■ Education
Nanking loses prominence
The "Rape of Nanking" will no longer feature prominently in the nation's revised history textbooks, a newspaper said yesterday. The Chinese-language United Evening News said that in the new versions of history textbooks, which no longer consider China's history to be national history, only passing references are made to the massacre. A textbook from one publish-ing house does not mention the World War II atrocities committed by the Japanese in China, while textbooks from four other publishers only make a brief reference to it. The Ministry of Education decides the content of the textbooks, but they are printed by private publishers. The "Rape of Nanking" refers to the massacre which began after Nanking, then the capital of China, fell to Japanese troops on Dec. 13, 1937. Japanese soldiers carried out acts of rape, execution, arson and looting in and around Nanking that lasted for six weeks. China estimates the total death toll at about 300,000.
■ Environment
Cherry saplings planted
The Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration held a ceremony in the park in Tainan on Saturday to plant 250 cherry saplings donated by a Japanese cherry cultivation association. A tablet commemorating the friendship between Taiwan and Japan was also unveiled. Chimei Group founder Shi Wen-long (許文龍), presidential adviser Huang Kun-hu (黃崑虎) and scores of Japanese businesspeople were present at the ceremony, according to a park spokesman. The Japanese businesspeople performed Japanese folk songs, accompanied by Shi on mandolin, with the aim of creating the atmosphere of cherry blossoms apprecia-tion event in Japan, the spokesman said. National Science Council Deputy Minister Tai Chien (戴謙) said that there were 15 Japanese firms in the park, which has established the closest relationship with Japan among all of the nation's science parks. He said the cherry cultivation association donated the saplings because of a suggestion from Huang and the result will be that people working in the park and local residents will be able to enjoy Japanese cherry blossoms.
■ Economy
Post office posts record
Total postal savings deposits surpassed NT$4 trillion (US$123 billion) last year, marking a record high, according to the latest tallies released by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. The statistics showed that total postal savings deposits last year increased by NT$363.8 billion, or 9.9 percent, over 2005. The postal savings system accounted for 15.4 percent of total deposits among all financial institutions in the nation last year, representing a 0.6 percent year-on-year increase, while the total value of postal simple life insurance was NT$830 billion, a decrease of NT$ 23.3 billion, or 2.7 percent, compared with the previous year. The value of money orders transferred by postal services reached NT$1,491.1 billion, posting an increase of NT$85.8 billion, or 6.1 percent, year-on-year. Meanwhile, a total of 17.9 million postal parcels were delivered last year, or 49,000 parcels on average per day. This represents a 13.5 percent growth over the previous year, marking the fourth consecutive yearly rise. One area did see a decline. The number of letters posted reached 2.66 billion, or an average of 7.3 million per day.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
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