■ 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.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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