■ POLITICS
DPP to expel two members
The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Central Standing Committee yesterday passed a proposal by DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to expel two party members — former DPP legislator Hsu Jung-shu (?Q) and former Council of Agriculture minister Fan Chen-tsung (范振宗) — for attending a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forum. “The Central Standing Committee members believe Hsu and Fan seriously violated party regulations and all members agreed to expel the two,” DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said. Cheng said the proposal would be sent to the party’s Central Review Committee for a final decision next Wednesday, when Fan and Hsu would be invited to defend themselves.
■ CULTURE
World chefs battle for title
Chefs from six regions around the world are scheduled to compete at the World Culinary Contest in Taipei next month. Eight teams will compete from Aug. 20 to Aug. 23 — two from Taiwan and one each from the US, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. One of Taiwan’s teams will represent northern Taiwan and the other southern Taiwan. Chang Hua-jiou (張華九), spokesperson of the contest’s organizing committee, said two teams would compete in the finals, during which the judges would prepare a case of ingredients that the teams must use in their dishes. The teams will not be told in advance what they are, Chang said. The ingredients will include flavors from both local and Western cuisine. The winning team will receive a NT$300,000 prize. Singapore won in 2007 and last year.
■ DEFENSE
Conscript numbers to drop
The Ministry of National Defense will decrease the annual number of conscripts between 2011 and 2014 as part of its plan to switch to a professional military with a starting salary of NT$30,000 for privates, ministry officials said on Tuesday. Department of Manpower Director Wang Chun-chiang (王春江) said that the minimum monthly salary would be guaranteed. In response to concerns about the funding that would be needed, the ministry said it would strike a balance between national defense and the nation’s finances to achieve optimum efficiency. The military has 275,000 service members. Under the troop reduction plan, this number will drop to 215,000. The goal of making the switch to a volunteer system is to establish an elite and high-quality military force, enhance combat prowess and boost military operational efficiency, Strategic Planning Department Director Lee Hsi-ming (李喜明) said.
■ WEATHER
Tropical storm may form
A low-pressure system located near southern Taiwan may develop into a tropical storm, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The low-pressure system is about 1,300km to the southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and is moving northwest at a speed of 20kph. The bureau expected the system to develop into a tropical storm within the next two days because it has a very solid structure. The system is approaching the Bashi Channel and the southeast of Taiwan. The bureau forecast that the system could start affecting the weather nationwide on Friday. The southeast region and Hengchun Peninsula are expected to see the effects of the low-pressure system first.
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,
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
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
RSS