■ Religion
Pope gives money to Taiwan
The Holy See has donated US$500,000 to the Catholic Diocese of Kaohsiung to show its concern over the Catholic community's development in Taiwan and to demonstrate Pope John Paul II's friendship toward the people of Taiwan. Well-placed sources in the Vatican said yesterday that the donation has already been given by the Holy See's envoy in Taipei to His Eminence Cardinal Paul Shan (單國璽), who is also bishop of the Diocese of Kaohsiung. The money will be used for charity work in the diocese. Saying that the pope has always been concerned about poor people, refugees and minority groups around the world, the sources said that the donation illustrates that the head of the Holy See has not forgotten such people in Taiwan. Taiwan donated US$500,000 to the Vatican in October in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the pope.
■ Communication
Broadcast act passed
Lawmakers passed the draft Act on Communications and Distribution (通訊傳播基本法) yesterday, providing a legal foundation for the planned National Communications Commission (國家通訊傳播委 員會, NCC) under the Executive Yuan. "The NCC should be established to integrate management of industries of telecom-munications, cable television, satellite and wireless broadcasting in this country. The government surveillance of broadcasting content should be open, while media industries are required to have high standards of self-discipline," the act states. The act also stipulates that the government should provide incentives to develop new media technology while helping to protect the interests of audiences by monitoring the service of media industries.
■ Cross-strait ties
Premier responds to Hu
Speaking at an inauguration ceremony for an anti-human-smuggling task force in Keelung yesterday, Premier Yu Shyi-kun outlined four demands for Beijing at the inauguration campaign yesterday. First, he asked Beijing to carry out direct charter-flights during the Lunar New Year. Second, he wants the Straits Exchange Foundation to be allowed to establish branch offices in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. Thirdly, he wants to re-establish the cross-strait dialog as soon as possible. Finally, he requested that the nearly 500 DF-11 and DF-12 missiles targeting Taiwan be dismantled immediately. Yu made the comments in response to a speech given by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) to Taiwanese business leaders in Beijing on Thursday.
■ Cross-strait ties
China urged to seek peace
The government is happy to see that both sides of the Taiwan Strait think highly of Taiwan businessmen, but hopes that China will take substantive action to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait, Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) said yesterday. Chiou was responding to Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) remarks the previous day when he received the presidents of Taiwanese businessmen's associations in China and told them he will make every effort to achieve the peaceful unification of China. "Our cross-strait policy remains steady," Chiou said, adding that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has said repeatedly that his advocacy of "one country on each side of Taiwan Strait," and "defensive referendum" are not attempts to change the status quo and have nothing to do with Taiwan independence, nor are they provocations. They are intended to strengthen Taiwan's democracy and maintain peace in the region, Chiou said, which is "our basic stance," although China might have a different interpretation.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
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