■ POLITICS
Vote-buying alleged
Eleven council representatives in Guangfu Township (光復), Hualien, were questioned by Hualien prosecutors about vote-buying allegations. Guangfu Township Council yesterday morning held council chairperson and vice chairperson elections, which were won by Lin Tai-hsu (林泰旭) and Wan Jung-tsai (萬榮財), both Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members, respectively. As soon as it was announced that Lin and Wan had been elected, prosecutors, military police and agents from the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau appeared in the council. chairman Hualien prosecutor Hsu Chien-jung (?a) said Lin was suspected of paying some representatives NT$500,000 each in return for their votes, while Wan was suspected of paying NT$300,000 for a vote. The summons were on-going as of press time.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Paper certificates return
The Sindian Land Office in Taipei County will resume issuing paper certificates of title from today based on environmental considerations, office chief Chuang Yue-kuei (莊月桂) said yesterday. The office will stop issuing plastic certificates, although plastic certificates will remain valid and holders will not be asked to replace them with paper ones, Chuang said. In light of the fact that waste plastic certificates generate toxic gases and harm the environment when they are incinerated, the county government decided to stop issuing plastic ones and to reintroduce paper versions, Chuang said.
■ RETAIL
Web sites to offer MIT goods
Certified made-in-Taiwan (MIT) products will soon be available on Taiwan’s three main online shopping Web sites, an Industrial Development Bureau official said yesterday. The bureau is in discussions with three major online shopping operators, including Yahoo-Kimo and PChome, and if the talks are successful, consumers will be able to purchase MIT-labeled items on their Web sites in October at the earliest, the official said. The bureau is promoting an MIT label and an MIT quality verification system aimed at helping domestic industries to promote their products, the official said. Last month, 14 major chain stores nationwide agreed to promote certified MIT products by stocking the products in their 10,000 stores from October.
■ CULTURE
Puppets donated to Canada
The Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) will donate four hand puppets to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia today, a council official said yesterday. “The puppets illustrate the development of Taiwanese puppet shows,” the official said, adding that a presentation ceremony in Canada will be held, followed by a performance of A Sea of Puppets by the Taiyuan Puppet Theater in Taipei, directed by Robin Ruizendaal, which has been performed in more than 30 countries. The museum is world-renowned for its collections, research, public programs and teaching. “Taiwan’s first lady Chow Mei-ching [周美青] visited the museum with CCA Minister Emile Sheng (盛治仁) in February and saw many antique puppets in the museum collection, which inspired them with the idea of donating modern puppets to the museum,” the official said. The four puppets are the Scholar Warrior Shih Yan-wen, Hidden Mirror Man and the Pili series’ main characters Su Huan-jen and Yu Qing-huan. Among them, the scholar warrior Shih has longest history.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all