Taiwan remains committed to building a future based on human rights and justice while removing hatred and discrimination, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday at an event to commemorate the Holocaust.
The event marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day was hosted by the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei and the German Institute Taipei.
Republic of China diplomat Ho Feng-shan (何鳳山), who served as consul-general in Vienna from 1938 to 1940, and is credited with helping save at least 2,000 Jews seeking to flee Nazi-annexed Austria by issuing them visas to Shanghai, was also commemorated.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Diplomats, dignitaries, artists, religious leaders and others attended the event at the National Central Library in Taipei.
“Numbers don’t tell the whole story. Six million is not just a number. It represents the lives of 6 million people. The victims of the Holocaust were individuals, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends and neighbors, who lost their lives in a crime unparalleled in humanity,” Tsai said.
“We must never forget why their lives were cut short. We affirm our responsibility to never forget, never again. We must continue to reflect on all that we can do as individuals and together as a nation to ensure that this kind of event can never take place again anywhere in the world,” she said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Memorials and museums across Europe, from Auschwitz to the shores of the Danube River, point to a common responsibility of upholding universal values of human rights, freedom and justice, she said.
“This responsibility exists because of the past. It exists because we want to build a future free from hatred and discrimination,” Tsai said.
Taiwan will continue to stand together with the international community to ensure that this message is never lost or distorted, she said.
Over the past two years, Taiwan has worked to establish a human rights museum, which will engage with institutions in Israel, Germany and across Europe to improve human rights education in Taiwan for younger generations, she said.
Israeli Representative Asher Yarden, while commending Taiwan’s efforts to commemorate the Holocaust, condemned the continued use of Nazi symbols in Taiwan.
“We are still witnessing the use of Nazi symbols, Nazi flags, Nazi swastika and Nazi gestures in unacceptable ways in the heart of Taipei and other parts of Taiwan,” Yarden said. “The main reason for this unacceptable type of incident is lack of knowledge, including insufficient familiarity with the background of the Holocaust, the lesson that needs to be drawn from it, the significance [of the Holocaust] particular to the Jewish people, but also [its] universal [significance].”
In one incidents, Hsinchu Kuang Fu High School students wore Nazi-style uniforms and displayed Nazi symbols during a campus event in December 2016, which drew condemnation from the Israel Economic and Cultural Office.
However, Taiwan’s government and its public are taking steps to educate people about the Holocaust, including an upcoming, Taiwanese-produced animated film about Anne Frank, Yarden said.
The government is to introduce a program to train Taiwanese educators in Israel about teaching the history of the Holocaust, he added, encouraging Taiwan to continue its efforts to educate young people and end the use of Nazi symbols.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
RSS