■ Politics
Lu warns Beijing on games
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday if Chinese leaders don't learn to control rowdy sports fans, athletes will feel threatened when they go to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. Lu said it was regrettable that soccer fans rioted in Beijing after Japan beat China 3-1 on Saturday in the Asian Cup final. She said in a briefing with foreign reporters that Chinese leaders must learn to control angry mobs before the 2008 games. "Otherwise, athletes who are able to defeat China's athletes will feel threatened. This would be a serious problem," she said. Lu added that she hoped that the Olympics will benefit China.
■ Travel
Penghu-Macau flight set
The maiden international charter flight from Penghu will take off today for Macau, with all seats fully booked, a TransAsia Airways spokesman said yesterday. The round-trip flight will make Makung Airport the first airport on an outlying island that can host international charter flights. The airport will also then become the nation's fifth international airport. The Civil Aeronautic Administration (CAA) approved TransAsia Airways' application for operating three round-trip charter flights between Penghu and Macau this month. The airline spokesman said the inauguration of charter flight services will benefit Penghu residents intending to visit Macau or to travel to China because the direct flight takes only one hour.
■ Foreign Affairs
Errant diplomat suspended
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday officially suspended diplomat Chang Jia-hua (張家華) from his duties for inadvertently issuing a passport and other documents to Yeh Hsiu-chen (葉秀貞), the wife of fugitive murder suspect Andrew Wang (汪傳浦) last month. Meanwhile, the involvement of Lily Hsu (徐儷文), a diplomat at the UK representative office, will be further investigated by the Control Yuan. However, newly resigned Taiwan representative to the UK, Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂), was not on the list of administrative punishment released by MOFA yesterday. Wang, an arms dealer suspected of involvement in the corruption-tainted sale of the Lafayette-class frigates to Taipei in the 1990s, is wanted in connection with the death of navy Captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓).
■ Health
Association warns of fraud
Some foreign workers have taken advantage of loopholes in the National Health Insurance system by selling medicines that were paid for by their insurance here, wasting medical resources, a private medical group alleged yesterday. Some retired people have also given away their medicines to their relatives and friends in China, according to Wu Ming-yen, secretary-general of the Non-governmental Hospital and Clinics Association. The National Health Insurance spends about NT$94 billion (US$2.76 billion) annually on medicines, but a large part of this is believed to go to waste. Wu said that some retired people, especially those residing in China, give away their medicines to relatives and friends in China.. Wu said he suspects some patients may fail to treat their illnesses and then seek medical treatment in China and claim reimbursements from the National Health Insurance.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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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