Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Responding to legislator questioning at a routine interpellation session, Chang said that although Japanese cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi's (小林善) controversial comic book On Taiwan (
In the comic book, Kobayashi quoted senior presidential policy adviser Shi Wen-lung (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Kobayashi also claimed that some of Taiwan's indigenous people willingly joined the Japanese army.
The ban, which the ministry earlier said it would re-evaluate, drew strong criticisms from one of President Chen Shui-bian's (
King was banned from entering Taiwan for three decades during the era of martial law, which did not come to an end until 1987.
Meanwhile, at another legislative session earlier in the day, opposition legislators demanded the dismissal of the two presidential advisers.
KMT lawmaker, Chen Ching-pao (
Lawmaker's were particularly incensed after King -- a longstanding supporter of Taiwan's independence -- said on a television talk show that she does not recognize the Republic of China.
Daring President Chen to step into the fray, Chen said the president should step forward to "say something" instead of "hiding in the Presidential Office" while his advisers "shame the whole nation."
Pro-China People First Party lawmaker Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠) said that if King continues to say she is not an ROC citizen and does not recognize the Republic of China, then the president and the premier should not simply sit by while she "tramples all over the Republic of China," but should instead dismiss her from her post.
Meanwhile, a 30-member delegation of the radical Taiwan Independence Party staged a peaceful protest in front of the Ministry of the Interior to denounce its decision to ban Kobayashi from entry into Taiwan.
They said that Chinese President Jiang Zemin (
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
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