■ Foreign Affairs
Ministry announces postings
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently made a number of personnel changes, including posting former director-general of East Asia and Pacific Affairs Gary Lin (林松煥) to represent the nation in Australia and former director general of North American Affairs Victor Chin (秦日新) to be the representative in New Zealand. Donald Lee (李傳通), Lin's deputy, will fill the vacancy left by Lin, while Chin's position is expected to be taken by Leo Lee (李澄然), who formerly served as a political affairs section chief in the country's representative office in Washington. Chin's predecessor in New Zealand, Joseph Shih (石定), will become the ambassador to Belize, in Central America.
■ Defense
Group opposes arms bill
As legislators brace for a showdown on the long-delayed arms procurement bill tomorrow, an anti-arms procurement group yesterday called on the opposition pan-blue alliance to stick to its opposition to the purchase and not to cave in to US pressure. While President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has promised to boost the nation's defense spending to 3 percent of GDP by 2008, Huang Kuang-kuo (黃光國), convener of the Democratic Action Alliance, said that the nation should not engage in a military race with China, whose GDP is ranked fourth globally.
■ Infrastructure
KMT warns over freeway
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus yesterday threatened to freeze the government budget and mobilize Hualien residents to stage a protest in Taipei if the Executive Yuan refuses to begin construction of a freeway connecting Suao and Hualien before Monday. Aboriginal Legislator Yang Jen-fu (楊仁福) of the KMT called on Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) to endorse the request when Yang visits Hsieh with 100 Hualien residents tomorrow, or face a freeze on the government budget for next year. KMT caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) said that the government must swiftly respond to their request because the legality of the budget for the project will expire if the government fails to use it by Monday.
■ Society
Folk musicians to perform
Famous Aboriginal folk musicians Lee Tai-hsiang (李泰祥) and Hu Kimbo (胡德夫) will perform today at an annual concert at the Presidential Office. Lee and Hu will publish rearranged pieces based on the works of Aboriginal musicians Uyongu E Yatauyungana (高一生, 1908-1954) of the Tsou Tribe and Biliwakes (陸寶森, 1910-1988) of the Puyuma Tribe. The concert will be broadcast live by both Indigenous TV and Philharmonic Radio Taipei FM 99.7 at 7:30pm.
■ Cross-strait ties
MAC urges HK to allow visit
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) called on the Hong Kong Administration to approve a visa application for council Vice Chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆), who wishes to travel to Hong Kong to assist a student who has been detained there. Lee Chien-chen (李建誠), a student from National Taiwan University, was arrested by Hong Kong police during an anti-WTO protest on Dec. 18. Director of the MAC's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Tsai Jy-jon (蔡之中), held a press conference yesterday to relate the progress made in securing bail for the student. Tsai said the MAC has established a task force to handle the case and will report its progress every day on its Web site.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS