TOURISM
Immigration service open
While most government agencies will be closed for the Lunar New Year holiday from yesterday through Sunday next week, National Immigration Agency (NIA) offices at the nation’s international airports will remain open to assist foreign residents or visitors, the agency said in a press release yesterday. Foreigners who lost their passports or have overstayed their visa can report to NIA offices to process their case. However, holders of alien resident certificates wishing to extend their residency have to wait until the first business day after the holiday — Jan. 30, it said. For more information, visit the www.immigration.gov.tw Web site or call 0800-024-111, a toll-free hotline for foreigners.
CHINA
Chinese investment up
Chinese companies have invested NT$5.53 billion (US$184 million) in Taiwan since the government eased restrictions three years ago, the Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement yesterday. It added that the government would step up investment promotion efforts and review and improve related policies and policy execution to attract more Chinese companies to invest. As of the end of last year, a total of 204 Chinese enterprises had been allowed to set up branches or invest in companies in Taiwan, the council said. Taiwan allowed Chinese capital to invest in 192 business categories in 2009. The market was further opened in May 2010 and in March last year, bringing the total number of categories in which Chinese capital is allowed to invest to 247, it said.
SOCIETY
Memorial held for student
Family members and friends of Lin Chih-ying (林芷瀅), a 23-year-old woman who was murdered in Japan, held a tearful memorial service for her in her hometown in Greater Taichung yesterday. Lin’s boyfriend, only known by his surname, Wen (溫), presented a wreath of flowers to pay his respects and included a note that read: “God will look after you.” The ceremony was held at a church, and the minister paid homage to Lin by displaying photos of her with family and friends from special moments throughout her life, bringing tears to those attending the service. Lin and another Taiwanese student, Julia Chu (朱立婕), were studying at a language school in Tokyo when they were murdered in their dorm room on Jan. 5. The main suspect in the case, identified as Chang Chih-yang (張志揚) from Taiwan, slashed his neck with a knife and bled to death on Jan. 9 while in police custody after he was tracked down by police at a theater in Nagoya.
ENTERTAINMENT
Film locations opened
Two movie locations in Greater Kaohsiung that have been transformed into entertainment venues opened on Friday in a bid to combine tourism and movie marketing. The Southern Precinct and the Seafront Bar are areas of the fictional Harbor City that feature in this year’s crime movie Black and White Episode 1: The Dawn of Assault (痞子英雄首部曲:全面開戰), which was based on the TV series Black and White (痞子英雄). The movie and TV show were directed by filmmaker Tsai Yueh-hsun (蔡岳勳), who won the best director award at the 2009 Golden Bell Awards for the TV series. Movie fans can enter the precinct, where a scene from the film has been recreated using a life-size wax figure of a central character. Visitors to the venue can participate in interactive games to help solve a case using forensics, view an exhibition of stage props and visit a 3D movie theater. The Greater Kaohsiung Government was one of movie’s main sponsors.
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
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
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