On Sunday, about 50 members of the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation (
In January last year, continuous rains and typhoons caused flooding along the long-clogged river, leaving residents homeless and bringing diseases. Tzu Chi set up its Indonesia branch in February last year and joined the Indonesian government's flood-relief work. It also helped with the government's relocation of flood victims, and built 1,100 houses, renovated schools and established the Perumahan Cinta Kasih rehabilitation village.
This time, apart from giving away rice, Tzu Chi also opened a charity clinic at the village. According to media reports, some Tzu Chi members have also set up factories in the area, providing employment opportunities for the flood victims. The entire project has become a community providing livelihood and employment.
Tzu Chi has not disclosed how much money has been moved for the project, but it is certainly a lot given the project's size and the time it has taken. Tzu Chi has never been political. Its founder Master Cheng Yen (
Tzu Chi deserves praise for its 30 years of charity work. The group has won kudos far and wide for its financial transparency in a time many quasi-religious groups engage in fraud.
True love does not require repayment. The help that Taiwanese people have extended to the poor in Indonesia is merely a repayment for all the international help that this nation received before its economic development took off. More importantly, Tzu Chi's charity work goes directly to the people who need it instead of local governments and politicians. Tzu Chi's charity goods go directly to the poor and are not relayed by local governments. This modus operandi costs Tzu Chi significantly more money and manpower, but it also guarantees the relief goods are used where it counts.
This also reminds one of a gathering in Taipei on Tuesday of religious groups calling for cooperation between different religions and calling on the UN to establish a inter-religion committee for world peace. The Buddhist monk Ching Hsin (
This is the truth. In a world filled with religious conflicts, the Buddhists, Taoists, Christians and Muslims in Taiwan have interacted peacefully. This can perhaps be attributed to Taiwanese culture. No matter what the reason is, it is worth reflecting on for people who have suffered religious conflicts.
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
In the 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, academics Hal Brands and Michael Beckley warned, against conventional wisdom, that it was not a rising China that the US and its allies had to fear, but a declining China. This is because “peaking powers” — nations at the peak of their relative power and staring over the precipice of decline — are particularly dangerous, as they might believe they only have a narrow window of opportunity to grab what they can before decline sets in, they said. The tailwinds that propelled China’s spectacular economic rise over the past