■Diplomacy
Hondurans begin visit
Honduras National Congress President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, at the head of a nine-member delegation, arrived in Taipei yesterday for a four-day visit. During the visit, Lobo and his delegation will call on President Chen Shui-bian, Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and other government officials. They will also visit the Taiwan Handicraft Promotion Center, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the Taipei World Trade Center before departing Friday.
■ Politics
KMT suspends Liu San-chi
The KMT Party Discipline Committee decided yesterday to suspend the party rights of Liu San-chi (劉三琦), the new director-general of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics. A KMT official said that Liu had explained his decision to accept the appointment to KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) at the end of last month and had obtained the party's understanding. Liu, formerly a deputy director-general of the bureau, was promoted by Premier Yu Shyi-kun to fill the Cabinet post after then-director-general Lin Chun (林全) was appointed to head the finance ministry. Two other KMT members in the Cabinet who have had their party rights suspended are Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) and Veterans Affairs Administration Chairman Yang Te-chih (楊德智).
■ Travel
MOFA lifts Bali ban
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday eased its temporary ban on travel to Bali which was imposed after the October bomb blast that killed 185 people and injured around 300 others. But ministry officials still urged all those going to Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries during the Christmas, New Year and Lunar New Year holidays to be on alert for their own safety. The latest travel guideline to Bali will be effective until February 28, next year, they said. The officials stressed that people traveling to Southeast Asia should keep close contact with Taiwan's missions in those countries, adding information could be accessed on the Web at www.mofa.gov.tw. The officials said that Taiwan travel agents traveled to Bali on Nov. 4 to inspect safety measures first hand. They found that the Indonesian government has sent additional military men and policemen to Bali to safeguard such public places as its airport, hotels, shopping malls and tourist spots.
■ Human Rights
Poll shows progress
Taiwan has made moderate progress in human rights protection over the past year, according to the results of a survey released by the Chinese Association for Human Rights yesterday. The non-profit association conducted a survey of the nation's human rights situation annually to mark yesterday's World Human Rights Day. The association surveyed the opinions of 111 finance and economic scholars, 23 legislators, 21 welfare service administrators and 10 social group executives about the nation's human rights conditions in five categories -- education and culture, women's rights, economic rights, judicial rights and environmental rights. Survey results showed that the government made slight progress on protection of all these rights as compared with last year's levels, but that the scores remained low. Only educational and cultural rights managed to receive a passing score of 3.03 points.
Agencies
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
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