■ Defense
Subs on the way?
Taiwan is expected to push through a defense budget of nearly NT$300 billion (US$8.93 billion) to procure eight conventional submarines from the US, a news report said yesterday. The Cabinet Friday approved the budget for the deal under the condition that the nation would build some of the submarines on its own, a Chinese-language newspaper said. Taiwan hopes the state-run China Shipbuilding will be partly involved in building four of the diesel-electric submarines and will build two on its own, the paper said. But the arms budget still requires parliamentary approval. Jane's Defence Weekly recently cited sources saying Taiwan's plan to build some of the vessels by itself "is very likely going to kill the whole deal," adding that the nation lacks the construction and testing infrastructure. Government officials declined to comment on the report. The deal has progressed slowly, as the US has not built conventional submarines for more than 40 years. Taiwan is also slated to buy a dozen submarine-hunting P3C Orion aircraft and three Patriot anti-missile systems from the US.
■ Trade
Deals reached in India
A trade mission specializing in medical equipment and instruments visiting India has obtained orders worth US$250,000 and is following up on trade opportunities, worth US$2.17 million, that were discussed in New Delhi, the first stop on its current trip, officials said yesterday. The mission, organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and composed of representatives of seven Taiwan companies, went on to Mumbai after leaving New Delhi. During its stay in Mumbai, the officials said, the mission members will hold individual business talks with their Indian counterparts, visit local business groups and attend seminars on the development of the medical industry.
■ Agriculture
Irrigation may be postponed
Irrigation for a second crop on Taiwan's largest grain-growing area, the Chianan Plain, may be postponed because reservoirs are facing a water shortage, officials of the Chianan Irrigation Association said yesterday. Although storms that approached the nation recently brought rain to the south, the Chiayi and Tainan areas received little rainfall. The water levels of the Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫) and the Tsengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫) in Tainan County are extremely low because rain has been scarce since last November.
■ Politics
Lien: Get ready
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has instructed his party's officials to prepare for the presidential election anew, a KMT spokeswoman said yesterday. Kuo Shu-chun (郭素春) said that Lien is confident of winning the lawsuit he filed with the Taiwan High Court to nullify the results of the March 20 presidential election, which the spokeswoman said was rife with irregularities. She said that a recount of votes initiated by the KMT and its political ally, the People First Party, has uncovered many electoral irregularities which she said cannot simply be considered mistakes committed by election officials. Lien will start a tour of the nation early next month in which he will thank his supporters and canvass for support for KMT candidates in December's legislative elections, Kuo said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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