■ DEFENSE
Arms sale to proceed
The Obama administration will proceed with arms sales to Taiwan despite recent protests by China, a US official said on Tuesday. Speaking from Hawaii, American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt said that sales of arms to Taiwan were consistent with what White House officials have been saying was US President Barack Obama’s policy. “No one should be surprised when we move forward with them,” he said. Burghardt declined to say exactly when Obama would notify Congress of an arms sale. In the past week, Chinese officials and news organizations have expressed anger over reports that the Obama administration could notify Congress shortly of such arms sales. Notification is the final step in the process. US officials say China could break off military-to-military contacts with the US once notification is made as it did in October last year when the Bush administration sold Taiwan US$6.5 billion worth of weapons.
■ WEATHER
Cold air mass hits nation
A cold air mass from China sent temperatures falling through much of Taiwan yesterday and could push the mercury to below 10°C in northern and central areas this weekend, the Central Weather Bureau said. The cold air mass will envelop Taiwan completely beginning today, making the weather noticeably colder, and could linger over Taiwan until next week, a bureau forecaster said. Temperatures are expected to be about 18°C in the north and northeast, with lows of between 15°C and 16°C in central regions, between 22°C and 23°C in eastern regions and between 24°C and 25°C in the south and southeast.
■ IMMIGRATION
Tibetans on hunger strike
More than 30 Tibetan exiles in Taiwan have been on a hunger strike outside the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) since late on Monday night to protest the commission not confirming their Tibetan status, which led to the National Immigration Agency’s (NIA) refusal to grant them residency. A total of 134 Tibetans living in Taiwan applied for residency earlier this year — 78 were granted residency while 56 were rejected because of insufficient proof of their status as Tibetans. The Tibetans who were denied residency asked whether the MTAC had double standards in assessing the proof of their Tibetan status. “How come some people received it, but others didn’t? There are even two brothers with the elder brother granted residency while the younger brother wasn’t,” Taiwan Tibetan Welfare Association chairman Jamga said. “I suspect that maybe only people on good terms with MTAC officials can get it.” MTAC rebutted the accusation and said that the individuals whose application were rejected could apply again if they have new evidence to prove their Tibetan status.
■ SOCIETY
Hope’s the word
“Hope” (pan, 盼) has been voted the Chinese character of the year in Taiwan, with many people believing a sustained period of crisis and disaster is finally coming to an end, a survey showed yesterday. It replaced “chaos” (luan, 亂), the character considered most representative of last year, and reflected how the mood in Taiwan has changed from pessimism to cautious optimism, said the Chinese-language United Daily News, which co-organized the poll. “This year we chose ‘hope’ over ‘chaos,’ symbolizing that Taiwan has bottomed out and is moving toward the light,” the paper said.
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
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
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
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