ECONOMY
Corruption perception falls
The nation has made a slight improvement in combating corruption, as indicated by its score in an annual survey of the Asia-Pacific region by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy. According to the firm’s Corruption Perception Index published on Wednesday, the nation received a score of 5.34 on a scale of zero to 10, with zero being the best. The score was 0.74 points lower than last year, but remained in sixth place on the list of the least corrupt economies. More than 60 percent of respondents said their perception of corruption in Taiwan had not changed much over the past year, about 30 percent said there had been an improvement and 10 percent said it had become worse. The respondents were either employees of foreign enterprises or members of foreign chambers.
CULTURE
Youth ambassadors sought
The government’s “youth ambassadors” program is to focus on Southeast and South Asian nations this year, in line with the “new southbound policy,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. This year, 75 university students are to be selected for the International Youth Ambassadors exchange program, under which they are to embark on 10-day tours in separate groups to India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam in late August, Department of Non-governmental Organizations International Affairs Deputy Director-General Shen Wen-chiang (沈文強) said. Shen said the tours would cover four main themes: exchange and study; volunteering; courtesy visits; and cultural diplomacy with small cultural performances. Registration for the program is to open early next month and children of new immigrants from Southeast Asia are encouraged to take part, 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