DIPLOMACY
Ma praises Dominican envoy
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) met outgoing Dominican Republic Ambassador Victor Manuel Sanchez Pena at the Presidential Office yesterday, praising him as an expert in Taiwanese affairs and invited him to help promote Taiwan in his home country. Ma said he was delighted to meet with Sanchez before the envoy’s departure on Thursday following two stints as ambassador. Sanchez was posted to Taiwan for the first time in 1997 and served until 2000. He began his second stint in 2004. Ma praised Sanchez as a veteran ambassador who is qualified to be included as a “top 10 expert” in Taiwanese affairs as he has spent so much time in the country.
SOCIETY
Boat propeller kills diver
A man was killed on Sunday when he was struck in the head by a raft’s propeller blade while diving in waters off Pingtung County, a witness said. Han Chia-chou (韓嘉洲), the head of a whale conservation group in Pingtung, said he was about to enter the port at Houbihu (後壁湖) at about 3pm when he saw four individuals equipped with heavy diving gear emerging from the water. Three rafts, meanwhile, were heading into the port when one of the raft operators, surnamed Chen (陳), shouted for help to coast guard officers after discovering the surface of the water had turned red with blood, Han said. Han said the officers immediately dived into the water to search for the victim, who was later pulled out by a diving coach. The victim, surnamed Wang (王), suffered a fractured skull and did not have any vital signs. According to regulations, divers cannot dive within the waterway and it was not immediately clear what the divers were doing there. The coast guard immediately launched an investigation into Wang’s death.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening. When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team. However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku
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