■ Health
Lawmakers push WHA bid
A delegation of legislators across partisan lines is slated to leave tomorrow for a 13-day visit to the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Poland to push for support for the nation's bid to become an observer at World Health Assembly (WHA). DPP Legislator Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said the trip is aimed at boosting international backing for the bid to for observer status at WHA, the highest-decision making body of the World Health Organization. The delegation includes DPP legislators Parris Chang (張旭成) and Chien Chao-tong (簡肇棟), KMT Legislator Sun Kauo-hwa (孫國華) and TSU Legislator Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴). The 56th WHA meeting is slated to take place in Geneva from May 19 to 28.
■ Diplomacy
Navy greeted in Kingstown
A navy flotilla of three warships from Taiwan arrived in St. Vincent on Thursday for a goodwill visit. The flotilla was greeted by Prime Minister Gonsaires Ralph and other officials when it arrived at the harbor of the capital Kingstown. The prime minister praised Taiwan for its economic prosperity and thanked the government for having helped St. Vincent promote the development of education, infrastructure and agricultural technology. He pledged to strongly support Taiwan's bid to join all international organizations, including the World Health Organization. The warships were open to the general public on Thursday and ROC Ambassador Allen Jiang (姜禮尚) and leading officers of the flotilla hosted a reception on one of the ships Thursday evening in honor of 120 government officials and other dignitaries. The flotilla will arrive in Dominica today.
■ Politics
Election rule change sought
DPP Legislator Kuo Jung-tsung (郭榮宗) and TSU Legislator Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙) yesterday announced that they will propose a draft amendment to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選罷法) to ban certain family members of a presidential or vice presidential candidate from holding dual nationality. The two lawmakers say some of members of KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong's (宋楚瑜) families have obtained foreign citizenship. "What if an elected president or vice president fled abroad when the cross-strait situation is tense?" the lawmakers asked. According to the draft bill, a person will be eligible to run for president or vice president only if their relations who have a "first-degree kinship" (parents and children) or "second-degree kinship" (brothers, sisters, grandparents and grandchildren) do not hold dual nationality.
■ Children
First lady helps charity
First lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) paid NT$10,000 for a stuffed "stray goat" toy for her grandson in a charity auction sponsored by the Child Welfare League Foundation yesterday. The foundation is trying to raise NT$30 million for a fund to take care of orphaned children. The foundation has invited the first lady to serve as its first "love ambassador." Wu said that her grandson, Chao Yi-an (趙翊安), is now six months old and has grown teeth. He is the apple of the family's eye, she said. In contrast, pictures of the orphaned children, although cute, show the unfortunate situation of children who have been forsaken by their families, Wu said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening. When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team. However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku
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