■ DIPLOMACY
Taiwan gave to Clinton
Taiwan was listed among the governments, individuals and businesses who contributed to former US president Bill Clinton’s charitable causes, records from the William J. Clinton Foundation showed on Thursday. In 2004, then-president Chen Shui-bian’s administration (陳水扁) made the donation via the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US. The foundation’s Web site showed that Taiwan was listed in the range of US$1 million to US$5 million donors.
■ EDUCATION
Photonics college to open
The nation’s first college of photonics, located in Tainan County, is scheduled to begin operations next year. The college is housed in the Tainan branch of National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Gueiren Township (歸仁). The university’s main campus is in Hsinchu City, where it already has a department of photonics, with two graduate institutes. The Tainan branch, construction of which began in 2005, will have a total of five graduate institutes within five years to cultivate photonics talent. Three graduate institutes that have already been built will start enrolling students next year in photonics engineering, lighting and energy and biomedical photonics technology, an official said.
■ CRIME
Drugs found on cargo flight
About 30kg of ketamine arrived on one of the first direct cargo flights from China, a customs official said yesterday. Airport customs agents in Taipei found the drug on Thursday packed into eight boxes on a Chinese cargo plane, the official said. “Our expectation was that direct cargo links could possibly lead to drug smuggling,” said Lin Shu-chi (林樹吉), deputy Taipei Customs Office head. “I can’t say this was beyond our imagination.” The ketamine was worth NT$930,000, Lin said. A 31-year-old Chinese woman was arrested in connection with the ketamine, which was destined for a convenience store in central Taiwan, media said.
■ MEDICINE
Companies ink agreement
A pharmaceutical company has signed a letter of intent with a Chinese company to ensure an adequate and steady supply of Chinese herbal medicine to the Taiwanese market, company officials said yesterday. Ninety percent of Taiwan’s herbal medicine is imported from China. Scientific Pharmaceutical Elite Co and Guangdong Kangmei Pharmaceutical Holding Co plan to increase Taiwan’s supply of Chinese herbal medicine, jointly develop new herbal drugs and work together to tap the global market.
■ SHIPPING
Crew accidentally poisoned
A crewman was killed and three others were poisoned yesterday in an accident on a Panama-registered cargo vessel sailing off the coast of Hsinchu County, rescue authorities said. The National Airborne Service Corps said it received a distress call at around 10:20am when the four victims — all Chinese — lost consciousness. A helicopter was sent to airlift the victims separately to two hospitals in Taichung City. One of the victims was dead upon arrival, the corps said. Chan Yu-che (詹毓哲), a toxicologist at Taichung Veterans General Hospital, who treated two of the patients, said the accident took place when the crewmen were performing an inspection on the lower deck of the vessel, which was transporting fuel coke. Chan speculated that the crewmen were overcome by methane that accumulated because of poor ventilation. The three surviving crewmen were in stable condition, doctors said.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
As Taiwan celebrated its baseball team’s victory in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 on Sunday, how politicians referred to the team in their congratulatory messages reflected the nation’s political divide. Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei (中華台北隊), made history with its first-ever Premier12 championship after beating Japan 4-0 at the Tokyo Dome. Right after the game, President William Lai (賴清德) congratulated the team via a post on his Facebook page. Besides the players, Lai also lauded the team’s coaching and medical staff, and the fans cheering for them in Tokyo or watching the live broadcast, saying that “every
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