DIPLOMACY
Tsai to speak at summit
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to share Taiwan’s experience in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and its achievements on the road to democracy at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit via video, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The annual meeting, organized by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2017 by former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is to take place on Thursday and Friday next week in a virtual setting because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “President Tsai will be the first to speak on the second day of the summit,” Kendra Chen (陳詠韶), deputy director-general of the ministry’s Department of European Affairs, told a regular press conference in Taipei. Other speakers include US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova.
DIPLOMACY
Foreign envoys announced
The Presidential Office yesterday announced changes in diplomatic positions, following a minor Cabinet reshuffle on May 20, when President Tsai Ing-wen started her second term. Former deputy minister of foreign affairs Kelly Hsieh (謝武樵) has been appointed representative to the UK, replacing David Lin (林永樂), who is retiring. Former National Security Council (NSC) deputy secretary-general Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) is to be the new representative to the EU and Belgium, taking over the position from Harry Tseng (曾厚仁), who is to serve as deputy minister of foreign affairs. Former deputy minister of foreign affairs Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) is to take up the position of NSC deputy secretary-general. Former Environmental Protection Administration minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) has been tapped as representative to Thailand, replacing Tung Chen-yuan (童振源), who left the post last month after becoming the minister of the Overseas Community Affairs Council.
SOCIETY
Teen detained over stabbing
The Shilin District Court’s Juvenile Court yesterday approved a request to detain a 16-year-old high-school student for allegedly repeatedly stabbing a 10-year-old girl at a school in New Taipei City earlier in the day. The suspect, surnamed Liu (劉), allegedly took a fruit knife to school and attacked a girl, surnamed Wei (魏), when she arrived at about 7am before classes started. Liu allegedly stabbed Wei in the back several times before he was restrained by a school volunteer and a teacher at the scene, New Taipei City police said. Wei sustained multiple wounds ranging from 4cm to 10cm in length and was immediately taken to a nearby hospital. A hospital spokesperson said that her condition was not life-threatening and had stabilized. During questioning, Liu said he does not know Wei and was unable to explain why he stabbed her, saying only that he “lost control,” police said.
TRANSPORTATION
Express train rides sold out
Long-distance express train tickets for travel at peak times for the four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday later this month are sold out, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said on Wednesday. More than 285,000 tickets were sold online, via telephone or at convenience stores in the early hours of Wednesday morning, TRA data showed.
Among the sold-out Tze-Ching Express tickets were those for travel from Taipei to Hualien County from noon on June 24 (the day before the holiday begins) to 6pm on June 25; from Taipei to Taitung County on June 24 and 25; and from Taitung and Hualien to Taipei on June 28 for all trains departing after 7am. On the line that goes north-south in western Taiwan, express train tickets from Taipei to Kaohsiung between 1pm on June 24 and 11am on June 25, as well as those from Kaohsiung to Taipei between 9am and 5pm on June 28 were sold out. Tze-Chiang express train tickets from Kaohsiung to Taitung on the South-link line for travel on June 25 before noon were also sold out, the agency said.
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
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