DIPLOMACY
Ma to visit allies next month
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning a trip for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to the nation’s diplomatic allies in South America and the Caribbean next month, sources familiar with government affairs said on Sunday. If the arrangements go according to plan, the trip will mark Ma’s first visit to Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis. The visit will be part of Ma’s itinerary when he travels to attend the Aug. 15 inauguration of Paraguayan president-elect Horacio Cartes, the sources said. Taiwan is in talks with the US government regarding transit issues, as Ma will have to pass through US territory on his way to and from the countries on his itinerary, the sources said. Meanwhile, the Presidential Office said the trip was still in the planning stage and nothing has been finalized.
ENVIRONMENT
Taipei vulnerable to quakes
Taipei would be devastated if a magnitude 6.3 earthquake — which struck Nantou County last month — hit the capital, Minister of the Interior Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) said yesterday. The quake could bring down 4,000 buildings in Taipei, Lee said during a speech on coping with and adjusting to climate change at Taichung City Hall. On June 2, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Nantou’s Jhushan Township (竹山), killing four people. Lee also cautioned the public to be prepared to deal with the effects of climate change. A former civil engineering professor, Lee said the nation’s average temperature increases by about 1.5 percent a year, which is double the global rate.
CULTURE
Australia exhibit in Taitung
An Australian touring art exhibition will visit Taitung County from Friday through Aug. 25, making Taiwan the only East Asian country to host the program that highlights Aboriginal identity, event organizers said yesterday. The exhibition, titled “Message Stick: Indigenous Identity in Urban Australia,” will feature a selection of significant works by 11 aspiring Aboriginal Australian artists, the National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung County said. “It will be a great opportunity for Taiwanese to get to know about Australian arts,” museum official Chiu Chiung-i said by telephone. The works will represent the artists’ ties to Aboriginal culture and their response to the growing momentum of the Aboriginal rights movement in Australia since the 1967 national referendum that gave Aboriginal people full citizenship rights, she said. Through their works, artists living in urban areas reconnect with their heritage.
RELIGION
Temple opens in France
The largest Buddhist temple in Europe opened in suburban Paris on Sunday, according to Fo Guang Shan Monastery, which built the facility. The monastery said the temple, built over an area of 0.68 hectares, is a “green” building designed to fit in with its natural environment. As a building combining Buddhist and Western philosophy, the temple is a masterpiece of Buddhist architecture, the monastery said. Fo Guang Shan abbot Hsin Pao and about 3,000 guests, including religious representatives, politicians and local residents, attended the inauguration ceremony for the temple in the Parisian suburb of Bussy Saint Georges. The new temple’s abbot, Man Chien (滿謙), expressed hope that the temple would serve as a bridge for cultural exchanges between East and West, and would spread awareness about the Buddhist way of life, in line with the goals of Fo Guang Shan.
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