■ HEALTH
More flu cases recorded
The Central Epidemic Command Center reported seven new A(H1N1) cases yesterday, bringing the nation's total tally for swine flu to 51. All of the new cases were overseas infections, the center told a press conference. Four of the cases came from Thailand — two male students aged 21 and 22, one 25-year-old female student and a 28-year-old man, the center said. The other three cases were from the US — two 18-year-old students and a 31-year-old man of Thai nationality, it said. All seven are now in quarantine, the center said.
■ DIPLOMACY
Ou positive on Panama
Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) expressed optimism on Sunday about ties with Panama. Ou arrived in Panama City on Sunday for a two-day visit to promote bilateral cooperation and boost Taipei's knowledge of the incoming Panamanian government's policies and priorities, he said in an interview with the Central News Agency. Ou said he believed that relations with Panama, which date back to 1954, would remain stable and solid. Ou was scheduled to meet Panamanian president-elect Ricardo Martinelli and his incoming foreign minister, Juan Carlos Varela. He was also to give a briefing on Taiwan's development and offer Taiwanese assistance to aid Panama's economic development, Ou said. Martinelli and Varela will assume office on July 1.
■ DIPLOMACY
Rights covenant sent to UN
The government has sent instruments of ratification for two UN human rights covenants to the UN Secretariat for deposit through four of its diplomatic allies, Taiwan's representative office in the US said on Saturday. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) signed the UN-sponsored International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights into law on May 14, a move that ensures implementation of the two human rights treaties under the country's domestic laws. As Taiwan lost its China seat in the UN in 1971, it asked the UN ambassadors of Palau, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize and Gambia to refer the ratification documents to the UN Secretariat on June 8 for deposit. The action marked completion of the legal procedures for ratifying the two covenants, sources close to the representative office said. The UN Secretariat has so far not commented on Taiwan's ratification of the two pacts.
■ POLITICS
Chen Chu rates high: poll
Kaohsiung City Government has earned the acclaim of its residents after completing several public infrastructure projects, a survey by the city's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission said. The poll conducted between June 7 and June 9 found that 72.4 percent of 1,081 respondents were satisfied with the city government's performance, up 7.6 percentage points from a similar survey conducted last month. Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), of the Democratic Progressive Party, had a 76 percent approval rating, while 11.6 percent of respondents expressed disapproval. The poll also found that 81.5 percent of those surveyed said they felt proud to be a resident of the city, while 8.6 percent held an opposing view. Those who expressed dissatisfaction with the government's administrative performance complained about the poor quality of city roads, haphazard road construction, chaotic traffic, dirty and disorderly streets, poor public safety, high unemployment and air pollution, the poll showed.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
The US’ joint strikes with Israel on Iran dismantled a key pillar of China’s regional strategy, removing an important piece in Beijing’s potential Taiwan Strait scenario, said Zineb Riboua, a senior researcher at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Middle East Peace and Security. In an article titled: “The Iran Question Is All About China,” Riboua said that understanding the Iran issue in the context of China’s “grand strategy” is essential to fully grasp the complexity of the situation. Beijing has spent billions of dollars over the years turning Iran into a “structural strategic asset,” diverting US military resources in the
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