INTERNET
‘Taipei’ domain announced
The creation of a “.taipei” domain was announced yesterday by Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), with Taipei joining the ranks of cities such as Tokyo, New York and Paris in having its own domain. The domain name has been approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which manages the Internet’s domain name system, with registration for Web addresses using the new domain to open to holders of internationally registered business trademarks on Dec. 1. The first wave of registrants is set to include Taipei 101, the National Palace Museum and corporations such as Din Tai Fung, China Airlines and Asus, with registration to be opened to all applicants at an unspecified date.
TRANSPORTATION
YouBike hits 30m riders
Taipei’s YouBike system reached 30 million total users on Oct. 22 following the doubling of its ridership with more than 2.6 million newly registered EasyCards in the prior six months, officials said. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and Giant Co president Liu Chin-piao (劉金標) personally initialed first and second-generation YouBikes to commemorate the record. Hau said the system’s success — garnering 99 percent approval ratings across the municipality — was due to tireless negotiation by the city administration and other units, adding that initial difficulties had paid off significantly. With 176 stations in Taipei, the system is rapidly growing into a symbol of the ease of travel within the municipality, Hau said. The useful nature of the system has also encouraged its implementation elsewhere, with a total of 86 stations spread across New Taipei City, Taichung and Changhua, regional transportation officials have 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