1--Taiwan Broadcasting System merges with Indigenous Television, Hakka Television and Taiwan Macroview Television.
5--Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. launches its bullet train service with three THSR 700T trains.
16--Tommy Esang Remengesau, president of the Republic of Palau, visits the ROC.
17--The Sakizaya people are officially recognized as the country's 13th indigenous group.
26--The Taiwan Foundation of Democracy holds a conference titled "Toward a Global Forum on New Democracies," inviting former presidents Kim Young-sam of South Korea, Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat of Mongolia, F.W. de Klerk of South Africa, Lech Walesa of Poland and Francisco Guillermo Flores Peres of El Salvador.
26--Tennis players Chuang Chia-jung and Chan Yung-jan finish runners-up in the women's doubles at the Australian Open.
27--Yang Chuan-kwang--the "Iron Man of Asia" who won Taiwan's first Olympic medal at the 1960 Games in Rome--dies of complications from a stroke in Woodland Hills, California. He was 73 years old.
FEBRUARY
3--Nauruan President Ludwig Scotty makes a six-day visit to Taiwan.
4--The National Palace Museum holds an exhibition titled "Treasures of the World's Cultures: The British Museum After 250 Years." The show runs through May 27.
9--Three state-run enterprises--Chunghwa Post Co. Ltd., Chinese Petroleum Corp. and China Shipbuilding Corp.--formally adopt new names as Taiwan Post Co. Ltd.; CPC Corp., Taiwan; and CSBC Corp., Taiwan.
20--Taiwanese ultramarathon runner Kevin Lin reaches the finishing line at the shore of the Red Sea in Egypt after running 7,500 kilometers across the Sahara Desert in 111 days.
MARCH
12--The Taipei International Machinery Tool Show opens at the Taipei World Trade Center.
16--Taiwanese aboriginal music prodigy Huang Kang, together with his South Korean partner Kang Hye-yun, win the piano duet category at the Prima La Musica 2007 competition in Vienna.
22--Chou Chun-hsun wins the 11th international LG Cup Go in Seoul, South Korea.
APRIL
18--Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, arrives in Taiwan for a seven-day visit.
19--Finn Kydland, the 2004 Nobel laureate in Economics, arrives in Taiwan for a six-day visit.
26--Taiwan rejects China's offer to include Taipei in the Olympic torch-relay route for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games because the arrangement treats Taiwan as part of China.
MAY
1--The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces the re-establishment of diplomatic ties with Saint Lucia.
7--Representatives of the ROC, El Salvador and Honduras sign a trilateral free-trade agreement in San Salvador.
9--Taiwan Railway Administration holds celebrations for the 120th anniversary of Taiwan's first railway.
19--Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is renamed National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall.
JUNE
1--The Central Election Commission announces legislative elections for Jan. 12, 2008.
7--The ROC severs six-decade ties with Costa Rica.
13--The 9th International Flat Panel Display Exposition opens at the Taipei World Trade Center.
19--President Óscar Rafael Berger Perdomo of the Republic of Guatemala arrives in Taipei for a four-day visit.
29--Film director Edward Yang, a leading figure in the New Taiwan Cinema movement, dies of colon cancer in Beverly Hills. He was 59.
JULY
1--The National minimum monthly wage is raised by 9.08 percent from US$480 to US$523.64, while the minimum hourly wage raises 44 percent from US$2 to US$2.88.
3--The 22nd "Forum of Speakers of the Legislative Bodies of Central American and Caribbean Basin" convenes in Taipei.
12--Taiwan signs a multilateral recognition arrangement at a Pacific Accreditation Cooperation meeting held in Singapore.
19--President Chen Shui-bian writes to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, formally applying for membership in the United Nations under the name of Taiwan. The application was rejected by the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs July 23 on the basis of U.N. Resolution No. 2758.
26--The 2007 Taiwan-Pacific Allies Environmental Ministerial Meeting convenes in Taipei. Participants include Kiribati Vice President Teima Onorio; Witten Philippo, minister in assistance to the Marshall Islands president; Jonathan Koshiba, chairperson of Environmental Quality Protection Board in Palau; Mark Kemakeza, minister of Forestry, Environment and Conservation in the Solomon Islands; and Bryan Star, project director of the Commerce, Industry and Resources Ministry of Nauru.
27--President Chen Shui-bian submits a second application for Taiwan's membership bid to the United Nations. The U.N. General Assembly adopted Sept. 21 the General Committee's decision to exclude the issue of Taiwan's representation from the agenda of its 62nd session.
AUGUST
3--The Taipei First Girls High School marching band and honor guard is invited to perform at the 2007 Edinburgh Military Tattoo held in Edinburgh, Scotland, Aug. 3 to 25.
13--The second general assembly of the annual Democratic Pacific Assembly convenes in Taipei.
16--The ninth biennial Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition is held at the Taipei World Trade Center.
17--Taiwan International Health Action dispatches a medical team to Peru, which suffered a magnitude-8 earthquake and several aftershocks Aug. 15.
21--President Chen Shui-bian departs on visits to three of the ROC's allies in Central America: Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
27--Acer Inc. announces that it plans to acquire the U.S.-based Gateway Inc. for US$710 million.
SEPTEMBER
4--Terry Gou, founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., announces that his Yong Lin Charity Foundation is to donate an estimated US$455 million to National Taiwan University to combat cancer.
9--The first Taiwan-African Heads of State Summit convenes in Taipei, with such participants as ROC President Chen Shui-bian, King Mswati III of the Kingdom of Swaziland, Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, President Fradique Bandeira Melo de Menezes of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, President Bingu wa Mutharika of the Republic of the Malawi and Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy of the Republic of The Gambia.
9--Director Lee Ang's "Lust, Caution," a spy drama set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai in the 1940s, wins the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 64th Venice International Film Festival.
9--Taipei hosts the 2007 IWAS International Wheelchair and Amputee World Games Sept. 9 to 19.
10--Taiwanese tennis duo Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung finish runners-up in the women's doubles at the U.S. Open.
14--Taiwan External Trade Development Council holds the first Taiwanese industrial exhibition in India.
21--The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and the Sports Affairs Council jointly issue a statement saying that the Olympic torch of the 2008 Beijing Olympics will not come to Taipei because China has asked Taiwan to promise not to use the ROC flags, emblems and songs during the torch relay.
27--The 2007 Taipei International Invention Show and Technomart is held at the Taipei World Trade Center.
OCTOBER
1--Vice President Lu Hsiu-lien announces plans to establish a network under the auspices of the Democratic Pacific Union to help push for the democratization of Myanmar.
1--The Global Finance magazine awards Perng Fai-nan, governor of Taiwan's Central Bank, an A-rating in recognition of his prudent monetary policy.
2--Uni Airways Corp. launches its first charter flight from Taichung to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
9--Lee Yuan-tseh, former president of the Academia Sinica and the 1986 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry, is named as a new member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences by Pope Benedict XVI.
10--The ROC celebrates its National Day with a military display--the first in 16 years.
12--President Chen Shui-bian attends the Second Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit held in the Marshall Islands. Other participants are Marshall Island President Kessai Note, Nauru President Ludwig Scotty, Palau President Tommy Remengesau Jr., Kiribati Vice President Teima Onorio, Tuvalu Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
16--Reporters Without Borders ranks Taiwan at 32nd in its 2007 Worldwide Press Freedom Index, allocating Taiwan the top position in Asia.
18--The Council of Indigenous Peoples and the Council of Agriculture jointly publicize a rule that entitles aborigines to use natural resources within their traditional territories for cultural, ritual or personal purposes.
23--The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urges the World Health Organization to resume direct contact with Taiwan, rather than going through China, which has delayed sending crucial food-safety information to Taiwan for a full 10 days.
20--The Legislature passes an amendment to the National Communications Commission Organization Act stipulating the commission should have seven members nominated by the Executive Yuan and approved by the Legislative Yuan.
31--The 2007 Taipei International Exhibition is held at the Taipei World Trade Center.
31--The World Economic Forum announces that Taiwan ranks 14th out of 131 countries in the 2007 Global Competitiveness Report.
NOVEMBER
1--Taiwanese inventors win 57 medals at the 2007 Nuremberg International Invention Exhibition held in Germany, including 12 gold, 29 silver, 14 bronze and two special awards.
5--Taiwanese representatives attends the 5th Kimberley Process annual plenary as an observer for the first time in Brussels, Belgium, Nov. 5 to 8.
8--The 2007 World Hakka Culture Conference convenes in Taipei Nov. 8 to 11.
16--The Central Election Commission decides that legislative elections and two referendums to be held Jan. 12 will adopt the one-step voting procedure.
17--Taiwanese students win 10 prizes at the 2007 World Robot Olympiad.
DECEMBER
4--The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development announces that Taiwan's students rank first in mathematical literacy and fourth in scientific literacy in the Program for International Student Assessment.
13--Cynthia Maung, a Karen physician from Myanmar and founder of Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand, is awarded the 2007 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award in Taipei, in recognition of her long-term commitment to refugees fleeing from troubled Myanmar.
16--The 2007 ING Taipei International Marathon is held in Taipei, with Hillary Bett of Kenya and Tabitha Tsatsa of Zimbabwe winning the men's and women's contests.
20--The Legislative Yuan passes the 2008 national budget totaling around US$51.1 billion.
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