■ ENVIRONMENT
Heavy dust on the way
People with cardiopulmonary or respiratory diseases should stay indoors and avoid strenuous activities today and tomorrow because Taiwan will be enveloped by heavy dust from Inner Mongolia in China, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday. “A cold front passed through the northern part of the island today [Saturday], bringing with it air pollutants from Inner Mongolia and central China. The front will move southward today, bringing cold weather and dust to southern Taiwan,” the Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management said. Rain may reduce the air pollutants in some parts of the country, the department said. The EPA urges the public to avoid spending unnecessary time outdoors, particularly in the case of children, the elderly and those with heart or respiratory problems.
■ CULTURE
Museum crowds growing
The National Palace Museum is considering measures to manage crowds, as the influx of Chinese tourists has put a strain on service to visitors, a senior curator said yesterday. The museum is a favorite destination for Chinese visitors, resulting in overcrowding in the most popular display rooms and galleries since the number of Chinese tourists rose significantly last month, museum deputy director Feng Ming-chu (馮明珠) said. In the past, Feng said, the number of visitors per day exceeded 8,000 only on holidays. “But nowadays the number tends to surpass the 8,000 mark every day,” she said. Feng said the number of Chinese visitors was expected to increase following the launch of regularly scheduled flights across the Taiwan Strait, leading the museum to seek measures to deal with bigger crowds.
■ SOCIETY
Falun Gong stage protest
About 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered at Liberty Square yesterday, demanding that Beijing stop its persecution of their group. Activists were there to mark the 10th anniversary of a 10,000-strong silent protest by Falun Gong followers in Beijing. The Beijing rally sparked a crackdown on the group. Chang Ching-hsi (張清溪), an economics professor at National Taiwan University and a Falun Gong practitioner, said that despite the crackdown, “Falun Gong has not collapsed. Instead, it has spread to more than 100 countries.” He estimated that there were 500,000 Falun Gong practitioners in Taiwan. The rally at Liberty Square drew some curious Chinese tourists, who hurriedly posed for photos before being led off by tour guides.
■ POLITICS
Lu urges Chen to keep out
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday it would be “inappropriate” and “unnecessary” for former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to rejoin the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) at the moment. Lu made the remarks in response to media reports that Chen told Hsu Chieh-yuan (??, an executive committee member of the DPP Taipei City Branch, during a visit on Thursday that he would be willing to rejoin the party if it invited him. Chen, who is being held at the Taipei Detention Center, is being tried on counts of embezzlement, money laundering, taking bribes and forgery. Lu said Chen’s top priority should be to remain healthy and prove his innocence, adding that during a recent visit, he had not mentioned rejoining the party. Chen withdrew from the party in August.
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
DIPLOMACY: It is Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo’s first visit to Taiwan since he took office last year, while Eswatini’s foreign minister is also paying a visit A delegation led by Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon and is to visit President William Lai (賴清德) today. The delegation arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 4:55pm, and was greeted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). It is Arevalo’s first trip to Taiwan since he took office last year, and following the visit, he is to travel to Japan to celebrate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Arevalo said at the airport that he is very glad to make the visit to Taiwan, adding that he brings an important message of responsibility
About 3,000 people gathered at events in Taipei yesterday for an annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, a brutal crackdown by Chinese authorities on a student-led demonstration in Beijing on June 4 36 years ago. A candlelight vigil organized by the New School for Democracy and other human rights groups began at 7pm on Democracy Boulevard outside Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, with the theme "Resist Transnational Repression, Defy Totalitarianism." At about 8pm, organizers announced that about 3,000 people had attended the event, which featured brief speeches by human rights advocates from Taiwan and China, including Hong Kong, as well
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