■DIPLOMACY
Burghardt concludes visit
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chairman Raymond Burghardt returned to the US yesterday, concluding his four-day visit to Taipei to brief Taiwanese officials and opposition leaders on US President Barack Obama’s recent visit to China. Burghardt arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, only days after a joint statement was issued by Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in Beijing. The trip was aimed at clearing the air on Taiwan’s place in US-China-Taiwan relations and explaining the US government’s views on a number of other issues, including its economic agenda, US arms sales to Taiwan and the controversy surrounding Taiwan’s relaxation of its regulations on US beef imports.
■CULTURE
Foundation set to sign MOU
The Memorial Foundation of 228 and Taipei City Government are set to sign a memorandum of understanding today to cooperate on projects with the city’s 228 Memorial Museum. Foundation chief executive officer Liao Chi-pin (廖繼斌) said the foundation plans to open its national 228 memorial museum in 2011. The museum will be located on Nanhai Road where the American Institute in Taiwan’s culture and information section used to stand. Since the city’s 228 Memorial Museum was established in 1997, Liao said they have more display items than the national 228 museum, but the national museum’s advantage is that it has more comprehensive archives than the municipal one. “Basically, we want the exhibitions held by the two museums not to repeat or overlap with each other,” he said. “We also want to share our resources ... families of victims do not care whether the museum is national or municipal.”
■CRIME
Baggage handlers nabbed
Three baggage handlers at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport were arrested for stealing cash and other valuables from passengers’ luggage, airport police said yesterday. “Three baggage handlers have been detained for stealing a wallet containing ¥20,000 (US$400) from a Japanese passenger’s checked-in luggage. We are investigating if more baggage handlers are involved,” airport police told reporters. The Japanese man flew from Taiwan to Okinawa on Nov. 18. When he retrieved his luggage upon arrival, he saw that it had been opened and the wallet was missing, so he asked Okinawa officials to inform Taiwanese authorities. During questioning on Tuesday, three baggage handlers confessed to stealing from luggage for about two years, a Taoyuan airport police officer who requested anonymity said. “They stole valuables while loading luggage inside the airplane’s cargo hold, as there is no security camera there,” he said.
■CULTURE
Flower exhibition to open
The Shihlin Official Residence Chrysanthemum Exhibition opens on Saturday and will feature about 100 kinds of chrysanthemum, including 22 kinds being shown at the annual exhibition for the first time, Taipei City’s Parks and Street Lights Office said. The exhibition will also feature a number of special activities on weekends including chrysanthemum painting shows, saxophone performances and hand puppet shows. To mark next year’s Taipei International Flora Expo , the exhibition will feature nine zones displaying 55,000 pots of chrysanthemum, the office said. The exhibition is open from 8am to 7pm and runs until Dec. 13. For more information visit www.2009chshow.com.tw.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to