■ 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.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday. Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years. She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
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