■ Defense
Arms exchanges approved
The US House of Representatives on Friday authorized President George W. Bush to sell an Anchorage-class dock landing craft to Taiwan and step up exchanges between the US military and Taiwan's armed forces. In its National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2005, the House of Representatives also requires the secretary of defense to undertake an exchange program of senior military officers and civilian officials of the Department of Defense with Taiwan designed to improve the nation's defenses against China. These exchanges will focus on threat analysis, military doctrine, force planning, logistical support, intelligence collection and analysis, operational tactics, techniques, and procedures which relate to defending Taiwan against submarine and missile attacks.
■ Diplomacy
Yu seeking trade pacts
Premier Yu Shyi-kun said on Friday that the government is seeking to sign free trade agreements with the US, Japan and other countries. At a meeting with leaders of the country's six major business groups, Yu said that the free trade agreement signed between Taiwan and Panama last year has produced fruitful results. It is more important to sign similar accords with larger countries in terms of their economic scale, such as the US and Japan, he added. In addition to Beijing's obstruction, Yu said, various issues must be resolved before Taiwan can sign a free trade agreement with the US, including the protection of intellectual property rights, opening of telecommunications market, rice imports and pharmaceutical products. Yu assured the business leaders that his Cabinet would do its utmost to sign free trade accords with more countries and develop Taiwan into an international operations, logistics and capital-raising center.
■ Diplomacy
Fishery ties promised
The Marshall Islands' President Kessai Note said yesterday that he will continue to work to strengthen fishery cooperation between his country and Taiwan. Note and his wife, who paid a visit to Ching Fu Shipbuilding in Kaohsiung City's Cijin district, said they were very impressed with the deep-sea fishing ship Fongsian 668, which was recently built by Ching Fu Shipbuilding, the largest private shipbuilding company in Taiwan. The Marshall Islands have abundant fishery resources, and Taiwanese tuna boats have frequently anchored at its capital, Majuro, for supplies and maintenance since the signing of a fishery cooperation agreement in 1998. Note reiterated that he values the fishery cooperation between his country and Taiwan.
■ Diplomacy
Tuvalu PM visits Kaohsiung
Tuvalu Prime Minister Saufatu Sopoanga visited Kaohsiung Friday. Sopoanga, who attended President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration ceremony on Thursday, was warmly greeted by Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and leaders of the shipbuilding industry and the fishery sector. In addition to attending a luncheon party hosted by Hsieh and Wang Shun-lung (王順隆), president of the Taiwan Deep-Sea Tuna Boatowners and Exporters Association, Sopoanga toured shipbuilding and fish-processing companies. Tuvalu is one of the most important bases for Taiwan's fishing vessels in the South Pacific, with 33 fishing boats that are registered with the Taiwan Deep-Sea Tuna Boatowners and Exporters Association operating in its waters.
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
EYE ON MAYORS: The DPP would file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of reports of abuse at a preschool in the city The Taipei City Government’s belated response under Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his predecessor, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), to alleged child sex abuse at a kindergarten resulted in more children being victimized, two Taipei City Councilors said yesterday. A Taipei preschool teacher has been charged with sexually abusing six children from 2021 to last year at a school registered to his mother. Prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges amid a wave of new accusations allegedly linking the suspect to 20 other abused children and the discovery at his residence of more than 600 sexually explicit videos featuring minors. The