■ DEFENSE
Arms sale to proceed
The Obama administration will proceed with arms sales to Taiwan despite recent protests by China, a US official said on Tuesday. Speaking from Hawaii, American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt said that sales of arms to Taiwan were consistent with what White House officials have been saying was US President Barack Obama’s policy. “No one should be surprised when we move forward with them,” he said. Burghardt declined to say exactly when Obama would notify Congress of an arms sale. In the past week, Chinese officials and news organizations have expressed anger over reports that the Obama administration could notify Congress shortly of such arms sales. Notification is the final step in the process. US officials say China could break off military-to-military contacts with the US once notification is made as it did in October last year when the Bush administration sold Taiwan US$6.5 billion worth of weapons.
■ WEATHER
Cold air mass hits nation
A cold air mass from China sent temperatures falling through much of Taiwan yesterday and could push the mercury to below 10°C in northern and central areas this weekend, the Central Weather Bureau said. The cold air mass will envelop Taiwan completely beginning today, making the weather noticeably colder, and could linger over Taiwan until next week, a bureau forecaster said. Temperatures are expected to be about 18°C in the north and northeast, with lows of between 15°C and 16°C in central regions, between 22°C and 23°C in eastern regions and between 24°C and 25°C in the south and southeast.
■ IMMIGRATION
Tibetans on hunger strike
More than 30 Tibetan exiles in Taiwan have been on a hunger strike outside the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) since late on Monday night to protest the commission not confirming their Tibetan status, which led to the National Immigration Agency’s (NIA) refusal to grant them residency. A total of 134 Tibetans living in Taiwan applied for residency earlier this year — 78 were granted residency while 56 were rejected because of insufficient proof of their status as Tibetans. The Tibetans who were denied residency asked whether the MTAC had double standards in assessing the proof of their Tibetan status. “How come some people received it, but others didn’t? There are even two brothers with the elder brother granted residency while the younger brother wasn’t,” Taiwan Tibetan Welfare Association chairman Jamga said. “I suspect that maybe only people on good terms with MTAC officials can get it.” MTAC rebutted the accusation and said that the individuals whose application were rejected could apply again if they have new evidence to prove their Tibetan status.
■ SOCIETY
Hope’s the word
“Hope” (pan, 盼) has been voted the Chinese character of the year in Taiwan, with many people believing a sustained period of crisis and disaster is finally coming to an end, a survey showed yesterday. It replaced “chaos” (luan, 亂), the character considered most representative of last year, and reflected how the mood in Taiwan has changed from pessimism to cautious optimism, said the Chinese-language United Daily News, which co-organized the poll. “This year we chose ‘hope’ over ‘chaos,’ symbolizing that Taiwan has bottomed out and is moving toward the light,” the paper said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai