■TRAVEL
TRA offers discount passes
The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) will start issuing “TR Passes” on Monday, allowing passengers unlimited travel to any point within a stated period. Passengers can choose a three-day pass for NT$1,800 or a five-day pass for NT$2,500. Passengers traveling in a group of four can also avail of special discounts, with the three-day pass selling for NT$4,200 and the five-day pass for NT$7,000. TRA transport service director Lu Jie-shen (鹿潔身) said the TR Passes would be available at 65 railway stations nationwide. Passengers holding a TR Pass can also use it to take the express train service and make reservations in advance. For passengers who bought a group pass, they must board the train at the same time from the same station, Lu said.
■WEATHER
Man freezes amid heat wave
A 38-year-old Taiwanese man froze to death as a heat wave swept the country after he walked into a refrigeration room to cool off and apparently was trapped inside, police said yesterday. Chen Sung-mou (陳松茂), a worker at a sugar factory in Penghu County, was found unconscious inside the room on Sunday and was pronounced dead in hospital, police said. He had apparently entered the room to seek refuge from the heat, police said, but was trapped inside because the lock was broken and couldn’t be opened from inside. A heat wave has hit Taiwan in recent days, with temperatures reaching 37°C in Taipei yesterday.
■DIPLOMACY
Long way to go in EU waiver
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) said yesterday there was still a long way to go for Taiwan to be granted visa-free exemption to the Schengen area. Shen made the remarks one day after the European Commission proposed giving the nation visa-waiver privileges. Refusing to predict whether Taiwanese passports holders would be able to travel to the 28 Schengen countries without a visa for short trips by the end of this year, Shen said: “We just keep our nose to the grindstone.” The proposal must be referred to the European Parliament for a vote, and the Council of the EU is the co-decision maker in this case, Shen said, adding that it normally takes half a year to complete the procedure. Taiwan will grant a full visa-free regime to all EU citizens by extending visa-free status to nationals of Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria reciprocally when the EU offers visa-free treatment to Taiwan, he said.
■HEALTH
Girl contracts A(H1N1) flu
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said a new case of severe influenza A(H1N1) infection had been confirmed in the south. The latest case brought to 938 the total number of severe swine flu cases recorded in the country since last summer. CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said a nine-year-old girl was hospitalized on June 26, two days after coming down with a fever and cough. She was later admitted to an intensive care unit and is recovering after treatment, Chou said. The patient had not been vaccinated against the new flu strain or received seasonal flu vaccine, the official said, adding that none of her family has been infected. The government has touted its success in fighting A(H1N1), with a national immunization program under which 25 percent of the total population has been immunized.
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