■ Taipei zoo
Fund-raising plan to debut
The Taipei Zoo will kick off an animal adoption campaign on Wednesday in the hope of promoting the concept of animal protection among its 4 million annual visitors. The annual fee for individuals willing to take part in the campaign is NT$1,000 (US$29), while groups will pay NT$200,000. Proceeds will be used by the zoo authorities or other research teams to study wildlife protection and conversation both at home and abroad. According to measures approved by the Taipei City Government, 21 rare and endangered species, including indigenous Formosan bears, Formosan macaques, Formosan rabble fish and spotted dears, as well as non-native species such as Asian elephants, koalas and white rhinos, will be covered.
■ Politics
Sovereignty issue raised
A group of politicians and academics urged the government yesterday to take concrete measures to protect the nation's sovereignty over the disputed Tiaoyutai Islands. In a seminar on the Japan's leasing of the Tiaoyutai Islands, participants claimed that the island group is "definitely part of Chinese territory, based on historical and geographical considerations." Soong Yen-hui (宋燕輝), a researcher at the Academia Sinica, and Yu Kuan-shih (俞寬賜), a professor at National Taiwan University, said that the Japan intends to imply its sovereignty over the islands by leasing them. The government should take concrete measures to cope with the Japanese move. The seminar, organized by the Chinese Society of International Law, was chaired by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the society's president. Legislator Chou Shi-wei (周錫瑋) and the government's representative to Japan, Lin Chin-ching (林金莖), also attended the meeting.
■ Economics
Panama talks set for March
The third round of negotiations for a free-trade agreement between Taiwan and Panama will be held in Panama City from March 17 to 21. Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Ruey-long (陳瑞隆) will lead Taipei's delegation to the negotiations. ROC Ambassador to Panama C. Y. Hu (胡正堯) told CNA that a free-trade agreement would facilitate the development of trade relations between the two countries.
■ Cross-strait ties
Better climate needed
The government should move swiftly to improve its investment climate in view of China's magnet effect in pulling in foreign investment, Council for Economic Planning and Development Vice Chairwoman Ho Mei-yue (何美玥) said yesterday. Ho said this country should upgrade and enhance its functions in order to provide foreign investors with an unfettered and sound investment climate. Citing a study by Germany's Deutsch Bank, Ho said opening direct links next year would help businesses slash 50 percent of transport fees and 30 percent in financial transaction charges. Direct links would also help create a 2.5 percent economic growth rate for this country between next year and 2008, she said. Ho said the government has drawn up countermeasures to minimize the negative impact of agricultural and farm products from China on local produce. Ho said that if the nation were to improve its investment climate, including lowering transport costs for cross-strait travel and expanding airlinks network, it would have a stronger appeal than China as an operational hub.
■ Diplomacy
German delegation arrives
A nine-member German parliamentarian delegation, headed by George Fahrenschon, arrived yesterday for a week-long visit. The group is expected to meet with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and other senior government officials to exchange views on bilateral ties and other international matters. They will also visit several economic and cultural establishments, including the National Palace Museum. Other delegates include Stephan Mayer of the Bundestag and Alexander Radwan, a member of the European Parliament. Meanwhile, Cardinal Zenon Crocholewski, the Vatican's minister for education affairs, was due to arrive yesterday for a six-day visit. Crocholewski will also meet with the president during his stay.
■ Energy policy
Energy trip a success
The government will push for a nuclear-free policy that seeks clean alternative sources of energy and will lead to the phasing out of nuclear power plants, Minister Without Portfolio Yeh Jun-jong (葉俊榮) said yesterday. Yeh made the remarks upon his return from a week-long visit to Germany at the head of a Nuclear-Free Homeland Promotion Commission delegation. Yeh said he learned a lot from Germany's experience in developing environmentally friendly technology. He said the delegation met with the federal vice minister of environment and other high-ranking officials and nuclear energy experts. Yeh said the commission will organize a national conference this spring to discuss non-nuclear development and the government will draw up a new direction for the nation's energy development.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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