CULTURE
Museum ethics scrutinized
This year’s Taiwan International Human Rights Film Festival, which begins on Friday, aims to explore the ethical questions surrounding the ownership of museum collections, the organizers said. Under the themes “Whose Museum?” and “Human Rights Panorama,” the National Human Rights Museum (NHRM) has curated screenings of 11 films highlighting the educational role of museums and the political conflicts over appropriated cultural artifacts. One of the festival’s more topical inclusions is Dutch director Oeke Hoogendijk’s The Treasures of Crimea, which documents the geopolitical wrangling over a collection of historical artifacts from Ukraine stranded in an Amsterdam museum following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Admission is free, with ticket information available on the festival’s Web site. An online version of the festival is also to be held from Monday next week to Oct. 10.
DEFENSE
Uncrewed plane appears
Two Chinese aircraft flew into the southwestern part of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on Saturday, one of which was a Rainbow CH-4 remote-controlled combat aerial vehicle, reportedly detected by Taiwan for the first time. Developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology, the CH-4 has a cruising speed of up to 180kph and a flight range of 3,500km. The other was a Y8 anti-submarine warplane, the Ministry of National Defense said. The two aircraft were among 20 Chinese aircraft and five naval ships detected in Taiwan’s vicinity on Saturday, the ministry said, adding that it scrambled combat air and naval patrols, and deployed defense missile systems in response. The ministry did not disclose the flight paths of the other 18 aircraft or the locations of the naval vessels.
TRAVEL
Island cruises proposed
Taiwan is working with international partners to develop pan-Asian island-hopping cruise vacations to revive the travel market, Ministry of Transportation and Communications Deputy Minister Chi Wen-chung (祁文中) said. At a cruise industry forum on Tuesday last week, Chi said that Taiwan is eyeing the formation of an “Asian archipelago cruise alliance” to organize routes along the East Asian island chain between South Korea and Indonesia. The ministry recently upgraded tourist center facilities and streamlined disease control measures at ports in Keelung and Kaohsiung, he said. Taiwan has been the second-largest cruise market in Asia, with about 1.06 million international travelers from 600 cruise ships arriving each year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
TRAVEL
CAL opens Cebu, Thai routes
China Airlines (CAL) announced last week that it would soon launch direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Cebu in the Philippines and Chiang Mai in Thailand. The Taiwanese carrier said flights to Cebu, the second-largest city in the Philippines, would depart four days a week starting Dec. 1. The flights, which are to use an Airbus A321neo, are slated to depart at 7:40am. and arrive in Cebu at 10:35am, with return flights departing the Philippines at 11:35am, CAL said. Flights to Chiang Mai are set to begin on Jan. 20 on an A321neo, departing at 7:50am four days a week, arriving at 11am and departing Thailand at noon.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to