China has rescinded an invitation to the Puzangalan Children’s Choir, in an apparent retaliation to its performance of the Republic of China (ROC) national anthem at President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) inaugural ceremony, sources said yesterday.
The Paiwan children’s choir from Pingtung County’s Majia Township (瑪家), gained media attention when it sang the national anthem in traditional Paiwan vocals at Tsai’s inauguration.
The choir’s executive officer Tsai Yi-fang (蔡義芳) said the group was scheduled to tour China next month and Hungary in August.
Photo: AP
China’s withdrawal of its invitation has compromised the group’s plans to tour Hungary, because Beijing canceled payments for the children’s airfares, resulting in an additional NT$1.3 million (US$40,072) in travel and related expenses, he said.
Tsai Yi-fang said the group was already short by NT$70,000 prior to the cancelation, which was announced without notice, adding that the group is looking for ways to raise the funds.
Documentary director Chou Shih-lun (周世倫), who is also raising funds to make a film about the group, said that although several businesses have expressed interest in buying costumes and equipment for the group, it has not found a sponsor for its travel expenses.
“We thought the fame brought by the choir’s national anthem performance would help with funding, but instead of finding us new sponsors, it made the Chinese aware of us,” Tsai Yi-fang said.
He said the choir will continue rehearsing for planned performances in Hungary, in spite of not having the travel funds, adding: “I am doing everything in my power to keep the children singing.”
The Presidential Office last night said that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was concerned about the issue, and would donate NT$500,000 to the choir from the royalties of a book published in October last year.
Tsai hopes other donors follow suit, the office added.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS