ENTERTAINMENT
Cruise coming to Taiwan
US actor Tom Cruise is scheduled to make a two-day visit to Taipei beginning on April 5 to promote his latest movie, a local film distributor said yesterday. Cruise will only attend the local premiere of the sci-fi action movie Oblivion during his third visit to Taiwan and is not scheduled to give any press conferences or interviews, the company said. Oblivion, directed by Joseph Kosinski, was shot in digital 4K resolution in the US and Iceland. It tells the story of a drone repairman stationed on Earth who rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft, an event that prompts him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands. Cruise, 50, has been nominated for three best actor Academy Awards and has won three Golden Globes.
CRIME
Pair held in Sydney
Two Taiwanese men were recently arrested in Australia for alleged drug smuggling upon their arrival at Sydney Airport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed yesterday. The men, who arrived from Thailand, are still being detained, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs deputy director-general James Chou (周穎華) said. An official from Taiwan’s representative office in Sydney has met with the men and has offered to help them hire lawyers, Chou said. A joint press statement released on March 14 by the Australian Federal Police and Australian Customs and Border Protection Service announced the arrests and said the men had appeared in Sydney Central Local Court that day, charged with smuggling approximately 4kg of methamphetamine into the country concealed in shipments of handbags.
FOREIGN POLICY
Donation made to refugees
The government on Tuesday donated US$100,000 in humanitarian aid to Saharan refugees in North Africa. The campaign was co-initiated by European Parliament members Ivo Vajgl and Pino Arlacchi, who are working with the Spanish non-governmental organization Mundubat to reduce malnutrition among the refugees. Catherine Libert, humanitarian aid desk officer for Libya, Algeria and Iraq for the European Commission, described Taiwan’s action as encouraging, especially at a time when some European nations are reducing their donations to African refugees because of the European financial crisis. Mohamed Sidati, the European representative of the Sahrawi national liberation movement, the Polisario Front, expressed his appreciation to the people of Taiwan for their assistance. Representative to the EU Tung Kuo-yu (董國猷) said Taiwan is always ready to reach out to those in need.
SOCIETY
Termites cause blackout
A March 13 power outage on Kinmen was caused by termites, according to Taiwan Power Co (Tai-power). Lee Hsi-chung (李錫忠), the head of Taipower’s Kinmen Branch, said during a briefing on Tuesday that the insects had damaged underground cables in the area. The damage caused a widespread three-hour power outage. Because of Kinmen’s humid climate, termites are rampant in old, rotten trees all over the island and they have caused power outages there several times. The most recent one was the largest to date, affecting residents of the entire island, Lee said. Taipower will strengthen inspections of underground cables by increasing checks from once to twice per year in an effort to minimize the effects of termite damage, 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