasked with animal protection showed that 743 suspected animal abuse cases were reported last year, but only 31 were established to be animal abuse cases, Huang said.
■TOURISM
MOFA extends visa waiver
Effective March 1, citizens of India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines who hold permanent residency or a valid visa for the US, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia or an EU nation will be allowed to enter Taiwan on a visa-free basis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. The new policy, however, excludes citizens of the five Asian countries who have previously worked in Taiwan as blue-collar workers. The program is aimed at boosting the tourism industry by attracting high-income earners. Qualified individuals must register on the National Immigration Agency Web site prior to their visit to receive a certificate proving their visa-free status. Visitors will also be asked to show their visas or permanent residency cards at customs in Taiwan.
■AIRLINER CRASH
Survivor leaves hospital
A Taiwanese man who sustained minor head and leg injuries in the Turkish airliner crash on Wednesday has been released from hospital and is expected to return to Taiwan soon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said Taiwan’s representative office in the Netherlands was immediately notified by the Dutch government when Taiwanese businessman Chen Shih-yin (陳詩尹) was found to have survived the crash that killed nine people. The Turkish Airlines aircraft carrying 134 passengers from Istanbul plowed into a muddy field on Wednesday near Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and broke into three pieces. The spokesman said the office has already arranged flights for Chen to return to Taiwan. As of press time, there has been no report of when Chen will travel home.
■TRAVEL
MOFA welcomes fee waiver
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday welcomed the Thai government’s announcement of a three-month visa fee-waiver starting on March 5 and lasting until June 4 for Republic of China passport holders. In a press release, the ministry said the step would encourage more Taiwanese to visit Thailand and boost exchanges between the two countries. Last year, Taiwanese investment in Thailand was more than US$12.1 billion, making Taiwan Thailand’s third largest investor. The ministry said it would continue its efforts to lobby for visa-waiver privilege for Republic of China passport holders.
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