TRAVEL
Queensland warning raised
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an orange alert yesterday for the Australian state of Queensland, advising people to avoid the region, which has been inundated by serious flooding. The ministry raised its warning level to the second-highest in its four-color system one day after elevating it to yellow. People should avoid unnecessary travel to the area, the ministry said, adding that the Queensland State Government has proclaimed 75 percent of the state as a disaster zone, including Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
TECHNOLOGY
Internet project approved
The Cabinet yesterday approved a NT$3.17 billion (US$105.87 million) project proposed by the Ministry of Education at its weekly meeting that aims to narrow the nation’s digital divide. The money would be used to improve digital infrastructure nationwide and to help people in rural areas to become familiar with the Internet and gain wider access to information, ministry officials said at the weekly meeting. The project will be implemented between next year and 2015 in conjunction with other government agencies, including the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the National Communications Commission, they said. The officials said the Ministry of Education’s goal is to make 77 percent of the nation’s women and 73 percent of rural residents Internet users by 2015. It also projects having 176,000 middle-aged people and senior citizens trained in Internet use by that time, as well as 160,000 immigrants. Citing the results of a government survey, they said the government’s efforts over the past six years have helped increase the Web-savvy Aboriginal population from 39.9 percent to 63.5 percent.
CRIME
Taiwanese faces caning
Yet another Taiwanese man has been sentenced to be caned in Singapore for loan-sharking offenses, the third such case within five months, Taiwan’s representative office in Singapore reported yesterday. The 30-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), was convicted on Thursday last week and sentenced to 46 months in jail and six strokes of the cane. He is the fourth Taiwanese to be convicted of loan-sharking offenses in Singapore and the third to be sentenced to caning since last September. Representative to Singapore Vanessa Shih (史亞平) said her staff have visited Chen in jail and have informed his family. She urged Taiwanese to abide by Singapore law while in the city-state.
POLITICS
Wang Jin-pyng to visit US
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday that he would leave for a trip to the US on Jan. 22 and deliver speeches at two US universities. Wang said he would give a speech at Harvard University on Jan. 25 and another at the University of California, Berkeley, on Jan. 28. His speech, titled “The Key Forces of Taiwan’s Development” would touch upon issues such as the nation’s economy, culture and democracy, he said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was finalizing details of the trip, he said.
TOURISM
Kinmen wants islets opened
Kinmen County Commissioner Li Wo-shi (李沃士) urged the military yesterday to conditionally open two islets to the public to help boost tourism. Tatan (大膽) and Ertan (二膽) should be opened to the general public on the condition that the normal operations of the military would not be affected, Li said, adding that he was confident that doing so would help boost tourism in Kinmen. The two islets have long been military outposts that are off-limits to the public. Tatan covers an area of 0.79km2, while Ertan is 0.28km2. During a visit to Kinmen earlier in the week, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) instructed the military to cooperate with the county to help promote tourism in the area.
TRANSPORTATION
Company defends record
Taiwan Car Rental and Travel Group, which provides bus service to mentally and physically challenged residents in Taoyuan County, yesterday rebutted Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei’s (羅淑蕾) accusation that it was fabricating trips and using welfare buses as tour buses. “We absolutely do not make false reports. The lawmaker’s accusation has caused a lot of damage to the company’s image,” chief executive director Hsu Hao-yuan (徐浩源) said. “In order to clarify everything, we have referred the supervisor in charge at the time to the prosecutors’ office and we will await the court’s investigation on the issue.” Hsu said the company took people with disabilities on excursions on weekends when buses were not in service, “and we didn’t charge a cent.”
SPORTS
Five to compete in Seoul
Four men and one woman will participate in the second East Asian Sambo Championship in Seoul that begins today and runs through Sunday. Sports Affairs Council official Ho Tai-tung (何台棟) said this was the first time Taiwan has appeared in a global event of the sport, which combines martial arts such as judo, karate and wrestling. Since there is no sambo association in Taiwan, the Chinese Boxing Combat Association took charge of organizing the team.
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