POLITICS
Chen Guangcheng plans visit
Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠), who is studying law at New York University, said on Tuesday that he plans to visit Taiwan this year, but has not decided when. “Definitely this year,” Chen said on the sidelines of a human rights award ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington, where he was honored with the 2012 Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize. Chen was invited to visit Taiwan last year by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) when Lin visited New York. Lin also invited Chen, who suffered years of persecution for his legal actions against forced abortion and for citizens’ rights, to deliver a speech at the Legislative Yuan. Chen caused a diplomatic tussle in April last year when he fled house arrest in China and sought refuge at the US embassy in Beijing. Chinese authorities later let him leave for the US.
TRAVEL
Taiwanese dies in Australia
A Taiwanese man on a working holiday in Australia died in recent flooding near Brisbane, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Australian police found the body of the man, identified only by his surname, Pan (潘), yesterday, ministry spokesperson Steve Hsia (夏季昌) said. Police reports said the body was recovered from a submerged car in a river in the town of Laidley. Pan, 26, was reported missing by his girlfriend on Sunday after he failed to show up at the farm where he was working, the ministry said. Members of his family were scheduled to depart for Brisbane today to handle funeral arrangements. Pan went to Australia in May 2011 and was scheduled to return home in May, the ministry said.
SOCIETY
Ma attends book fair
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday attended the opening of the Taipei International Book Exhibition and promised to support Taiwan’s publishing sector and give local publishers more opportunity to thrive. Taiwan may be small, but it is the world’s Chinese-language publishing hub, producing between 40,000 and 50,000 titles annually, he said. China publishes only between three and four times that, despite its much larger population, he said. Ma said the publishing sector was an important part of cross-strait cultural talks, and he hoped “there will be some breakthroughs soon.” Taiwanese publishers are not allowed to set up independent companies in China.
ENVIRONMENT
Otter sighting verified
Officials confirmed an otter sighting in the western part of Kinmen, where the animals have been struggling to survive. Kinmen otters are an endangered species, although efforts are being made to preserve them on the eastern side of the island, Chung Li-wei (鐘立偉) of the Kinmen County Government’s agriculture and forestry section said on Tuesday. The spotting of the otter in Wuchiang River (浯江溪) has given a boost to local conservationists fighting to save the animal, Chung said. On Dec. 31 last year, a resident saw the animal in the river next to the county stadium and took a picture of it, which he later sent to the county government for identification. Otters are usually only found around Gugang and Houfeng Port, said Chuang Hsi-ching (莊西進), who has been tracking and studying Kinmen otters for a long time. They have not been spotted around Gugang for five years, but otter excrement was found in that area this year, Chuang said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all