■ Politics
Ma undecided on China trip
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that he may not be able to attend the 2005 Asia Pacific Cities Summit slated for Oct. 12 in Chongqing, China, but that he will send a representative if he cannot attend. Ma said that he has also been invited to join in the CityNet Congress 2005, to be held in Hanoi from Oct. 11 to Oct. 15, and that he is unsure which he should go to. CityNet is a network of local authorities that promotes sustainable urban improvement initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. Taipei joined CityNet last November. Eight mayors, including Ma, were invited to attend the Chongqing meeting. The summit was established in 1996 to foster city partnerships and to facilitate the exchange of ideas, knowledge and experiences between local governments, technical experts and businesses within the Asia-Pacific region.
■ Exhibitions
Stamp show logo unveiled
The organizers of the upcoming "18th Asian International Stamp Exhibition -- Taipei 2005" unveiled the show's logo and mascot at a news conference held on Monday at the Chunghwa Post Office building in Taipei. The exhibition, to be held Aug. 19-24 at the Taipei World Trade Center, is expected to attract 100,000 visitors, Chunghwa Post General Manager Huang Shui-cheng (黃水成) said, noting that the event will be combined with a tourism promotion drive. The indigenous Formosan black bear was chosen in a public competition to serve as the show's mascot, while Taipei 101 was chosen to represent the event. Huang said that around 300 foreign stamp authorities, collectors and traders have registered to take part in the exhibition, which will have 150 booths. The Tourism Bureau and China Airlines will set up tourist information centers at the venue to coordinate a display of stamps.
■ Cross-strait ties
SEF worried about safety
Statistics indicating the increasing dangers to physical safety for Taiwanese investors doing business in China has the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) worried. According to the foundation's latest records, there was an increase last year in the number of appeals for support that the foundation received. The SEF said in a statement issued yesterday evening that last year there were 124 appeals for support involving the physical safety of Taiwanese working in China. It said that this figure represented a 15.88 percent increase on last year's figure. In addition, 1,309 appeals have been processed since the foundation was established in 1980. Of these, 755, or 57.67 percent, had to do with some form of physical injury sustained by Taiwanese businesspeople in China. The SEF, which oversees cross-strait exchange in lieu of the government, asked investors to be aware of the risks involved in doing business across the Strait.
■ Diplomacy
MAC head in Japan
Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday departed for Japan at the invitation of Waseda University. Wu plans to deliver a speech today at the university on the state of cross-strait relations after Beijing's adoption of the "Anti-Secession" Law. "Japan has been very concerned about the changes in policies and cross-strait ties with the Anti-Secession Law. I will take the opportunity to explain the situation," Wu said yesterday. He also plans to meet with politicians in Japan for an exchange of opinions. Wu will return to Taiwan on Sunday.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
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