■ FLORA
Taichung hosts flower show
The Council of Agriculture announced yesterday that 30 hectares of land showcasing more than 70 types of flowers will be on display in Taichung County’s Sinshe Township (新社) starting this weekend. Organizers said they expected the event, which will run for a month starting on Saturday, to draw more than 1 million visitors. Yang Chuo-chi (楊佐琦), a representative of the organizers, advised the public to come on weekdays to avoid the weekend traffic. The council expects the event to bring in more than NT$1 billion (US$31 million) in business opportunities.
■ SOCIETY
Man snares rats for mom
A man has been catching rats for 24 years so that his mother can eat what she considers a delicacy at every meal, local media reports said. The man, surnamed Hsiao (蕭), 37, is a farmer in Houpi (後壁), Tainan County, the Chinese-language United Daily News said. It said Hsiao started catching rats when he was 13 when his mother had surgery to remove gallstones. Hsiao’s family was poor and had no money to buy food, so his father taught him to catch rats in the sugarcane fields to make soup. Hsiao’s mother said that at first she was afraid to eat it, but she forced herself and eventually fell in love with the delicacy.
■ MEDICINE
ART attracts foreign couples
The number of foreign couples traveling to Taiwan to seek medical help to enable them to conceive has been growing steadily thanks to the nation’s advanced development of assisted reproductive technology (ART), said Lee Mao-sheng (李茂盛), a gynecologist and obstetrician. Lin said more than 100 foreign couples visit each year for ART help, generating more than NT$40 million (US$1.23 million).
■ POLITICS
DPP pans Hsinchu mayor
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused Hsinchu Mayor Lin Junq-tzer (林政則) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of agreeing with Beijing that Taiwan is a province of China. Lin was recently a guest at the unveiling of a monument on Pingtan Island in China’s Fujian Province, just 68km from Taiwan. The inscription on the monument described China as the “motherland” and Taiwan as a subordinate island. Lin said he did not know in advance what was written on the monument and was only a guest. “The Chinese consider the People’s Republic of China their motherland, but for Taiwan, our mother country will forever be the Republic of China,” he said. DPP lawmakers were not convinced, accusing Lin of silently assenting to please Beijing for his own personal gain. “It is impossible that Lin did not know the inscription before the ceremony,” DPP lawmaker Su Cheng-ching (蘇震清) said. “It is a shame that a Taiwanese local government chief did not even have the courage to protect the dignity of Taiwan and its people.”
■ POLITICS
Hau has challenger
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Yang Shih-chiu (楊實秋) yesterday announced his bid to run in next year’s mayoral election. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), also of the KMT, said he respected and welcomed Yang’s decision, adding that the party would select its candidate democratically. Yang yesterday accused Hau of distancing himself from his predecessor, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), and adopting a campaign strategy of attacking Ma to boost his own popularity. Hau said he would work to improve his approval rating, but would not distance himself from Ma for political gain. He said Ma knew that he could not distance himself from his predecessor because Ma’s projects as mayor are ongoing.
■ HEALTH
Vaccine under way
Taiwan will work with Canada on a vaccine to protect Taiwanese and other Asians from the pneumococcus bacteria that causes pneumonia, an official said yesterday. “The cooperative project is expected to come to fruition in five to 10 years,” Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) said. Although an existing Canadian vaccine is used in Europe, the Asian strain of the bacteria is different, Wong said. As many Taiwanese children and elderly have developed pneumonia after being infected with pneumococcus, Wong said Taiwan looked forward to producing a vaccine suitable for Taiwan and other Asian countries.
■ POLITICS
Wu calls Ma ‘chairman’
Former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday referred to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as “chairman” when he asked a Chinese official to convey Ma’s greetings to Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). While meeting Liang Baohua (梁保華), head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Jiangsu Province, Wu referred to Ma as “chairman” throughout his speech. Only once did he refer to Ma as “yuan shou” (元首) or “head of state.” Wu asked Liang to pass on “Chairman Ma’s” regards to Hu, who doubles as CCP general secretary. Liang is the first CCP provincial committee secretary and the highest-ranking CCP official to visit Taiwan. His delegation is also the biggest to visit, with more than 3,000 people. The delegation is expected to make purchases in Taiwan worth up to US$2 billion.
■FLORA
Taichung hosts flower show
The Council of Agriculture announced yesterday that 30 hectares of land showcasing more than 70 types of flowers will be on display in Taichung County’s Sinshe Township (新社) starting this weekend. Organizers said they expected the event, which will run for a month starting on Saturday, to draw more than 1 million visitors. Yang Chuo-chi (楊佐琦), a representative of the organizers, advised the public to come on weekdays to avoid the weekend traffic. The council expects the event to bring in more than NT$1 billion (US$31 million) in business opportunities.
■SOCIETY
Man snares rats for mom
A man has been catching rats for 24 years so that his mother can eat what she considers a delicacy at every meal, local media reports said. The man, surnamed Hsiao (蕭), 37, is a farmer in Houpi (後壁), Tainan County, the Chinese-language United Daily News said. It said Hsiao started catching rats when he was 13 when his mother had surgery to remove gallstones. Hsiao’s family was poor and had no money to buy food, so his father taught him to catch rats in the sugarcane fields to make soup. Hsiao’s mother said that at first she was afraid to eat it, but she forced herself and eventually fell in love with the delicacy.
■MEDICINE
ART attracts foreign couples
The number of foreign couples traveling to Taiwan to seek medical help to enable them to conceive has been growing steadily thanks to the nation’s advanced development of assisted reproductive technology (ART), said Lee Mao-sheng (李茂盛), a gynecologist and obstetrician. Lin said more than 100 foreign couples visit each year for ART help, generating more than NT$40 million (US$1.23 million).
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of