TOURISM
Kaohsiung courts airlines
Civil Aeronautics Administration Director-General Jean Shen (沈啟) yesterday said that she will try to persuade two Taiwanese budget carriers to base themselves at Kaohsiung International Airport, in response to wishes by local tourism officials and tourism business operators in Greater Kaohsiung that the airport be developed into a base for low-cost airlines. She also promised to allocate NT$15 million (US$495,000) of the administration’s funding next year for comprehensive development projects at the airport. Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau Director Hsu Chuan-sheng (許傳盛) said there have been many successful cases overseas in which budget carriers have helped city development. He added that an increase in the number of cross-strait flights serving the city, along with budget airlines basing themselves at the airport, would help narrow the development gap between Greater Kaohsiung and Taipei.
SOCIETY
Medal designer shortlisted
The Tang Prize Foundation yesterday named the 10 contestants who made it to the final round of a competition to design the medals for winners of the Tang Prize — billed as the “Asian Nobel Prize.” They are Matthew Dent from Britain, Kenji Ekuan from Japan, Massimo Zucchi from Italy, Chen Jun-liang (陳俊良) from Taiwan, Naoto Fukasawa from Japan, Soren Skafte Overgaard from Denmark, Harry Williamson from Australia, Kan Tai-keung from Hong Kong, Gunter Wermekes from Germany and Irma Boom from the Netherlands. A total of 61 designers from 15 countries entered the competition. In the final round in May, the designers are to present designs for each of the four categories of the Tang Prize: sustainable development, biomedicine, Sinology and rule of law.
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