RITUALS
Temple to ring in new year
Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) Buddhist Temple will hold its annual bell-ringing event on Sunday, Lunar New Year’s Eve, a ritual that is supposed to help the country and its people bid farewell to unhappiness. The ringing of the bell at DDM’s monastery in Jinshan District (金山), New Taipei City (新北市), is scheduled to begin at 10pm on New Year’s Eve, temple authorities said. The monastery’s Fahua Bell will be rung 108 times to symbolize the passing of the 108 human sins in Buddhist belief. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will deliver the final strike to coincide with the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, temple officials said. It will be the fourth time the president will attend the event since he took office in 2008. The officials said people could also watch the ritual via a live Web cast on the temple’s Web site.
ART
Louvre pieces on loan
A rare collection of fresco wall paintings from the Louvre in Paris will be among 100 works from seven French museums that will go on display in Taipei from tomorrow to May 14, the National Palace Museum said yesterday. The exhibition, titled “Western Mythology and Legends: Selected Works from the Louvre Collection,” will feature ancient Greek pottery, frescoes from the ancient city of Pompeii, and paintings and sculptures from between the 16th and 19th century, museum officials said at a press conference. “It is the first time that the set of nine frescoes depicting Apollo and the Muses from Pompeii will be exhibited in Taiwan,” National Palace Museum director Chou Kung-shin (周功鑫) said. Also on display will be an 18th century painting of Mount Olympus by Francois Lemoyne and a red-figured cup by Greek potter Brygos, showing the capture of Troy.
INDUSTRY
Milk powder prices cut
Milk powder companies have decided to cut prices by between NT$10 and NT$20 per 1.5kg can, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, ministry officials said additional promotions that will be launched by some of the companies next month would increase the savings to as much as NT$136 per can. The companies made the decision after reaching an agreement with the government to lower their prices to reflect a decrease in tariffs, the officials said. On Nov. 25 last year, the Ministry of Finance implemented the tariff reductions on three categories of milk, a response to soaring milk powder prices.
POLITICS
KMT nominates vice speaker
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) was chosen as the party’s nominee for the post of deputy legislative speaker after she won a straw poll held by KMT lawmakers yesterday. The eight-term lawmaker will pair up with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on a KMT ticket that is expected to win the posts in a legislative vote on Feb. 1, when the Eighth Legislature takes its oath of office. “It was probably because I was the most senior lawmaker,” Hung said. The KMT secured 64 seats out of 113 in the new legislature, the Democratic Progressive Party won 40 seats, the People First Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union each gained three seats, the Non-partisan Solidarity Union obtained two seats and an independent lawmaker gained a seat.
CRIME
Foodstuffs trader indicted
A trader in Taipei was indicted yesterday for allegedly selling expired foodstuffs after altering the production dates on their labels, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The prosecutors said they were seeking a four-year jail term for Shen Feng-ying (沈鳳英), who runs two trading companies, on charges of fraud and other crimes involving the sale and doctoring of expired imported foodstuffs for seven years. According to the indictment, Shen had since 2005 sold relabeled food products to bakeries and restaurants, concealing that the materials, including chocolate, cocoa, nut products, fruit jams and glucose syrup, had passed their expiry dates. Shen had also since 2009 resold outdated materials that she had adulterated, according to the indictment.
POLITICS
Cheng’s resignation approved
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday approved the resignation of Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Cheng Mei-hua (鄭美華) yesterday after she insisted on returning to Shih Chien University, Taipei City Government spokesman Chang Chi-chiang (張其強) said yesterday. Cheng took over as commissioner in August last year following the resignation of Hsieh Hsiao-yun (謝小醞) in July amid a dispute over an exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Her appointment sparked disputes over her qualifications, with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元) showing documents that he said proved Hsieh was guilty of plagiarism, while also slamming Hau, accusing him of failing to conduct a solid background check before the appointment. Chang yesterday said she offered the resignation because she wanted to return to the university to keep her tenure.
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