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.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
A bipartisan group of US representatives have introduced a draft US-Taiwan Defense Innovation Partnership bill, aimed at accelerating defense technology collaboration between Taiwan and the US in response to ongoing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bill was introduced by US representatives Zach Nunn and Jill Tokuda, with US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and US Representative Ashley Hinson joining as original cosponsors, a news release issued by Tokuda’s office on Thursday said. The draft bill “directs the US Department of Defense to work directly with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense through their respective
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
RSS