■ Society
Security guards face censure
Four former security officers will be censured for failing to stop the shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) on March 19, a news report said yesterday. The four will be impeached early next month by the Control Yuan, a Chinese-language newspaper said. "The top-ranking officers of the National Security Bureau and the Special Service Center can hardly escape the blame for the shooting of the president and vice president, which is certainly neglect of duty," an unnamed member of the investigation team told the paper. The four -- Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明), former deputy chief of the National Security Bureau; Chiu Chung-nan (邱忠男), former deputy chief of the special service center, and the president's chief bodyguards Chen Tsa-fu (陳再福) and Shen Tsai-tien (沈再添) -- were removed from their posts following the shooting.
■ Politics
Legislators to question Yu
Premier Yu Shyi-kun is slated to be questioned by legislators starting tomorrow. Although the People First Party (PFP) had previously called the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration "an illegitimate government," the PFP caucus said that it would still allow the question and answer sessions to go ahead although it might boycott some of the sessions. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus has adopted a wait and see attitude, saying that the opposition would certainly do something about the illegitimacy of the administration. Meanwhile, the DPP, KMT and PFP said they would propose to hold an extra legislative session in July to deal with the constitutional amendment bill on legislative downsizing.
■ Society
Foreign spouses increase
The majority of foreigners who married Taiwanese citizens last year were from China, according to figures released by the Ministry of the Interior. Of the 54,305 Taiwanese marrying foreigners, 34,426, or 64 percent, tied the knot with a Chinese citizen. There were 5,905 foreign grooms, of which 3,073 (52 percent) were from China and 1,081 (18 percent) from countries in Southeast Asia. The total number of foreign grooms last year was 1,448 more than in 2002. Of last year's 48,400 foreign brides, 31,353 (65 percent) were from China and 16,660 (34 percent) from Southeast Asia. Last year saw 3,557 more foreign brides compared to 2002.
■ Politics
Environmentalist nominated
Environmentalists yesterday recommended Tien Chiou-chin (田秋菫), a conserva-tionist with a reputation for being persistent, as an ideal candidate for becoming a legislator. Shih Shin-min (施信民), head of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, said Tien has been involved in conservation for more than two decades and has championed diverse causes, including the anti-nuclear movement and the preservation of rare Chinese cypresses on Chilan Mountain. "If Tien is given the opportunity to promote environmental awareness as a legislator, Taiwan's sustainable development can be further ensured," Shih said. Other environmental groups supporting Tien include the Wilderness Society, the Taiwan Cetacean Society, Green Formosa Front, the Homemakers' Union and the Ecology Conservation Alliance.
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
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
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
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