The divisive issue of language reared its head in the legislature yesterday, as lawmakers argued about whether Hokkien could be used over Mandarin.
During the Organic Laws Committee (司法委員會) and the Education and Culture Committee's (教育及文化委員會) joint session yesterday morning, KMT Legislator Kwan Yuk-noan (關沃暖) interrupted DPP lawmaker Tai Chen-yao (戴振耀) -- who was speaking in Hokkien -- saying that Tai was disrespecting the Legislative Yuan by not speaking in Mandarin.
According to Kwan, the meeting's convener, the KMT's Yang Tzuo-chow (楊作洲), and some other lawmakers, including himself, did not speak the language and could not understand what Tai was talking about.
"I asked Tai to speak in Mandarin, the ROC's official language," Kwan said yesterday.
Tai, however, said that he had always spoken in Hokkien -- his mother tongue -- at the legislature, and that Kwan should respect his choice.
Tai said that he was a legislator elected by the people of Taiwan, of whom a majority are Hokkien-speakers, and that he saw nothing wrong with speaking the language in the Legislative Yuan.
The session was adjourned for five minutes due to the argument. During the break, however, DPP lawmaker Wang Shih-hsun (王世勛) scolded Kwan for not respecting others.
"If Kwan does not understand Hokkien, he should go and look for an interpreter," Wang said.
Meanwhile, DPP lawmaker Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) questioned Kwan's motives, saying that perhaps Kwan viewed Hokkien as an unworthy foreign language.
DPP lawmaker Wang Li-ping (
The argument reached a conclusion, however, when an interpreter was assigned to Kwan for the duration of Tai's speech.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS