■NATURE
‘National Day Birds’ on way
Gray-faced buzzard eagles, also known as the “National Day Bird,” will soon pass through Kending (墾丁), the Construction and Planning Agency said in a statement yesterday. To welcome the rare migratory birds, listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Kending National Park will hold an eagle-watching event that will include various bird-watching and environmental education activities. Appendix II includes species for which trade must be controlled to “avoid utilization incompatible with their survival.” The gray-faced buzzard may be the most famous of 200 bird species that transit through Kending National Park every year as they migrate, and because its migration period usually comes around the Oct. 10 national day celebrations, it is nicknamed the “National Day Bird.” The birds usually rest in Kending for about 20 days from early to mid-October and can be seen flying in groups above the ocean. They breed in eastern China, eastern Russia and Japan and winter mainly in Indochina, Malaysia and the Philippines. Their preferred habitat is low mountains, hills and foothills
■DIPLOMACY
AIT envoy assumes duties
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday announced that Eric Madison assumed his duties as deputy director of the Taipei Office on Friday. “A career foreign service officer, Madison served most recently as economic counselor at the American Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the past year,” said a statement released by the AIT. “Prior to that, he served as deputy counselor in the economic section at the American Embassy in Beijing.” Madison had previously served at the AIT as the deputy chief of the Economic Section from 1992-1995, the AIT added. In related news, the AIT yesterday announced that all its offices will be closed on Monday to mark Columbus Day in the US. The offices will re-open on Tuesday.
■TRAVEL
MOFA passes on advice
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday reminded all Taiwanese travelers to European countries, especially the Czech Republic, to carry proof of medical insurance at all times in case of random police checks. Chiu Jong-jen (邱仲仁), the director-general of the Department of European Affairs, said the Czech Republic representative office called the ministry last week to ask the government to pass on the advice to all those traveling to the country. Chiu said the message was not targeted at Taiwan specifically but generally to travelers worldwide. He also said random police checks are uncommon but it is always a good idea to carry all relevant documents while traveling abroad.
■DIPLOMACY
Sapporo office to open soon
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said its Sapporo branch office is scheduled to open on Oct. 24, with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony. At a press conference in Tokyo, Representative to Japan John Feng (馮寄台) said the opening of the office holds special significance for Taiwan-Japan ties and the office will be able to serve more than 300,000 Taiwanese tourists that visit Hokkaido each year. Sapporo will be the third branch office under the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Relation Office in Tokyo in addition to Naha and Yokohama. Taiwan also has a representative office in Osaka.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
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