President Chen Shui-bian (
Accompanied by Vice President Annette Lu (
He addressed the young military officers and urged them to show their loyalty to the country without losing their faith in the country's future.
He stressed that although the relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is stable now, communist China is undertaking more diplomatic schemes to isolate Taiwan.
He said, "Taiwan must build an independent national defense and an elite force that is small but top-grade, quick and efficient."
"In the face of the threat from communist China, we must be well-prepared and determined to strengthen national security, and we must be responsible to history by building an independent national defense system and by modernizing and consolidating our forces, so as to strengthen our national defense," Chen said.
He quoted American priest Mary Harvey: "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the capacity to act in the presence of fear. Faith is not the absence of doubt, but the courage to believe in spite of doubt. Trust is not the absence of qualms, but the capacity to go forward despite misgivings."
He urged the young officers not to lose faith in the future of their country.
"Pursue your dreams, never be afraid of being defeated, catch the chance and take action," he said.
He also brought up a "well-being formula," saying that one brave heart plus double effort and triple action are equal to 100 percent well-being and success.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching