■ Cross-strait ties
New Party chief off to China
Opposition New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) said yesterday that he will lead a delegation of Taipei City Council caucus members to China today. Yok said at a news conference that the visit is aimed at strengthening youth exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and studying municipal development in several large cities in China. In addition to visiting some city establishments in Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing, the delegation will communicate with Chinese authorities on issues related to a young-leader camp which the New Party plans to organize there. Yok said that while jointly fielding candidates for next year's presidential election, the KMT and PFP should try to convince the public that they are more capable than the DPP of promoting cross-strait peace by working out clear, concrete and workable policies on China.
■ Foreign affairs
German delegation to visit
German parliamentarian Georg Fahrenschon will arrive in Taipei today, heading a nine-member delegation on a weeklong visit to Taiwan. Other members of the delegation include another German Bundestag member, Stephan Mayer, and Alexander Radwan, a member of the European Parliament. During their stay, the delegation will call on high-ranking government officials and visit several economic and cultural establishments, including the National Palace Museum. Meanwhile, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, the Vatican's education minister, will also arrive in Taiwan the same day for a six-day visit aimed at better understanding Taiwan's educational, social and economic development.
■ Literature
Medical history examined
An illustrated book documenting Taiwan's medical history during Japanese colonial rule from 1895 through 1945 was published yesterday. Yang Chien-cheng (楊建成), a senior researcher at Academia Sinica, spent 20 years chronicling the development of medical services during the colonial era. According to the book, the Japanese colonial government set up only elementary Western medicine educational institutions in Taiwan while keeping advanced medical training facilities in Japan. Aspiring Taiwan youths had to travel to Japan to study Western medicine during those years. Official tallies show that 2,500 Taiwan youths, including at least 200 women, completed basic training to become qualified medical practitioners during the colonial era.
■ Foreign affairs
Chadian delegation to visit
Guelengdouksia Ouaidou Nassour, president of the Chadian Parliament, will head a six-member delegation which will arrive in Taiwan today for a six-day visit aimed at promoting exchanges between the parliaments of the two countries. Nassour, who was elected president of the Chadian Parliament last year, has long been a good friend of Taiwan. He visited Taiwan in 1998 in his capacity as prime minister. During his visit, Nassour will call on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平). He will also visit several economic and cultural establishments, including the Taipei World Trade Center, the Taitung Agricultural Improvement Station and the National Palace Museum. After Taiwan and Chad resumed diplomatic relations in 1997, the two countries immediately began cooperating in the fields of medicine, agriculture, electrical engineering and infrastructure.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS