DIPLOMACY
MOFA to hold strategy meet
More than 80 heads of diplomatic missions and representative offices will gather in Taipei this month to discuss the nation’s “flexible diplomacy” policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Four main strategies will be discussed — further developing the flexible diplomatic policy, enhancing Taiwan’s international image, strengthening risk management in handling diplomatic issues and improving service to the public. The envoys will also meet with businesspeople to gain a better understanding of the development paths and needs of different industries, the ministry said. The meeting, the largest of its kind since 1996, will be held on Aug. 16 at the Civil Service Development Institute in Taipei. Taiwan has diplomatic envoys in the 23 countries with which it has formal diplomatic ties and has representatives based at cultural or economic offices in scores of other countries.
INDUSTRY
Fire destroys shipyards
A massive fire destroyed two shipyards in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) early on Sunday, but no deaths or injuries were reported. The two yards — “Chang-fa” and “Chuan-hsing” — located next to the Aodi (澳底) fishing port, caught fire before dawn and more than 40 fire trucks and 104 firefighters were dispatched to control the blaze. The fire destroyed most of the two factories, part of their employees’ dormitories, one finished ship, one semi-finished ship and two dragon boats. Flammable materials in the shipyards such as gasoline and adhesives for fiberglass acted as accelerants, said one firefighter, who described the conflagration as “the biggest in Gongliao in 20 years.” The cause of the fire is under investigation.
EDUCATION
Taiwanese win nine golds
Taiwanese students won nine gold medals at an international mathematics contest in Singapore on Sunday. The Seventh International Mathematics Contest drew third to ninth-grade participants from countries including China, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia. The Taiwanese delegation, comprised of 109 students, gave a strong performance in the competition, in which roughly 40 percent of the questions were posed in English. Chien Chung-an (簡崇安) won the championship in the seventh-grade category. Chien’s grandmother, who traveled to Singapore with him, said she appreciated the efforts of his teachers and was very proud of him. After the award ceremony, the Taiwanese students performed a dance and a magic show. Representative to Singapore Vanessa Shih (史亞平) also congratulated the students at a celebration dinner. Taiwan won six golds at last year’s event.
CUISINE
Chefs going to competition
Fourteen Taiwanese chefs won a preliminary round in Taipei on Sunday of the 4th International Chinese Culinary Competition, ensuring them places in the September finals in New York, organizers said. The three-day Asia-Pacific preliminary at the Taipei World Trade Center centered on traditional dishes such as cuisine from Sichuan, Shandong and Guangdong provinces, the New York-based Chinese-language New Tang Dynasty TV station said. The finals will offer a great opportunity for outstanding Taiwanese chefs to get jobs overseas, the station said, adding that many Chinese restaurant owners in New York are expected to attend the competition to recruit chefs.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56