DIPLOMACY
Envoy to France honored
The Taiwan-France Friendship Group of the French National Assembly conferred a decoration on Taiwanese representative to France Michel Lu (呂慶龍) on Wednesday in recognition of his achievements in strengthening ties between the two countries. Francois Brottes, chairman of the group, said he has worked with Lu for six years and found him to be an outstanding and hard-working individual. Lu was presented with a photograph of the Eiffel Tower to thank him for enhancing ties between the two countries, Brottes said, speaking at a luncheon held by the French National Assembly. He described Lu as “an iconic figure of Taiwan, just like the Eiffel Tower is a French icon.” Lu said he felt grateful to be honored.
TOURISM
New tours to lure Chinese
The Taiwan Strait Tourism Association said yesterday it would work with travel agencies to promote quality tours to help attract more visitors from China. Currently, the tours for Chinese visitors are short, as cheap as possible and of relatively poor quality, said Lee Chia-pin (李嘉斌), director of the association’s Shanghai office. In light of this, the association and six travel agencies launched six different all-inclusive tour packages at a tourism fair in Zhejiang Province on Wednesday, in an effort to improve services in areas such as accommodation, transportation, food and shopping, Lee said. The new tours, aimed at providing a better experience for Chinese travelers in Taiwan, were well received by visitors to the fair, he said. From July 2008, when Taiwan began admitting Chinese tourists, to Dec. 16 this year, the number of visits to Taiwan by Chinese travelers in group tours was more than 4.77 million, the association said.
SOCIETY
Sex scandal rocks school
Two high-school students in New Taipei City (新北市) have been suspended for two weeks after it was found that they had allegedly had sex in front of several other students in a classroom, school officials said. The high school said it has launched a probe into the case involving the two 15-year-olds and three other students, and is offering them counseling. The teenage boy and girl reportedly had sex in a classroom on a weekend, while other students watched and took photos and videos, which they then circulated around the school, the officials said. The incident came to the authorities’ attention after a mother saw the photos on a student’s phone and informed the school. A school official said it was difficult to control student behavior on weekends. The school promised to review its management of the campus on days when there are no classes.
POLITICS
KMT backs Yen Kuan-hen
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has announced the nomination of Yen Kuan-hen (顏寬恆), son of former Non-Partisan Solidarity Union legislator Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), to run in the legislative by-election in the second electoral district of Greater Taichung. Yen Kuan-hen, 35, was an assistant to his father before Yen Ching-piao was found guilty of corruption and was sentenced to three-and-half years in prison last month. Although Yen Ching-piao was an independent, he was deemed close to the KMT and his imprisonment could have an impact on the political makeup of Greater Taichung. The KMT’s Central Standing Committee on Wednesday approved Yen Kuan-hen’s nomination. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as KMT chairman, told the party to spare no efforts in the campaign.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
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