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 (
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and