■SOCIETY
Bottled message answered
A bottle thrown into the sea by a Dutch couple in Taiwan has traveled across the Pacific Ocean to be found on the coast of the US eight years later, a Seattle TV station reported yesterday. According to the report, Catherine Shaw found the bottle, which contained a message from the couple, on a beach near Ocean Shores, a city in Washington State, a few weeks ago. “We opened it and it was from 2002 and was thrown in the ocean in Taiwan ... A couple from Holland were on a cruise ship. He was an officer on a cruise ship and they had gone to Hong Kong. They thought it would be fun to throw a couple of bottles into the ocean,” Shaw was quoted as saying. “Every time we sail together we throw a few bottles into the sea and hope someone will find it and write to us,” the couple said in the letter. Shaw e-mailed them and found out that they are Niels and Marije Dekker. She said she plans to keep corresponding with the couple.
■DIPLOMACY
Congress group to honor Ma
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is to be honored by a US congressional organization for his leadership in international affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI) is to present the Leadership in International Relations Award to Ma in a ceremony in Washington on May 20, said Harry Tseng (曾厚仁), director-general of the ministry’s Department of North American Affairs. As objections from China would preclude Ma from attending the ceremony in person, the award will be accepted on Ma’s behalf by Taiwan’s representative to the US, Jason Yuan (袁健生), Tseng said.
■POLITICS
Legislator denies fake faint
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chao Li-yun (趙麗雲) yesterday dismissed a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus allegation that she staged fainting during clashes between the two parties at the Education and Culture Committee meeting on Wedsneday. Chao, discharged from hospital, told reporters that someone choked her with her scarf from behind during the clashes. Chao said she felt weak in the knees and could not breathe during the episode, adding that KMT Legislator Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏), who was next to her, said it was all right for her to lie down if she did not feel well. DPP legislators had accused Chao of faking her collapse because they said they heard Lin told Chao to faint.
■POLITICS
KMT to name candidates
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said it has determined its candidates for November’s municipality elections in Taipei City, Sinbei City, Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung, and would formally announce all candidates after it determines the candidate in Greater Tainan. The KMT completed the opinion polls in the five municipalities earlier this week, and will nominate the candidates who topped the polls, KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said yesterday. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) will be nominated as the party candidates in Taipei City and Kaohsiung. The KMT skipped polls in Sinbei City and Greater Taichung, and will nominate Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) in the two cities because no other hopefuls have competed with them. In Greater Tainan, former KMT legislators Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) and Kuo Tien-tsai (郭添財) were neck-and-neck in the poll.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
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