■ CROSS-STRAIT
ARATS head to visit south
Chaiman of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), is planning a week-long visit to the south, local media reported yesterday. Chen aims to travel to several cities in the south between Sept. 5 and Sept. 11, the Chinese-language United Daily News quoted unnamed sources as saying. The visit will come as campaigning is heating up nationwide ahead of November’s five special municipality elections. Chen’s deputy, Zhang Mingqing (張銘清), visited Taiwan earlier this month for the first time since his close encounter with pro-Taiwan politicians in 2008 when he visited the Confucius Temple in Tainan City. He was jostled and jeered by pro-Taiwan politicians and activists and ended up on the ground. It was not clear if Zhang tripped or was pushed.
■ CRIME
Drug ring apprehended
Police announced yesterday they had busted a drug smuggling ring thanks to information exchanges between Taiwan police and their Japanese counterparts. Police said they arrested the mastermind of the ring, a 64-year-old surnamed Yang (楊), along with four of his subordinates, in the departure lounge at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport the previous afternoon, as well as three drug mules. Police also seized 559.5g of amphetamine the mules had hidden inside their bodies. Yang had previously been sentenced to 15 years in prison for heroin smuggling by Taipei Shilin District Court in 2007, police said. He fled into a mountainous area in Shihding (石碇), Taipei County. Police said Yang would often find homeless people to act as drug mules, paying them between NT$50,000 and NT$200,000 for each run, depending on the volume of each shipment.
■ POLITICS
Tang has Legionnaires’
Former premier Tang Fei (唐飛) was diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease after being flown to Taiwan on an emergency flight from China early on Thursday for treatment of a lung infection at Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, a hospital spokesman said yesterday. After diagnosing him with Legionnaires’ disease, a type of pneumonia caused by bacteria called Legionella, doctors treated Tang with erythromycin, an antibiotic, and notified the Centers for Disease Control of his case, a spokesman said. A chest X-ray and examination yesterday morning showed improvement in Tang’s pneumonia, heart irregularities, shortness of breath and pleural effusion — fluid accumulated around the lungs. Other checks also showed a decrease in lung inflammation indicators and an increased white blood cell count.
■ EDUCATION
Student database unveiled
The Ministry of Education announced on Thursday the launch of a database management system for international students studying at local colleges and universities. The system is designed to reduce the administrative work of university staff, who at present are required to spend time documenting and updating international student information, said Liu Ching-jen (劉慶仁), head of the ministry’s Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations. The new system makes it easier to update information for both school staff and the National Immigration Agency, which will be notified of any change in student records, Liu said. The system will include students from China once they are allowed to enroll in local universities, the ministry 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
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
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,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
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