■ 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 High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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