■ LAW ENFORCEMENT
Campaign report released
Police were mobilized on more than 2 million shifts to maintain order at over 1,600 activities related to the presidential campaign in the 10 months leading up to Saturday's election, National Police Agency statistics released earlier this week showed. Beginning in May, the agency began to dispatch officers to prevent campaign-related violence around the country, with a total of 2.24 million shifts assigned to keep order, the statistics showed.
■ DIPLOMACY
Dalai Lama thanks Chen
The Dalai Lama thanked President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the Taiwanese government for their long-term support and friendship for Tibet, particularly following Beijing's recent violent crackdown, the Presidential Office said in a statement yesterday. The Presidential Office said that the Dalai Lama expressed his appreciation to Chen in a letter forwarded by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama told Chen he thought the electoral process in Taiwan was a model for countries in Asia.
■ GOVERNMENT
Mark Chen appointed
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has appointed National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山) as secretary-general of the Presidential Office, succeeding Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), the Presidential Office said in a statement last night. It said Yeh had offered her resignation on Monday, citing mental and physical exhaustion. The president approved her resignation yesterday, it said. NSC Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chung-hsin (陳忠信) was made NSC acting secretary-general, effective today, the statement said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
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