■ Diplomacy
Downer's comment `unwise'
Australia's opposition Labor Party said yesterday that Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was unwise to break the country's silence on what it would do in the event of a military crisis in the Taiwan Strait. Speaking in Beijing, Downer indicated that the US should not automatically expect
it would have Australian support if China launched
an attack against Taiwan. A
53-year-old military alliance between Australia and the US would be invoked only in the event of an attack on either country "so some other activity somewhere else in the world ... doesn't invoke" the pact, Downer said at a press conference after talks with Chinese officials. Labor foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said Downer's comment was unhelpful
and broke a long-standing protocol that Canberra
did not comment on hypotheticals concerning
the Taiwan Strait.
■ Tourism
Chinese vistors to missing
A group of 13 Chinese tourists went missing yesterday after arriving in Taiwan late Tuesday night, marking the second major disappearance of Chinese tourists in less than a month, the Mainland Affairs Council confirmed yesterday. According to the council, a total of 17 Chinese tourists arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday night and were escorted by the police to check in at a hotel in Taoyuan County. However, 13 member of the tour group failed to report to their tour guide yesterday morning. The remaining four tourists are now under the custody of the related authorities. The disappearance of the Chinese tourists, which coincided with the annual Hankuang military exercises, was the second time that Chinese tourists have been missing in Taiwan following the disappearance of 17 Chinese tourists in July 20 last month.
■ Welfare
Disability officials arrive
Two executives from a regional forum investigating circumstances facing the developmentally disabled will arrive in Taiwan tonight to assess the situation facing local disabled people, the Eden Social Welfare Foundation said yesterday. Asia Pacific Disability Forum secretary-general Ryosuke Matsui and information committee head Joseph Kwok (郭鍵勳) will also inspect the foundation's operations. The foundation failed in its bid to host the forum's bi-annual conference next year, a failure due to the nation's diplomatic difficulties, the foundation said. However, since Taiwan was a leader in disabled facilities and rights awareness within the region, the forum's executive committee had decided to learn more about the local situation, the foundation said. During their three day trip, Matsui and Kwok will also inspect accessibility for disabled people in tourist facilities.
■ Society
Pregnancy drive approved
The Cabinet yesterday approved a NT$84 million package over the next
three years to promote
earlier marriage and more pregnancies. It hopes to
stop the sliding birth rate by encouraging women to get married before age 30 and conceive before age 35. The average age for women to get married was 23.8 in 1980, but that figure has jumped to the high 20s in recent years. The Cabinet hopes to see
the percentage of married women aged between 22
and 39 wanting one child decrease from 20 percent this year to 15 percent in 2007, and those wanting
two children increase from
60 percent this year to 65 percent in 2007.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RSS