POLITICS
Wuer Kaixi invited to Japan
Former Chinese student leader Wuer Kaixi (吾爾開希) will be one of the Chinese activists invited to represent imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) at a meeting of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Hiroshima next month, a press report said on Wednesday. Wuer, 42, a leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing who once studied with Liu, will read a message on Liu’s behalf at the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, to be held from Nov. 12 to Nov. 14, Kyodo news agency said. Liu, was sentenced to 11 years in prison last December on subversion charges after co-authoring a manifesto calling for political reform in China. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 8.
DIPLOMACY
Former Japanese PM to visit
Shinzo Abe, who served as prime minister of Japan from September 2006 to September 2007, will arrive in Taiwan for a two-day visit on Sunday on the maiden flight between Taipei Songshan Airport and Japan’s Haneda Airport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Abe’s visit will make him the second former Japanese prime minister to visit Taiwan this year, following a visit by Taro Aso in April. According to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞), the head of the Taiwan-Japan Parliament Member Association, Abe will meet with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) during his stay.
FINANCE
New loan rules introduced
The Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) yesterday said that in the future, those who provide sufficient collateral for home or car loans would not need to provide a guarantor. CPC Consumer Ombudsman Huang Chien-lung (黃建隆) said the commission recently passed revisions to regulations governing the items that must be recorded in the standard Personal Car and Housing Loan Standard Contract. One of the most significant changes to the rules is that banking institutions must not require a debtor to provide a guarantor if he or she has sufficient collateral to cover the loan. The revisions would also protect consumers from unfair deals by allowing them to halt monetary transactions in the event that the car or home purchased is defective or has other problems not disclosed in the contract. The rules will become effective after an announcement by the Financial Supervisory Commission.
TRAVEL
Missing woman calls home
A 27-year-old Taiwanese woman surnamed Lin (林) who was reported missing in Malaysia after a serious argument with her French boyfriend called her family yesterday after being out of reach for nine days. Lin and her boyfriend arrived in Malaysia for a short vacation on Oct. 11. Friends said the couple had a quarrel which led to a break-up on Oct. 19. Lin decided to continue the trip on her own, but no one heard from her for nine days. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang (章計平) said yesterday afternoon Lin’s mother received a phone call from her daughter, who is on Tioman Island 32km off the east coast of Malaysia. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia had said on Wednesday that Lin was listed as missing in Malaysia and that the local police had passed her information to the International Criminal Police Organization, although departure records indicated she was still in Malaysia.
TRAVEL
MOFA issues warning
Taiwanese visiting India and Bali are advised to be alert health-wise, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MOFA) Bureau of Consular Affairs said yesterday. Cases of chikungunya fever have increased in the New Delhi area over the past two weeks, while the city is also battling a dengue fever epidemic. Meanwhile, Bali is trying to bring a rabies epidemic under control, the bureau said. Visitors to these areas are advised to check information on the Centers for Diseases Control Web site, the bureau said.
ENVIRONMENT
Spoonbills begin to arrive
A total of 347 black-faced spoonbills had arrived in Tainan County’s wetlands as of Wednesday, the Wildlife Conversation Institute of Tainan County said. The first of the endangered species to arrive was observed on Sept. 26, about one week later than usual because of Typhoon Fanapi, said Chiu Jen-wu (邱仁武), chairman of the institute. The birds migrate each autumn from northern China and the Korean Peninsula, with some choosing to spend the winter on wetlands near Tainan’s Zengwen River (曾文溪) estuary. By Oct. 16 there were 68 spoonbills. Now that the northeasterly monsoon winds are stronger, the numbers could reach 500 by Sunday and peak next month, Chu said.
POLITICS
Pledges met in miniature
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Sinbei City mayoral candidate Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) supporters have been busy in the past two weeks making some of his key promises come to life — in miniature form. They have crafted a miniature version of the to-be-formed Sinbei City using more than 30,000 Lego bricks, including a functioning rail system representing Chu’s pledge to expand the area’s MRT system.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
RSS