DIPLOMACY
Diet members to visit
A record 37 members of the Japanese Diet have signed up to attend the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) and vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) on May 20, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. Lai and Hsiao highly value Taiwan’s friendship with Japan and have rich connections in Japanese political and private circles, Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chin-jen (陳志任) said. Although it is not easy to take leave to visit Taiwan during a Diet session, Japanese lawmakers have shown great enthusiasm in signing up for the ceremony, Chen said. The Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council is in charge of organizing the delegation, he said. The record number of participants shows that Japan attaches great importance to Taiwan’s new government, he said. In addition, 140 people from 15 non-governmental Taiwan-friendly groups from across Japan are to visit Taiwan to convey their congratulations to Lai and Hsiao, Chen added.
SOCIETY
New search planned
Authorities in Hualien County on Tuesday released photographs and prepared to launch a new search for German academic Ralf Klausnitzer, who went missing in Taroko National Park just days before April 3, when the region was struck by an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The Hualien Police Bureau’s Sincheng Precinct said that Klausnitzer spent the night of March 25 in a hotel in Hualien City before setting off at about 9am the following day for the park’s Tianxiang Recreation Area (天祥). He was reported missing to police on April 2, just one day before the earthquake struck, killing 18 people and injuring more than 1,100. Location data from Klausnitzer’s cellphone showed that it was in the Tianxiang area from March 26 until the morning of April 3, when the earthquake hit and the signal was lost, police said. After Klausnitzer was reported missing, police contacted area hotels and also searched popular hiking trails, cabins and tourist sites in the park on April 15, 17, 29, 30 and on Tuesday, but found no sign of him, the precinct said. Hualien’s police and fire departments are planning a new joint search in the area, it said. Klausnitzer, who is in his 50s, arrived in Taiwan in March to lecture at Tamkang University in New Taipei City and had planned to take a trip to Hualien before returning home, a friend of Klausnitzer wrote on social media.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
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