■ Recreation
Activity seeks foreign friends
Taiwan's olympic committee will hold a sports activity tomorrow at the Da-an Forest Park in Taipei for foreigners living in Taiwan, a statement released yesterday said. The event will include various performances and activities, including shadow boxing, martial arts and "sport dances." Foreign residents in Taipei, including from the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, will perform traditional dances at the event, which is aimed to boost Taiwan's friendship with foreign residents, the statement said. The one-day event will be opened by committee chairman Huang Ta-chou (黃大洲), it said.
■ Education
School artifacts on show
An exhibition of artifacts from 21 100-year-old elementary schools will begin on Monday at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei. The exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Education, will display items such as photos, yearbooks and clocks made with bomb shells. The items, donated by schools built in 1904 or 1905, will give visitors the chance to get a taste of the history of the nation's education system, the ministry said. It will also mark the first time that Taiwan has held a school artifact exhibition on such a scale. The 21 schools include Tayuan Elementary School in Taoyuan County, Neihu Elementary School in Taipei City, Lungching Elementary School in Taichung County, Mingkang Elementary School in Nantou County, Yichang Elementary School in Hualien and Chengkung Elementary School in Kaohsiung City.
■ Diplomacy
Vanuatu ties in the balance
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is paying close attention to developments in Vanuatu, spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said yesterday. Vanuatu's Appeal Court ruled Tuesday that parliament has the right to hold a no-confidence vote for Prime Minister Serge Vohor. Vanuatu's chief grand justice of the Supreme Court delivered a similar ruling on Tuesday over the parliament's plan to launch the no-confidence vote over Vohor's decision to establish diplomatic ties with Taiwan. However, Vohor appealed the ruling. Lu said the ministry does not know when Vanuatu's parliament will discuss the issue, but will pay close attention to the situation as it develops in the South Pacific country. Vanuatu's opposition, which is angry with Vohor's firm support for diplomatic relations with Taiwan, intends to remove him from office.
■ Women's affairs
Islander meet opens
The first Women's Partnership Forum for Pacific Islanders opened in Taipei yesterday as part of efforts to boost mutual understanding between Taiwan and other Pacific Island nations. Thirteen foreign dignitaries, including ministers of women's affairs and interior affairs from Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, as well as female politicians from Tuvalu and Vanuatu, are attending the four-day forum organized by the government-sponsored Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. Foundation officials said representatives of Taiwan's leading women's organizations are also taking part in the forum, and are expected to build channels of communication and exchange with the foreign guests. They hoped the event would allow relationships between women's groups in the Pacific region to improve women's rights and welfare. The foreign guests will be hosted by Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) at a tea party tomorrow and will meet President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Monday, the day the forum concludes.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
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