■POLITICS
Session to begin on Feb. 23
Legislators across party lines reached a consensus yesterday to begin the spring legislative session on Feb. 23. On the opening day of the new session, the legislature will invite Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and other Cabinet officials to give administrative reports and answer questions in a general assembly. The legislature will also start the process for the confirmation of Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘), the deputy justice minister who was nominated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to become state prosecutor-general after the new session begins. The Legislative Yuan’s justice and interior committees will first review Huang’s qualifications and capabilities and then lawmakers will vote on his confirmation.
■DIPLOMACY
Group touts visa-free status
A group of Taiwanese legislators currently on a visit to Rome asked Spain to support visa-free privileges for Taiwanese visitors to the EU. Citing the UK as an example, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said the number of Taiwanese visitors to the UK increased by 40 percent during the six months after the UK granted Taiwanese visitors visa-free entry last March. Lin, a member of the group of legislators representing the Taiwan-Spain Parliament Friendship Group, said the number of Taiwanese visitors to Spain — one of the most popular European countries among Taiwanese — would also greatly increase if the country were to grant Taiwanese visitors visa-free entry. The number of Taiwanese visitors to Europe posted a continuous drop between 2005 and 2008 — from 281,022 in 2005 to 225,023 in 2008, figures compiled by the Ministry of the Interior showed.
■DIPLOMACY
Mission plants rice in Haiti
A technical mission of the Taipei-based International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) stationed in Haiti has donated US$50,000 and purchased 50 tonnes of Haitian grown rice to aid post-quake refugees, chief of the technical group, Carlos Hsiang (向水松), said yesterday. Hsiang said the rice, with its “Taichung-shien No. 10” strain from Taiwan, was planted by local Haitian farmers on a 3,000 hectare farm in the Artibonite region with the mission’s assistance. Purchasing locally cultivated produce or goods to aid quake survivors is the best form of assistance for Haiti’s people, Hsiang said, because farmers will be given an outlet for their harvests and businessmen a market for their products. Artibonite is a major grain-producing region in central Haiti, suited for planting grains.
■HEALTH
DOH urges swine flu shots
The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday urged the public to get vaccinated against A(H1N1) influenza as a precaution against any new outbreaks during the Lunar New Year holiday, but added that the second wave of the epidemic has tapered off. Getting A(H1N1) flu shots is crucial to preventing the spread of the virus, DOH Deputy Minister Chang Shen-chwen (張上淳) said, adding that no new hospitalized A(H1N1) cases have been recorded recently because of the national vaccination program that was launched late last year. Asked whether the vaccine was safe for pregnant women, Chang said it was, adding that the Influenza Advisory Committee had agreed at a meeting last week that pregnant women should get the vaccine.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
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