■ MEDIA
‘Commons Daily’ shuts down
The Chinese-language newspaper Commons Daily yesterday announced it is terminating publication because of management disputes. On Sunday, the computers at the 60-year-old newspaper’s headquarters in Kaohsiung were taken by an unidentified person, making it impossible for staff to publish the newspaper. The paper’s deputy editor-in-chief, Chang Hung-kuang (張弘光), reported the incident to police. The management dispute was rumored to be between Eastern Multimedia Group’s Tsai Hao (蔡豪) and Wang Shih-chun (王世均). However, both issued statements saying they were not involved in the management of the Commons Daily, causing much confusion for the paper’s staff.
■ TRAVEL
Tourism office opens in PRC
Taiwan yesterday officially inaugurated its tourism office in Beijing — the first semiofficial agency set up by Taiwan in China. The office is formally known as the Beijing office of the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association (TSTA), with its principal mission promoting tourism in Taiwan among Chinese citizens. Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai (賴瑟珍), who serves as chairwoman of TSTA, presided over the inauguration ceremony. Also attending were Shao Qiwei (邵琪偉), director of China’s National Tourism Administration, and Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中), executive deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office. Shao is also president of the Cross-Strait Tourism Association (CSTA), the TSTA’s Chinese counterpart. The Taipei office of the CSTA will be opened Friday.
■ TRAVEL
Fuel surcharge approved
The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has approved a request by Taiwanese carriers to increase fuel surcharges on international routes to help them offset an increase in aviation fuel prices. The new measures, to take effect on tickets issued from May 17, will see the surcharge raised to US$20 from US$17.50 per passenger for short-haul flights and to US$52 from US$45.50 for long-haul flights. The increase came after state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan, announced on Monday it would raise the price of aviation fuel to US$103.18 per barrel, prompting local carriers flying international routes to petition the CAA for an increase in the surcharge. This is the first time Taiwan’s airlines have increased surcharges since Dec. 15. Meanwhile, China Airlines and EVA Airways Corp, the country’s biggest carriers, will from next Tuesday raise the surcharges on flights between Taiwan and Hong Kong by US$1 to US$11.80 based on Hong Kong’s adjustment mechanism.
■ TRAVEL
New ship line to begin
A Chinese passenger cargo ship will sail directly from Xiamen to Kaohsiung for the first time next week, opening a new transportation route for people traveling between China and southern Taiwan. The Hong Kong-registered Cosco Star, which will make its maiden voyage between Xiamen and Kaohsiung on Monday, expects to launch regularly scheduled services between the two cities once a week, the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau said on Monday. The cruise ship, which can carry more than 600 passengers, already sails regularly between Xiamen in Fujian Province and Taichung and Keelung. More than 100,000 Fujian residents are expected to visit Taiwan this year, the Tourism Bureau said. The Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau and the Xiamen Port Authority will also sign a letter of intent on that day to enhance cooperation, officials said.
A series of discussions on the legacy of martial law and authoritarianism are to be held at the Taipei International Book Exhibition this month, featuring findings and analysis by the Transitional Justice Commission. The commission and publisher Book Republic organized the series, entitled “Escaping the Nation’s Labyrinth of Memory: What Authoritarian Symbols and Records Can Tell Us,” to help people navigate narratives through textual analysis and comparisons with other nations. The four-day series is to begin on Thursday next week with a discussion between commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠), Polish-language translator Lin Wei-yun (林蔚昀), and Polish author and artist Pawel Gorecki comparing
‘EFFECTIVE DETERRENCE’: If the Biden administration suspends arms sales to Taiwan, the military could still ready a nimble fighting force for defense, an analyst said The “US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” last week sparked debate among analysts after US President Donald Trump declassified the document 20 years ahead of schedule. Trump on Tuesday last week released the document that had governed US strategic action in the region since the US leader approved its use in 2018. The document, which outlines US priorities in the region, emphasizes the importance of defending Taiwan against military aggression and facilitating the country’s development of asymmetric strategies and capabilities. The overall directive of the document is for the US to prevent China from establishing sustained air and sea dominance inside the first
MOVING OUT: A former professor said that rent and early education costs in Taipei are the nation’s highest, which makes it difficult for young people to start families The population of Taipei last year fell to the lowest in 23 years due to high rent, more transportation options and the expansion of northern cities into a single metropolis, academics and city officials said on Monday. Data released this month by the Ministry of the Interior showed that the capital was home to 2,602,418 people last year, down 42,623 from 2019. The decline is second only to 1993, when the population fell by 42,828 people, while Taipei’s population was the lowest it has been since 1997. Taipei saw the biggest drop among the six special municipalities, while Taoyuan led the group in
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
RSS