■ 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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS