TRANSPORTATION
Lai denies TRA price hike
The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) has no plans to increase ticket prices, Premier William Lai (賴清德) said when questioned on the matter at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Lai denied media reports cited by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) that ticket prices for the Tze-Chiang Ltd Express would be increased by 20 percent in April next year. Huang called such a price increase, which would raise the cost of a single trip from Taipei to Kaohsiung to more than NT$1,000, unreasonable. The premier said the TRA, Cabinet and Ministry of Transportation and Communications have no plans to increase fares, but the reports were not entirely baseless as Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) noted during the same session that the rumored price increase came from an internal TRA proposal, but that it does not have a time frame for its implementation and it has not been approved by the ministry.
DIPLOMACY
Tsai greets Guam governor
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) welcomed Guam Governor Eddie Calvo and his delegation at the Presidential Office yesterday and thanked them for Guam’s backing of Taiwan in the international community. Tsai thanked Guam for its support over the years for Taiwan’s involvement in international organizations, such as the International Civil Aviation Organization and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. At the meeting, Tsai invited residents of Guam to take advantage of the 90-day visa free privilege they have to visit Taiwan to encourage more people-to-people exchanges between the two sides. About 50,000 Taiwanese visit Guam annually, making the nation the third-largest source of visitors to the US territory behind Japan and South Korea.
DIPLOMACY
Tsai trip starts today
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to embark on a visit to three of the nation’s diplomatic allies in the Pacific today, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement issued yesterday. Ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said the trip demonstrates the nation’s determination to strengthen its relationships with allies in distant corners of the globe. Tsai and her delegation are to visit the Marshall Islands on Monday afternoon and Tuvalu on Wednesday morning, while spending the night in the Solomon Islands. Tsai is scheduled to meet with Marshallese President Hilda Heine, Tuvaluan Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to discuss bilateral relations and global issues. Tsai and her delegation are transiting in Hawaii on Saturday, where she is to meet with local Taiwanese businesspeople and students. She stops in Guam on Friday before returning home the next day.
AGRICULTURE
Legislators eye global stage
The Legislative Yuan created an international exchange association yesterday to promote the nation’s agricultural and fishery expertise on the global stage. The “Inter-parliamentary Friendship Association on Agricultural, Forestry and Animal Husbandry Industries” named Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) as its president. It has also invited DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) to serve as honorary president, while 102 lawmakers have agreed to join. The association is aiming to form collaborations and exchanges with lawmakers from other nations.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
RSS