■DIPLOMACY
Ally thanks Taiwan for help
The friendship between Taiwan and St Vincent and the Grenadines has grown stronger after many years of cooperation between the two countries, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said on Wednesday. Addressing the inauguration of a national library in the Caribbean country constructed with funds from Taiwan, Gonsalves said the biggest public library in the Caribbean was the best testimony to the friendship between the two countries. Gonsalves also expressed his thanks to Taiwan for its assistance with several other infrastructure projects, including the country’s Youth Empowerment Service (YES) program, which has been rated as a model program worthy of emulation by other countries in the region by the Inter-American Development Bank and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Latin American regional office.
■SOCIETY
‘Seed baby’ goes to Shanghai
Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Yong-ping (李永萍) departed yesterday for Shanghai to promote the Taipei International Garden and Horticulture Exposition that will be held in Taipei between Nov. 6, next year, and April 25, 2011. Lee took the official mascot of the Taipei flora expo, which is expected to be one of the biggest international events the city has organized. The mascot — called Yabi the Seed Baby — proved an instant crowd pleaser at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. EVA Airways provided a ticket for the mascot to have a seat in the passenger cabin on the flight to Shanghai. Yabi the Seed Baby is expected to meet Haibao — the official mascot of Shanghai World Expo 2010 — during its visit to Shanghai, she said.
■ARTS
More money from Ma
The prize money for the National Culture and Arts Foundation Awards (國家文藝獎) is likely to go up after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday proposed increasing it from NT$600,000 to NT$1 million (US$30,700) for each person. Addressing the award ceremony held at Taipei’s Zhongshan Hall yesterday afternoon, Ma said he felt embarrassed when he learned that the prize money had not changed over the past 13 years. “I’m wondering whether next time we can pump it up to NT$1 million per person,” he said. “Nobel laureates get at least NT$40 million each ... It is not just money. It is a token of respect and appreciation for their hard work.” For fear that his remarks were not taken seriously, Ma said his suggestion was “an order,” drawing laughter from the audience.
■ENERGY
Premier touts green energy
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday ordered the establishment of a new energy promotion committee in a bid to transform Taiwan into a leader in alternative energy. The premier issued the order at a weekly Cabinet meeting after hearing a Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) report on an action plan for the green energy industry, Government Information Office Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said after the meeting. Wu said that Taiwan, with a solid foundation paved by its semiconductor industry, had a great advantage in developing green energies. However, the premier said there was still a great challenge for Taiwan if it wants to achieve the goal set for the country’s new energy industry of reaching more than NT$1 trillion (US$31.3 billion) in production value for green energy over the next six years. It currently stands at about NT$169 billion.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
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