POLITICS
Tainan mayor certified
The mayor-elect of soon-to-be-created Greater Tainan municipality yesterday received his election certificate issued by the Central Election Commission (CEC). CEC Chairwoman Chang Po-ya (張博雅) presented the certificate to William Lai (賴清德) at his campaign headquarters in Yongkang, Tainan County. Lai was the first of the five winners in the Nov. 27 mayoral elections to receive his election certificate. According to Chang, the other winners will get their certificates next week. Tainan will join Taipei as a special municipality on Dec. 25 after merging with Tainan County. The other new municipalities are Sinbei City (the new name of Taipei County after its upgrade), Greater Taichung (an integration of Taichung and Taichung County) and Greater Kaohsiung (a merger of Kaohsiung and Kaohsiung County). Lai, one of two members of the Democratic Progressive Party who achieved victory in the elections, will head an administration serving a population of 1.8 million people.
CRIME
Drug dogs prove effective
Sniffer dogs helped customs agents find narcotics with a combined value of NT$150 million (US$4.91 million) in the first 10 months of this year, the Ministry of Finance’s Directorate General of Customs (DGC) reported yesterday. According to the DGC, 20 cases of drug smuggling were detected by the customs authorities with the help of sniffer dogs at major airports and ports nationwide from January to October. Five cases involved heroin weighing a total of 6.62kg, eight cases involved marijuana totaling 2.11kg, with the remaining seven cases involving 52.31kg of ketamine. The DGC began training narcotics detection dogs in July last year, with 12 squads of sniffer dogs completing the training and now serving at prime gateways to Taiwan.
HUMANITARIANISM
CGA rescues Chinese sailors
Coast Guard Administration (CGA) officials yesterday said they rescued 16 sailors from a Chinese cargo ship that sank off southern Taiwan in rough weather. They continue to search for eight men still missing one day after the 50,000-tonne Hong Wei sank in rough seas 60km off southern Taiwan. The ship was carrying iron ore from Indonesia to Dalian port in northeastern China. Three Chinese cargo ships have sunk in or near Taiwanese waters over the past three months, according to the coast guard.
TOURISM
Customized taxis offered
A total of 100 tourist taxis in eight urban areas are offering foreign travelers another choice for experiencing the country through customized routes in a cooperative venture between the organizer of the service, ezTravel, and local taxi companies. The travel company said it would benefit in particular backpackers from China once authorities give the green light for entry by Chinese independent travelers. Currently, Chinese tourists are only allowed to travel in Taiwan as part of a tour group. Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) in July said the additional measures would take effect late this year or early next year, to coincide with the Lantern Festival. The 36 designated sightseeing routes connect with major traffic systems, such as Taiwan High Speed Rail and the Taiwan Railway Administration, to make traveling more convenient, ezTravel said. In the initial stage, contracted taxi drivers will guide tourists around cities such as Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung at an hourly rate, it added.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
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