SOCIETY
Panda cub has sleepover
Taipei Zoo’s panda cub Yuan Zai (圓仔) stayed overnight with her mother, Yuan Yuan (圓圓), for the first time in weeks on Wednesday, zookeepers said. The zoo took the cub away from its mother a few days after it was born after Yuan Yuan slightly injured the cub’s leg. The pair were reunited on Tuesday for a few hours, and Yuan Zai was embraced by her mother and breastfed. Encouraged by the smooth reunion, keepers decided to let Yuan Yuan take care of the cub overnight. Yuan Zai, the first panda born in Taiwan, was born on July 7.
Photo: AFP
POLITICS
DPP’s Su visits Bangkok
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) arrived in Bangkok yesterday to meet with Taiwanese businesspeople working in the kingdom. Su was welcomed at the airport by Representative to Thailand Henry Chen (陳銘政) and members of the Taiwanese business community. Su’s trip is aimed at showing support for Taiwanese businesspeople working in Thailand to consult with them on the party’s economic and trade policies, the DPP said in a statement. Thailand is home to around 150,000 Taiwanese businesspeople — the largest number in any Southeast or South Asian country, excluding China, Chen said. Su is accompanied by a delegation of more than 20 people, including party lawmakers and party officials. He and the delegation will return home on Sunday.
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