CULTURE
Beethoven concerts planned
Orchestras in Taipei and Kaohsiung are to hold Beethoven-themed concerts over the coming weeks to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The National Symphony Orchestra on Thursday announced plans for three concerts at the National Concert Hall, to be streamed on Public Television Service’s (PTS) YouTube channel and the PTS+ streaming service. The concerts are to begin at 7:30pm today, on Saturday and on June 12, and are to be available on the PTS+ platform afterward. The Taipei Symphony Orchestra on Friday said that tickets had sold out in two days for its Beethoven-themed concert on June 5 at the National Concert Hall. The Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra is to stream a recorded concert at 7:30pm on Saturday on the YouTube channels of the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts and the Kaohsiung Spring Arts Festival.
SPORTS
Summer games announced
A national sports event is to be held in August to allow the nation’s athletes who were supposed to compete in the Tokyo Olympics this summer to review their fitness and adapt their training programs if necessary, Sports Administration Director-General Kao Chin-hsung (高俊雄) said on Thursday. The event is to be held from Aug. 1 to 8 at the National Sports Training Center in Kaohsiung and is to feature 12 disciplines — athletics, swimming, archery, boxing, karate, gymnastics, table tennis, badminton, weight-lifting, taekwondo, judo and shooting — he said. The International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee in March postponed the Olympic Games until next summer because of concerns about athletes’ health amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
SOCIETY
Body of woman found
Rescue personnel yesterday found the body of a 37-year-old woman who fell into the water from a pier at Nantou County’s Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) the previous day, the Nantou County Fire Station said. The woman, surnamed Chang (張), was about to board a ferry in the evening when she slipped and fell into the water, fire officials said. Rescue divers were immediately sent to the area to search for her, station section chief Chin Ko-han (金可瀚) said. However, underwater visibility was extremely poor due to heavy rain and divers were forced to halt their search after four hours at about 9pm, he said. A team of about 30 divers was dispatched yesterday morning and found her body at the bottom of the lake at 1:55pm, he said.
SOCIETY
Fetus found in septic tank
Cleaners on Thursday discovered a four-month-old fetus in a septic tank in a residential community in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊), police said. Cleaners opened the lid of the tank in the building’s basement at about 10am and saw the fetus floating in the tank, police said. They immediately alerted the manager of the complex, who contacted the police, they said. Firefighters and police who arrived at the scene could not identify the gender of the fetus, police added. An investigation has been launched, police said, adding that they would examine surveillance camera footage in the building and question the residents of the complex. The fetus might have been flushed down the toilet, police said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard