Taipei

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- It has been called one of the greatest heists in history. It also may rank as one of the greatest rescues of all time.The loot in question is the richest, most comprehensive collection of Chinese treasures in the world: more than 600,000 works of art -- porcelain and other ceramics, calligraphy, paintings, bronzes, jades, carvings and rare books.They were accumulated for the pleasure of China's emperors from the 10th century through the onset of this century. Some of the artifacts date back more than 3,000 years.

Team USA catcher A. J. Hinch calls the next two weeks the toughest part of the tour.It's not just a matter of the United States playing against Cuba and Chinese-Taipei, the gold- and silver-medal winners, respectively, at the 1992 Olympics. It's a matter of concentration."It's at this time when it's the easiest to let down," said Hinch, who played this spring at Stanford. "Everyone is ready to go home at this point. Most of the guys haven't been home since Christmas. Hopefully we can maintain our success."

IMMENSE CHINA and little Republic of China on Taiwan do not recognize each other, each claiming to be the only China, but they do an enormous amount of business together. Pretending they don't is a business. China's peaceful reconquest of the British colony of Hong Kong on July 1 threatens to end that. Hong Kong, which provides the subterfuge, will no longer be there. It will be China.To deal with the practicalities, business leaders from Taipei and China, attended by observers from their governments, met in Hong Kong.

Wade H. Nichols,80, former editor in chief of Good Housekeeping and editor in chief and publisher of Redbook, died of cancer March 15 at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y. Mr. Nichols, who lived in Bronxville, N.Y., also was a vice president and director of the McCall Corp., which at the time owned Redbook. He worked there from 1949 to 1958. He joined Good Housekeeping in 1958 and became a vice president of the Hearst Corp., its parent.Tih-Wu Wang,84, a Taiwan-based publisher of economic and other periodicals, died of a liver ailment March 11 at Veterans General Hospital in Taipei.

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The foreign minister of Taiwan and two other top officials resigned yesterday over a botched attempt to win diplomatic recognition from Papua New Guinea, a scandal that has stirred public outrage against the outgoing government just two weeks before it is to step down. Taipei was embarrassed by the public disclosure that about $30 million, which had been intended for Papua New Guinea in exchange for its switching diplomatic allegiance from Beijing, had disappeared. While the resignations had little practical impact - the entire government leaves May 20 when President-elect Ma Ying-jeou is inaugurated - they underscore the depth of the scandal, the most severe during President Chen Shui-bian's eight years in office.

TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS Little Lg. Consol.: Plymouth (Minn.) vs. S. Arabia ESPN2Noon Winners br. final: B. Columbia vs. C.Taipei ESPN2 Elimination game: Mexico vs. Japan ESPN4 W. final: Hamil. (Ohio) vs. Colum. (Ga.) ESPN26 Elim. game: Auburn (Wash.) vs. TBA ESPN28 MLB Washington@Philadelphia (T) MASN9 a.m. Cubs@Washington (L) MASN7 Cincinnati@San Francisco ESPN210 Houston@Philadelphia (T)

Jack Kruschen, 80, a character actor with a flair for dialects who received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for his 1960 role in The Apartment, has died. Kruschen, who played the Greek grandfather in the 1980s sitcom Webster, died April 2 while traveling, but news of his death was not immediately reported. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Kruschen appeared in more than 75 movies, including the original Cape Fear, The Unsinkable Molly Brown and McLintock! Sihung Lung, 72, the Taiwanese actor best known to Western audiences for deft portrayals of conflicted fathers in the Ang Lee films Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman, died of liver failure May 2 in Taipei.

SHANGHAI, China - A Taiwanese airliner picked up passengers yesterday at the international airport in Shanghai, China, and returned to Taiwan, breaking a 54-year freeze on commercial aviation across the Taiwan Strait. The flight by the China Airlines Boeing 747 was the first of 16 charter flights to help Taiwanese living in China return home for the lunar new year holiday and was billed as an important step toward restoring transportation links between the two political rivals. Like most efforts to improve relations between China and Taiwan, this one was characterized by caveats and hair-splitting.

Taipei Philharmonic The lowdown -- The Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra makes its local debut in a concert led by Yoel Levi, conductor emeritus of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Brain Ganz, a Peabody-trained pianist well-known and much-admired in this region, will be the guest artist in the world premiere of a concerto by Chien-Tai Chen called Far Horizon. Also on the program: Taiwanese folk songs, works by Mozart and Strauss, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9. If you go -- 8 p.m. Sunday at Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Virginia and New Hampshire avenues, N.W. Tickets are $20 to $70. Call 202-467-4600 or 800-444-1324.

The Orioles today officially announced their three-year deal with Taiwanese left-hander Wei-Yin Chen. Chen, whose deal included a club option for 2015, will wear No. 16. The 26-year-old went 36-30 with a 2.48 ERA in 117 games over the past four season with the Chunichi Dragons in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. “Chen works off of a 92-94 mile per hour fastball and he uses a hard, slurve-like breaking ball as an out-pitch,” Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette said in a news release.”He has exceptional command, and we like the quality of his pitches to help our team.” Said Chen: “I am extremely excited about this opportunity to challenge the major leagues and begin the next chapter of my professional baseball career.