The legislature blocked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' proposal to continue financial aid for the St. John's University in New York last week because of the university's attempts to bribe Taiwanese officials, a legislator said yesterday.
As former Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) decided to terminate financial packages to the university, Cecilia Chang (章曙彤), vice president of the university, had tried to lobby Taiwanese officials to continue the aid, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said.
Tien, during his term as minister, decided that the ministry's aid to the university would terminate at the end of this year. In order to persuade the ministry to continue the aid, Chang had attempted to bribe ministry officials and members of the legislature's Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee, which reviewed the ministry's budget proposals, Hsiao, a committee member, said.
On July 8, Chang wrote a letter to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kao Yu-jen (
During the committee's legislative session to review the ministry's budget proposals last week, Kau described Chang's letter as "humiliating" and said he already gave the letter to investigation units.
Hsiao vigorously opposed the ministry's proposal to continue aid to St. John's.
The ministry has been giving financial packages to some US universities for the purpose of academic cooperation. Over the past 20 years, St. John's has received some US$8 million from the Taiwanese government, the largest sum a US university has ever obtained, Hsiao said.
Responding to Hsiao's allegation and the failed proposal to continue aid to St. John's, Chang said she would take legal actions against the "blackmailers."
Kau was in Kaohsiung on family business yesterday and could not be reached for comment. Kao is in Japan and could also not be reached. The ministry declined to comment on the "controversial issue."
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai