Fri, Dec 16, 2005 page3

• Taiwan Quick Take

  • STAFF WRITER
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  ■ Defense
  Trainers altered into fighters

  The military has modified two locally manufactured aircraft to carry anti-ship missiles that could be used to attack China's main ports, Jane's Defence Weekly said in an article to be published on Jan. 1. Two AT-3A Tsu Chiang aircraft "have been modified to carry either Harpoon or locally produced Hsiung Feng II (Brave Wind II) anti-ship missiles," Jane's said. The aircraft have been modified by the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp, it said. Sixty of the aircraft were designed and built as two-seater trainers for the Air Force in the 1980s. "If Taiwan chooses to convert significant numbers of AT-3A into AT-3K anti-ship missile platforms it will place China's major ports within Taiwan's range," the weekly said.

  ■ Diplomacy

  New BTCO head arriving

  The new director-general of the British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO), Michael Reilly, is expected to arrive today and take up his position on Monday. Reilly will succeed Derek Marsh, who left his post last Friday. Reilly's most recent posting was head of the ASEAN and Oceania Group, a BTCO press release said yesterday. Reilly, 50, began his career in the civil service in 1978 in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He has served in the British embassy in Seoul and in Manila.

  ■ Government

  New court plan reviewed

  A constitutional court would be established under the Judicial Yuan if draft amendments to the Organic Law of the Judicial Yuan (司法院組織法) that were given preliminary approval by the legislature's Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday become law. The new court's members could be composed of members of the Council of Grand Justices, lawmakers, those who have been involved in constitutional affairs for more than nine years or law professors with more than 20 years of teaching experience. The committee also agreed to let the Judicial Yuan set up a civil court, penal court, administrative court and disciplinary court. The committee also agreed to put Supreme Court, Supreme Administrative Court and Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Public Functionaries under the supervision of the Judicial Yuan.

  ■ Society

  Would-be crasher arrested

  A man who tried to crash his car into the Presidential Building was arrested yesterday afternoon. Police officials said it was the second time this month that Wang Hui-chun (王惠群) had tried to attack the building. After his arrest Wang told the police that he wanted to petition President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) over a lawsuit that he had lost. Police said Wang will be fined for intruding into the Po-ai area and breaking a railing of the building. He could face other charges as well, they said.

  ■ Society

  Lepers demand rights

  Former residents of the Lo Sheng Sanatorium (樂生療養院) and several legislators gathered yesterday to press the ex-lepers demands before the Hansen's Disease patient rights draft law undergoes a second reading at the legislature today. The elderly residents were forcibly evicted from their long-time home in July from the Taipei County sanatorium because the site has been earmarked for a rapid transit station. Independent Legislator Kao Chin Su-mei (高金素梅) said that the government must compensate the residents, stop the sanatorium from being torn down and preserve it as a historical site for educational purposes.
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