■POLITICS
APEC envoy to be revealed
The Presidential Office said yesterday it would announce the name of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) envoy to the 2009 APEC summit once host country Singapore has been informed of the selection. Sources close to the president said former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) will be chosen as Ma’s special envoy to the summit, which is scheduled for Nov. 12 to Nov. 14. In keeping with past practice, the Presidential Office will announce the name only after notifying the host country via a special envoy, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said. In August, Singapore sent a special envoy to Taipei to deliver Ma’s invitation to the summit. The Singaporean envoy is expected to return to Taiwan soon to be told who will represent Taiwan. “This procedure shows respect for the host country,” Wang said.
■EARTHQUAKES
Temblor strikes off Yilan
An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale struck in the east at 5:05am yesterday, but no immediate damage was reported. The Central Weather Bureau said the epicenter of the earthquake was located 1.8km northeast of Nanao (南澳), Yilan County at a depth of 43.8km. The temblor, with an intensity of 3.0 in Yilan and Hualien counties, was followed by a 4.8 quake at 9:16pm whose effect was felt only in Yilan and Hualien counties, the bureau said.
■ECONOMY
Council, Kansas sign deal
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) yesterday signed a bilateral agreement with the Kansas Department of Commerce to boost trade between both sides. The signing was held at the Taipei Guest House and was witnessed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) and Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson, who will also attend the Taiwan International Green Industry Show. This year marks the 20th year since Kansas and Taiwan became “sister states” in 1989, the MOFA said in a press release. Yang thanked Kansas for the state’s long-standing support for Taiwan’s bid to sign a free-trade agreement with the US and its participation in various UN agencies. Parkinson said the agreement was not geared toward a specific industry but was a comprehensive agreement that he hoped would benefit both sides.
■CULTURE
Museum may change hands
The government is considering a transfer of responsibility over the National Palace Museum from the Executive Yuan to the Presidential Office, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said yesterday. Wang said Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) broached the issue at yesterday’s weekly luncheon with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) at the Presidential Office. Wang said Wu said that while some felt the National Palace Museum should be supervised by the Presidential Office, others proposed making it an incorporated administrative agency. Wang said all participants at the meeting agreed that there was room for discussion regarding whether the head of the National Palace Museum should attend the weekly Cabinet meeting. Wang said they welcomed the input of art and culture circles and would not make a decision until a consensus had been reached.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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