■TOURISM
Ireland targets Taiwanese
Tourism Ireland, the Irish government’s main tourism promoter, has opened a page on its Web site catering to Taiwanese tourists and offering them information on traveling and studying in Ireland. The new page offers personalized itinerary planning and a rundown of the country’s main travel destinations and study programs. The page is in Chinese, written in traditional characters, and reflects the importance that Tourism Ireland attaches to the Taiwanese market, Representative to Ireland Lee Nan-yang (李南陽) said. Ireland’s push to attract Taiwanese tourists follows its decision earlier this year to grant Republic of China passport holders visa-free entry for visits related to tourism, business and studying. The policy took effect July 1 and allows Taiwanese to stay in Ireland for up to 90 days without a visa.
■FISHERIES
France enters fishing deal
France has notified the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission of a fishing vessel inspection deal with Taiwan, the Fisheries Administration said yesterday. From Feb. 2, France and Taiwan will start mutual onboard inspections on the open sea under the international organization set up to conserve and manage stocks of migratory fish in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. France joins New Zealand, the Cook Islands, the US and Japan in agreeing to mutual onboard inspections with Taiwan, the officials said. They said that Taiwan’s tuna boats, whether purse seiners, longliners of more than 100 tonnes or smaller longliners, will have to follow the commission’s inspection regulations. Taiwanese skippers will have to keep their licenses, fishing haul reports and operation logs at hand in case of inspection and report all inspections to the Coast Guard Administration and fishery radio.
■CULTURE
Hakka exposition opens
The first International Exposition of Hakka Merchandise, organized by the Council for Hakka Affairs, opens today at the World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall and will last until Jan. 3. Thousands of Hakka products will be on show, ranging from clothes, produce and handicrafts, to Hakka-themed tours. Featured items include fruit and tea, wooden sculpture, paper umbrellas, pottery, and clothing with traditional blue dyes. There will also be Hakka performances, do-it-yourself handicraft lessons, appearances by Hakka celebrities and free gifts. Six hundred gifts will be handed out to visitors beginning at 10am today.
■RAILWAYS
Station to exploit sun
A new railway station near completion at the Southern Taiwan Science Park is the first designed to exploit solar energy and will produce enough solar power to offset the electricity used for lighting, the Tainan County government said yesterday. When the railway station becomes operational in April, it will be able to generate up to 16.1 kilowatts of electricity each day, saving 84 tonnes of carbon emissions a year, Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) said. The station will generate power through solar panels and thin-film solar cells installed on the station’s roof and on top of the covered train platform. The electricity generated will be sent to Taiwan Power Co’s grid rather than being used directly at the station.
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