■ MOVIES
President backs 'Monga'
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged people who have watched pirated copies of the nation's latest box-office hit Monga (艋舺) to watch the film again in movie theaters as a way of supporting locally produced movies. Ma made the call in his latest weekly online journal. “Rejecting piracy is supporting locally produced films, “ he said. Pirated copies of Cape No. 7 (海角七號) — one of the nation’s best-selling films — hit the market three months after its release in June 2008, and the same problem has beset Monga less than four weeks after its release, Ma wrote. This rampant copyright infringement has not only dealt a blow to the creativity and confidence of local filmmakers, but also hindered the Taiwanese film industry from making progress, he said. Innovation is the way for Taiwan to grow stronger and what it fears the most is intellectual property theft, he said, adding that he had instructed the Cabinet to reinforce measures to crack down on piracy.
■ TRAVEL
Passport rush hits 28,000
The Bureau of Consular Affairs received more than 28,000 applications for new passports on Friday, the last day before charges for a new passport were raised by NT$400 to NT$1,600, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said yesterday. Bureau Director-General Lo Yu-chung (羅由中) said it was the highest figure ever in terms of new passport applications. The adjusted charge for a regular e-passport with a 10-year period of validity will take effect tomorrow. The government began to issue e-passports on Dec. 29, 2008, becoming the 60th country to issue this type of passport, which boasts increased anti-fraud and security features. As of Dec. 31, about 1 million e-passports had been issued, with another 250,000 issued so far this year, Lo said. The e-passport, also called a chip passport, has a small contactless integrated circuit embedded in the back cover.
■ TRANSPORT
Airport expansion delayed
The expansion of Taipei Songshan Airport to accommodate more international flights may not be ready by October, Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said on Friday. Mao said Songshan Airport had operated as a domestic airport for decades and needed to be expanded to accommodate international passengers. The airport’s management had concluded agreements to open international routes that will connect the city airport to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport and Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport, he said. Although Songshan Airport has limited capacity, it can become a “small but efficient” airport after the expansion of Terminal One for international flights is completed, he said.
■ HISTORY
Online database launched
The Academia Historica’s Taiwan Historica and National Chengchi University recently launched an online database digitalizing gazettes issued by the Taiwan governor-general’s office during the Japanese colonial era. Taiwan Historica director Lin Chin-tien (林金田) said the database would provide a wealth of resources for studies on Taiwan’s administrative, judicial and military systems during that era as the databank includes more than 60,000 scanned images of the gazettes and more than 50,000 entries related to the historical documents. The database is expected to collect about 65,000 images and 150,000 data entries by next year, Lin said. Users of the databank can browse the data by year or search for information by date or keywords, he said. The database is available at: http://db2.lib.nccu.edu.tw/view.
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