Despite the central government's decision to make Tongyong Pinyin the official system for the Roman-ization of street signs, Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday remained firm in his stand that the Taipei City Government would continue using Hanyu Pinyin as its Romanization standard. \nOn Thursday, a consensus to use Tongyong Pinyin was reached between various ministries and local governments at a meeting held by the Ministry of Education, the ministry which had officially approved the system last month. \n"The consensus reached [by various government agencies on Thursday] to use Tongyong Pinyin does not have any bearing on us, so the Taipei City Government will keep on using Hanyu Pinyin," Ma yesterday told an audience at the opening ceremony of the Guo Yuan-yi Pastry Museum. \nUsing the name of the museum as an example, as well as that of the National Palace Museum and all museums around the world, "which all use Hanyu Pinyin," Ma reiterated that Hanyu Pinyin is the international trend for the Romanization of Mandarin Chinese. \nWu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), the Taipei City government's spokesman, told the Taipei Times yesterday that, "since a conclusion that was made during that meeting stated that it is not compulsory for all cities and counties to use Tongyong Pinyin, we [Taipei City] will keep using the Hanyu Pinyin System, which is more user-friendly to the vast number of expatriates in town." \nAs an alternative solution, Kang Tsung-hu (康宗虎), deputy director of the city's Bureau of Education, added that the city would also consider the possibility of using both Hanyu and Tongyong Pinyin for the city's place names and road signs. \nThursday's meeting was attended by representatives from various government agencies, such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and a number of local governments. Measures drafted during the meeting will be sent to the Cabinet for review. \nOne of these draft measures calls for authorities to instruct the National Central Library to develop a computerized Romanization system for the conversion of Chinese characters into Tongyong by the end of this year. \nThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs would also work to amend the relevant laws and to have people's passport names Romanized according to Tongyong Pinyin by next June at the earliest. \nThe Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Government Information Office would coordinate seminars for Taiwan's expatriates to familiarize them with the Tongyong Pinyin system. These two bodies will also promote the use of the system to firms so that the companies can use it on their products.
The Han Kuang exercises, the nation’s major war games, are to start today and run for five days. The drills are to include a military aircraft emergency takeoff and landing exercise on a regular roadway on Wednesday, featuring all three fighter jet models in Taiwan’s fleet, a military source said last week. The drill is to begin at 6:30am on a 3km section of Provincial Highway No. 1 in Pingtung County’s Jiadong Township (佳冬), and feature an Indigenous Defense Fighter, an F-16V, a Mirage 2000-5 and an E-2K Hawkeye early warning aircraft, the source said. The emergency landing and takeoff drill aims to
MRNA VACCINE: Heart inflammation is rare, but possible after a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 shot, and students need to be aware of possible side effects, an expert said As Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccinations for students aged 12 to 17 are to begin on campuses on Thursday next week, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday urged recipients to be especially watchful for five signs of possible myocarditis or pericarditis, which are rare adverse reactions to some COVID-19 vaccines. The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices convener Lee Ping-ing (李秉穎) joined the CECC’s daily news briefing to report on possible side effects after receiving a BioNTech vaccine. Lee said that cases of myocarditis and pericarditis have been observed in people in the US who have received mRNA COVID-19
Taiwan on Friday accused China of seeking to use the Honduran election to “create controversy” and undermine Taiwan’s long-standing ties with the country, saying it would strive to win support for Honduras’ relations with Taipei. Honduras’ main left-wing opposition party, the Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE), led by ousted former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, has said that if it wins November’s presidential election it would seek to “readjust” the country’s debt and establish diplomatic relations with China. Honduras is one of 15 UN member countries that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has already warned Honduras not
TESTING THE WATERS: Making the considerations public a day after a Biden-Xi phone call indicates that the US is testing China’s reaction, a think tank head said A Financial Times report that the US is considering allowing Taiwan to change the name of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington to feature the name “Taiwan” highlighted Washington’s “two-pronged” approach to China, a researcher said yesterday. The report on Friday said that Washington might allow the nation to change the office’s name to “Taiwan Representative Office.” The report came after US President Joe Biden on Thursday spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) by telephone for the first time since February. A White House readout of the call said that “the two leaders discussed the responsibility of both
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