■ POLITICS
Lien leads think tank to PRC
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) will lead a delegation of members of the party’s think tank to the KMT-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forum in China in December, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said yesterday. Lien will head the delegation as the chairman of the National Policy Foundation, the KMT’s think tank, and discuss economic issues with CCP think tank members, Wu told a media gathering at KMT headquarters in Taipei. The KMT-CCP forum was created in April 2005 when Lien visited China. The forum serves as a platform for the two parties to discuss cross-strait issues. Wu, who underwent an arterial stent implant last week because of coronary heart disease, said he had already visited China twice this year and met with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and that he had no further plans to visit China this year.
■ CULTURE
Festive reopening planned
Part of Anhe Road in Taipei City will be closed to traffic tomorrow amid activities marking the reopening of Eslite bookstore’s flagship outlet on Dunhua S Road. Taipei City’s Information and Tourism Department will promote the distinct culture of the city’s eastern district with music performances and outdoor movie screenings starting at 2pm in front of the bookstore. Wang Shih-chia (王施佳), a division chief at the department, said the bookstore has become one of the city’s most popular attractions and cultural landmarks for many foreign tourists. Wang said the department will be offering free coffee and popcorn. German director Wim Wenders’ movie Lisbon Story will be screened at 7pm.
■ TOURISM
Hualien hotels fully booked
Most hotel owners in the Hualien area said their rooms are fully booked from today through Sunday, the three-day weekend that begins with Double Ten celebrations today. They said that even private tourist accommodation in the city and county were fully booked for the weekend, mainly because of the Double Ten gala night festivities at Hualien Stadium tonight. The hotel owners said all train tickets to and from Hualien until Sunday have been sold out, leaving many of their guests without transportation to go to Hualien or return home. Entry to the Double Ten festivities is free. The public can enter the stadium from 4:30pm. The lineup of performers includes television program hosts, well-known singers and dancers, as well as traditional dancing and singing by Aboriginal tribes from Hualien.
■ HEALTH
Dengue patient rewarded
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday announced an imported case of dengue fever that had been reported to the CDC by the patient himself. The man came down with fever and joint and muscle pain soon after his return from a trip to Vietnam last Friday, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ting (林頂) said. Suspecting that he may have contracted dengue fever, the man informed the CDC of his symptoms through the CDC’s online self-notification system on Tuesday. Tests confirmed that he did have dengue fever, Lin said. The man will be awarded NT$2,500 as part of the center’s measures to encourage people to report infectious disease cases, the CDC said. CDC statistics show that 375 cases of dengue fever have been recorded in the country so far this year, 209 of which were indigenous cases and 166 imported. Of the total number of cases, 185 occurred since the start of the summer.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
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