■ ENERGY
Conservation MOEA’s focus
Taiwan will focus on energy conservation and carbon reduction this year, with a goal of using 3.34 million kilowatt of recycled energy and building 25 low-carbon communities by the end of the year, according to 18 projects recently outlined by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Under the plans, Taiwan will seek to improve energy efficiency by at least 2 percent per year over the next eight years while cutting the nation’s carbon emissions to 2005 levels by 2020. With the projects, the ministry will establish a new energy recycling mechanism, encouraging the public to use small energy recycling facilities and expanding the collection of wind power from land-based generators to offshore generators. As for low-carbon communities, the goal is to develop two model communities each in 25 cities and counties before the end of next year, and four cities will be developed into low-carbon cities by 2014. The nation will also adopt energy efficiency grading systems for air conditioners, refrigerators and automobiles.
■MUSIC
Mayday to play in LA today
Taiwanese rock band Mayday (五月天) arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday on the second leg of a world tour following their opening show in New York. The LA concert takes place today. Ashin (阿信), the group’s lead vocalist, said in a news conference that it has been two years since Mayday last played in LA and that the new show will include new material. This is the group’s fifth world tour. It is scheduled to perform in San Francisco tomorrow before going to China, where the stops will include Xiamen, Beijing, Wuhan and Xi’an. Asked about dream venues for future Mayday concerts, bassist Matthew Tsai (蔡昇晏), also known as Masa, said he would like to play on a container vessel on the high seas for a large number of fans, singing all night with beer and food.
■REAL ESTATE
Law targets Chinese buyers
The Ministry of the Interior approved a law amendment on Thursday banning personnel in China’s military, political parties and government sectors from acquiring real estate in Taiwan. Under the revised regulations, Chinese citizens who are members of political parties or groups, members of the military or employed in public agencies, will not be permitted to obtain land or property here, mainly to prevent them from speculating in the local real estate market. At present, the law allows Chinese individuals, including those in these categories to transfer ownership of their residential properties in Taiwan after their property has been registered in their names for three years. The amendment will be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for final approval.
■COMMUNITY
TAS hosts annual fair today
Taipei American School (TAS) will hold the 30th Annual PTA Spring Fair today on its campus in Tianmu (天母), Taipei, from 10am to 3pm. “The event will feature fabulous live entertainment, delicious food both catered and home made, great shopping for new and gently used clothing including designer hand-made products, a used book sale, games for kids, pony rides and a car show,” it said in a press release. “We will also feature a Grand Raffle with great prizes.” This year, two special areas have been designated as a culture corner and a travel corner.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift