■ Diplomacy
Salvadoran president to visit
Salvadoran President Antonio Saca is scheduled to make his first state visit to Taiwan later this month for the second Democratic Pacific Assembly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. During this visit, Saca is also expected to discuss bilateral cooperation on tourism and trade, MOFA officials said. The 39-year-old Saca, a member of the Nationalist Republican Alliance party, was elected president March 21 this year. Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) invited Saca to visit Taiwan when she attended his June 1 inauguration. The second Democratic Pacific Assembly, organized by Lu, is set to take place in Taipei from Aug. 13 to Aug. 15.
■ Society
Cadet cremated
The army cadet who died late last month after developing a fever two days earlier was cremated in Kaohsiung yesterday. The cadet, surnamed Yen, at the Taiwan Military Academy in Fengshan, Kaohsiung, died on July 25 at the age of 20. Because of Yen's outstanding academic performance, the academy decided to present him with an honorary commencement certificate posthumously. Representatives of the army cadets and the school faculty also came to Kaohsiung Municipal Funeral Home to bid farewell to Yen. Yen's death caused alarm, as about two dozen army cadets came down with high fever at about the same time, but their conditions stabilized after treatment in hospitals.
■ Society
Liou in calendar shocker
A Taiwanese-American and former member of US President Bush's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Sean Liou (劉幸誠), has been included in a calendar for the upcoming US Republican National Convention. The Republicans will hold a convention in Santiago, California starting Aug. 6, and a national convention in New York in September. The 2005 calendar aims to highlight the commitment of the Republicans to the protection of civil rights and the determination to promote minority group leaders to serve in major government positions. For this reason, the calendar includes such famous Republicans as President Abraham Lincoln, State Secretary Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. Liou, 47, graduated from a university in Changhua and holds a masters in mathematics from the University of Massachusetts. He serves as a member of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's ?ansition Team?nd is dedicated to helping Asian Americans integrate into American society and upgrade their social status.
■ Diplomacy
Condolences offered
The government is concerned about the large fire that occurred in the downtown area of Paraguay's capital on Sunday and killed nearly 300 people, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. Anna Kao (高安), deputy director of the ministry's Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, said that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) have sent messages to Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte Frutos to express their sympathy and condolences for the victims. The government and the private sector will also do their utmost in the follow-up relief efforts, Kao said. The fire swept through a busy shopping center on the outskirts of Asuncion at midday on Sunday.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
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