Thanking the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families for its years of work in helping children and their families, President Chen Shui-bian (
Awards were given to children from all over Taiwan based on recommendations from the fund's local centers.
PHOTO: CNA
The children were given a scholarship and an electronic dictionary in order to recognize them for their optimism and determination in the face of financial, personal and family difficulty.
One such story is that of Han Chai-yun (
Currently living with her mother, who is both working and going to school, Han is responsible for the care of her brother. He is slowly making progress in feeding himself and saying simple words.
Others winners included young orphaned Aboriginal artist Chien Tzu-chiang (
Speaking to the children, Chen said that the 10 winners and their stories are worthy of admiration.
Although the winners are children, Chen said, they are role models from whom adult society should learn.
The fund, a major non-profit focused on children's issues, provides academic support, financial help, counseling and other services to needy children and their families through centers located throughout the nation.
Also attending the meeting was Chen's "godson," Wu Yueh-ting (
Wu, a seventh grader in Tainan, gave the president a get-well card he had made with his family. The card wished the president a quick recovery from the wound he suffered in the assassination attempt against him and asked that Chen heal the ailing economy in order to help the people. It also expressed Wu's hope that Chen would be a "president of the people."
When asked by Chen about his grades in school, Wu, who hopes to become a lawyer like Chen, said, "I'm going to keep working on it."
Wu was "adopted" by Chen at a fund event last year in Tainan. After reading a letter written by the fatherless Wu, Chen publicly told Wu that "A-bian (
Since then, Wu has been referred to as Chen's "godson" by the media.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert