■ POLITICS
Tourist permits criticized
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) yesterday criticized the Immigration Bureau for issuing two groups of Chinese tourists permits to enter the country after they arrived at Kaohsiung International Airport on Wednesday. Because they did not have permits to enter Taiwan before departing China, the Immigration Bureau issued permits to the tourists when they arrived in Kaohsiung, Lee said. Lee said the bureau had jeopardized the country’s sovereignty, security and public health, and had treated Taiwan like it was part of China. DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the Immigration Bureau’s conduct was equal to granting Chinese tourists visa on arrival, which is against regulations.
■ HEALTH
Official raises drywall alert
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Secretary-General Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉) yesterday urged the government to examine whether drywall products imported from China last year contained harmful chemicals. Lin called the government’s attention to news reports from the US that defective drywall products imported from China and used by US builders in more than 100,000 homes posed a health hazard to homeowners and apartment dwellers. Citing customs data, Lin said Taiwan imported 840 tonnes of drywall products from China last year. “If the drywall material is tainted, 12,000 households in Taiwan could have been affected,” he said, adding that the government should adopt emergency measures to determine whether the drywall products imported from China contained harmful substances.
■ EDUCATION
Prosecutors donate money
Since the beginning of the year, the Chiayi Prosecutors’ Office has given scholarships to 150 students using money taken from criminals, a source said on Thursday. Money for the scholarships — which ranges from NT$1,000 per semester for each elementary school student to NT$2,000 per semester for each junior high school — came from fines paid to the Chiayi Prosecutors Office by perpetrators of minor offenses for deferred prosecution. The scholarship program began in 2007, benefiting 90 poor students that year, said a worker with the Hsin Kang Foundation of Culture and Education (HKFCE), which participates in the program. Starting in 2006, the Chiayi Prosecutors’ Office began providing charitable groups with money to help pay for social services to local residents, he said. The aim is to help children from low-income families stay in school, he said.
■ SOCIETY
Hakka outlet opens
The Council for Hakka Affairs yesterday inaugurated the nation’s first permanent Hakka merchandise outlet, featuring certified Taiwanese Hakka products at the Taiwan Handicraft Center in Taipei. Council Minister Huang Yu-chen (黃玉振) said at the inauguration ceremony that the outlet would provide a marketing channel for about 300 domestic businesses that produce more than 500 items with a touch of Taiwan’s Hakka culture. He said all merchandise sold at the outlet had met the council’s quality control standards and was awarded the “Hakka Taiwan” recognition stamp. Eleven more outlets will be opened nationwide this year. “We’re also in discussions with some trade fair organizers about the possibility of presenting certified Hakka Taiwan merchandise to the international market,” Huang said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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