HEALTH
Media hero’s mother dies
The mother of Ting Tsu-chi (丁祖伋), a retired officer at the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s Tainan branch, whose act of filial piety caused a media sensation earlier this month, died yesterday morning. Ting had carried his mother in a makeshift sling, made by knotting two blankets together, to hospital on March 2 for fear his mother would be uncomfortable in a wheelchair, because she had recently fractured a leg. Ting said in an interview on March 6 that he was not as good a person as the media made him out to be and he was only doing his filial duty, asking that media and the public allow his mother to recuperate in peace. The Chi Mei Medical Center confirmed that Ting’s mother died peacefully at 12:35am yesterday surrounded by her family.
LEGISLATION
Anti-spam bill passes review
The legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday passed an initial review of an anti-spam bill proposed by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) that aims to enable the recipients of spam to ask for compensation. Recipients would be able to ask for between NT$100 and NT$500 per message under the proposed bill, which added that those sending legal business e-mails must allow recipients to clearly indicate whether they want to continue receiving them. To file for compensation, recipients are advised to keep the spam and print the junk e-mails out, Huang said. They can then turn the evidence over to a third-party organization recognized by the commission, which can file a collective lawsuit against the same spammer if it gathers evidence from 20 victims. Individuals are able to file lawsuits themselves at court as well, he added.
TOURISM
Delegation visits Malaysia
A tourism promotion delegation from Taiwan has arrived in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur to solicit visits by tourists from the Southeast Asian country. Under the slogan “Time for Taiwan,” the group will be extolling the experience of visiting Taiwan to potential Malaysian tourists at the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents Fair, the country’s main annual travel show, slated for today until Sunday at the Putra World Trade Center in Kuala Lumpur. Taiwan will be introduced under three major themes — food, shopping and romance — according to group leader Chang Fu-nan (張富南), who is also a representative of Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau posted in Malaysia. The 132-member Taiwanese delegation, the largest of its kind ever to visit Malaysia, is composed of representatives from 86 tourism offices from cities and counties, travel agencies, hotels and tourism farms, Chang said.
TOURISM
Kinmen day-trips put online
Starting yesterday, Chinese tourists are able to apply online for one-day trips from Xiamen to Taiwan’s outlying island of Kinmen, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said. The agency has prioritized this type of trip because most Chinese tourists traveling to Kinmen tend to choose one-day packages from Xiamen in Fujian Province, NIA Director-General Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) said. The decision to allow online applications was part of the agency’s effort to simplify travel procedures for Chinese tourists to Taiwan, he said. Hsieh said the online procedure would save time for local travel agencies in Kinmen, which are currently required to submit such applications on paper to the agency. It will also encourage more Chinese to travel to Kinmen after they complete their business trips in Xiamen, he said.
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