■ Transportation
Port for Taoyuan possible
Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that Taoyuan County has the potential to become a free-trade port area. Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony for a road in Taoyuan City, Yu said that since the nation's international airport is in the county and a new road system is under development, circumstances could provide the catalyst for the eventual construction of a free-trade port. Taoyuan might also be included in the government's first project to build a new hub for international air and sea transportation, Yu said, but did not elaborate.
■ Drugs
Thais arrest six Taiwanese
Thai police said yesterday they have arrested six Taiwanese men and seized nearly 12kg of heroin from them. The suspects have been charged with possession of drugs with the intent to sell, which is punishable by death. Four of the men were arrested at a highway toll booth in Chonburi Province, 70km south of Bangkok. They had hidden 11.2kg of heroin in boxes of cosmetics, police said in a statement. It said police arrested the fifth man near the Bangkok apartment building where the six were residing. The sixth man was arrested in Bangkok as he was fleeing authorities with an additional 700g of heroin. All arrests occurred Sunday, the statement said.
■ Festival
Taipei race dates set
The 2003 Taipei International Dragon Boat Race Championship will be held at the riverside sports park along the Keelung River in Taipei from May 31 to June 4. An official of the Bureau of Education of the Taipei City Government said yesterday that more than 100 local and foreign teams are expected to take part in the race. Twenty-seven local teams and 51 foreign teams have decided to take part in the race. The foreign teams that have shown interest in the race come from the US, Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Hong Kong. Registration for the race will end on April 25. More information on the race can be found on the board's Web site (http://dragon2003.nihs.tp.edu.tw).
■ Investment
Ma to lobby US firms
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will visit the US in June to woo US-based high-technology companies to locate their Asian headquarters in Taipei. Ma will travel with Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), deputy convener of Taipei City's Economic Development Committee, and Wu Hui-mei (吳慧美), executive director of the committee. They are expected to arrive on June 4 and spend nine days meeting executives of high-tech companies across the US to ask them to establish their regional research and development or business operational centers in Taipei.
■ Iraq
Aid plan developed
Taiwan will work through a foundation promoted by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to take part in Iraq's post-war reconstruction, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Vice Foreign Minister Kau Ying-mao made the remarks when he was reporting on the purpose and operation of the Democracy Foundation of Taiwan to legislators of the ruling DPP. One legislator said that Taiwan should work with similar organizations of other countries, such as the US-based National Endowment for Democracy and Canada's International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, to create a network to help with reconstruction work in Iraq.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS