■ Earthquake
SEF sends condolences
The Straits Exchange Foundation sent a message to its Chinese counterpart yesterday expressing concern about the aftermath of an earthquake that rocked Xinjiang yesterday. The foundation extended condolences and sympathies for victims of the magnitude-6.8 earthquake, which killed at least 265 people and injured 4,000 others. In its message to the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), the foundation also said the government is willing to offer assistance in post-disaster relief work.
■ Aviation
Man says he has explosives
A Taiwanese man, who was arrested after claiming to be carrying explosives aboard an Air Macau flight, will be deported after he was found to be mentally unstable, the Macau government said yesterday. The 29-year-old man was overpowered by flight crew on an Air Macau plane about to depart the territory for Taipei on Sunday night. No one was injured nor were any explosives found in the whole incident. Macau authorities have said the incident was not an attempted hijacking, but that the man had an emotional fit and had argued with crew members before the incident. Media reports said that the Taiwanese man, who was allegedly drunk, was angered after the flight was delayed. Air Macau Flight 612, with 154 passengers and six crew members, had been due to depart Macau International Airport for Taipei at 9:45pm on Sunday. The passengers on the flight boarded another flight for Taipei early Monday.
■ Society
Locals marry more foreigners
An increasing number of Taipei residents are marrying people from other countries, with more than 4,500 couples tying the knot in 2002, a jump of more than 10 percent over the previous year, Taipei City Government's Bureau of Civil Affairs said yesterday. Among the 4,500 couples, two-thirds of the spouses are from China, Hong Kong or Macau, or about 3,000 couples. Of the other couples, Vietnamese spouses accounted for 44 percent, followed by Indonesian at around 10 percent. In comparison, marriages between Taipei residents and people from China, Hong Kong and Macau increased by 18 percent compared with 2001, while marriages to other foreign spouses increased by 12 percent. In view of the growing number of foreign spouses, the Bureau of Civil Affairs will continue to hold seminars to help them integrate into life in this country. Bureau officials said that the seminars will open between April and July.
■ Diplomacy
Government to give to fund
The government will donate US$75,000 to a trust fund under the Organization of American States (OAS) to help finance young entrepreneurs training program, the ROC representative office in the US said Tuesday. Taiwan Representative to the US Chen Chien-jen (程建人) will donate the fund to the OAS on behalf of the government in a ceremony to be held at the OAS headquarters in Washington tomorrow. Chen will also sign a cooperative agreement with the OAS during the donation ceremony. Under the accord, Taiwan will send experts to assist in carrying out the manpower training program. The Taiwan donation will mainly be used to help enhance leadership and management capabilities of young entrepreneurs of Latin American countries that maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Central and South America and the Carribean have been Taiwan's diplomatic stronghold.
■ Politics
KMT changes the rules
The KMT's Central Standing Committee decided yesterday to call a national congress March 30 to approve the party's ticket for next year's presidential election. The committee made the decision after approving a change to the party's rules on choosing presidential candidates to allow the candidate to choose a non-KMT member as running mate. Although the committee discussed nothing other than the rules governing the selection of party candidate, there is a consensus among the KMT and the PFP that they will field a joint ticket next year, with KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) as the candidate for president, and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) as candidate for the vice presidency.
■ Culture
French center honored
The Centre France-Asie, a charitable educational service group founded by the French Jesuits in 1920, has won the 2003 Taiwan-France Culture Award for its contribution to helping promote bilateral cultural exchanges. Tchen Yu-chiou (陳郁秀), chairwoman of Taiwan's Cabinet-level Council for Cultural Affairs, presented the award to the center Tuesday in a ceremony held at the Institute of France. Michel Aurillac, chairman of the French-Asian Association, received the award on behalf of the Centre France-Asie. Aurillac said the award marks recognition of the Centre France-Asie's efforts to serve Asian students. The Catholic group has offered scholarships and boarding services for Asian students, including those from Taiwan, over the past eight decades. Many Taiwan students have been able to receive advanced education in France with the assistance of the center. The center will use the prize money from the award to set up scholarships for Taiwan students to study in France.
‘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
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
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
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
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