Next year's presidential election will be Chen Shui-bian's (
"I am quite happy about next year's election. The first reason is that we just had a new member of the family, small An-an [her grandson Chao Yi-an (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"The second reason is that in next year's election, no matter the outcome, it will be Chen Shui-bian's last battle. After that I don't have to campaign for him anymore," she said.
"He will be campaigning for me in the future instead," Wu, who was once a legislator, joked.
Wu made the statement during a tea party at the president's residence yesterday. The president and the first lady threw the party for physically and mentally handicapped children, Vincent Kabore from Burkina Faso and Huynh Thi Van from Vietnam who came to Taiwan for medical treatment, and "doctor dogs," which are trained to help people with various therapies.
The dogs were the stars at the party. Chen and Wu played with the dogs and Chen addressed the issue of China and Taiwan again by telling a story of his dogs, Yung-ko (
"When I look at the doctor dogs, I think of my own Yung-ko and Honey. There was one day when Yung-ko and Honey got into a fight, and I asked them what happened," Chen said.
"Yung-ko said that Honey tried to provoke him, and I thought, how would 2kg Honey have wanted to provoke 30kg Yung-ko? Then Honey told me that Yung-ko aimed his slingshot at her, and she just shouted, `don't hurt me,' and Yung-ko said it was provocation."
Wu also recounted the story of their golden retriever, Freedom. She said that when they had Freedom, they gave it the best care they could, but it died after eight months because of kidney problems.
"But my daughter saw a dog on the street one day, and it was led by a poor old man collecting garbage. It was rainy and cold, and that dog was only covered by plastic. Yet that dog seemed to survive well," Wu said.
"Sometimes people are like that. They live better when they are in an harsh environment," she said.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
SOVEREIGNTY: The rigs show that Beijing ‘rejects Taiwan’s jurisdiction’ by building in areas where Taipei demands permission to build or alter installations Chinese oil rigs have been sighted just 26 nautical miles (42km), from Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), posing a threat to Taiwan’s sovereignty if left unchallenged, a brief published by the Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday said. Pratas Island, 444km from Kaohsiung, is northeast of the South China Sea and houses a Taiwanese garrison. The brief, titled “Rigging the Game: PRC Oil Structures Encroach on Taiwan’s Pratas Island” — referring to the People’s Republic of China — analyzed photographs and said that Beijing’s tools to pressure Taiwan now include oil rigs. “Oil rigs now constitute part of Beijing’s
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
RSS