■ EDUCATION
Wu defends college plan
Minister of Education Wu Ching-chi (吳清基) yesterday defended a plan to provide fifth-year courses for university graduates, saying it would boost their employability and help meet the demands of the business and industrial sectors. Wu dismissed criticism that the program was designed to artificially lower the unemployment rate, which hit 5.3 percent last month and is expected to rise in the following months as new graduates flood the job market. He said the program is a long-term and far-sighted policy devised to meet the needs of the private sector. The ministry floated a “four-plus-one” initiative earlier this week that would allow universities to open one-year intensive courses for bachelor’s degree holders to gain technical knowledge that would enhance their chances of finding a job after graduation, especially in high-tech companies.
■ DEFENSE
Rescue to be MND’s remit
A bill aimed at officially listing disaster prevention and rescue as part of the military’s work cleared the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee yesterday. However, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) expressed concern that the change could undermine the power of the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, as it would allow the premier to command the troops in disaster prevention and rescue operations. Vice Minister of National Defense Chao Shih-chang (趙世璋) said the scope of the premier’s authority in such situations would be clearly defined to ensure that it would not infringe on the president’s power. Chao added that disaster prevention and rescue had become part of the military’s core mission, alongside its duty to defend the country from foreign invasion. The proposed amendment to the National Defense Act (國防法) still has to be reviewed by the legislature.
■ FESTIVALS
Public invited to Santacruzan
The Taipei City Government invites the public to join the Filipino community in celebrating Santacruzan on Sunday. The annual festival, co-organized by Taipei City’s Department of Labor Affairs and St Christopher’s Church, will take place in front of the church and along Zhongshan N Road from 1:30pm to 4pm. Santacruzan is a commemoration of the quest in 324 by Queen Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor credited with promoting Christianity in the West, to find the cross on which Christ was crucified. The department organized the festival for the Filipino community to celebrate the holiday away from home, while hoping to allow residents in Taipei to have a better understanding of Philippine culture.
■ CRIME
Police probing officer’s death
Police are investigating a suicide involving an officer in Lujhou (蘆洲), Taipei County, and will release the results in a few days, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said yesterday. The 47-year-old victim, identified by his surname Chuang (莊), reportedly shot himself to death outside a police station on Wednesday night. Jiang said Chuang was having a discussion with the chief of the police station when he took out his gun and attempted to kill himself. The station chief was shot while trying to stop Chuang. When he went into the station to seek help, Chuang again fired his gun and killed himself, Jiang said. He said the ministry had ordered an investigation into reports that Chuang was in debt, a drug abuser and did not get along with his family.
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