Vice President Annette Lu (
"All evidence has proved that I was the first target to be shot (on March 19), yet many people still promoted their theories against me, which makes me feel like I'm being assassinated again," Lu said yesterday at a Presidential Office reception for a Singapore think tank.
Despite theories by the police and other government investigators that the shooter was aiming at President Chen Shui-bian (
She said the disputes over the shooting incident and their effect on the presidential election should be treated as a serious issue by all countries of the Asia-Pacific region, and thanked her guests for their expressions of concern.
Lu stressed that the obstacles to Taiwan's democratic development can hardly be imagined by people of other countries, citing her experiences of being jailed for participating in opposition activities and developing cancer due to her intense commitment to leading the nation's feminist movement.
"I had never thought that I would be shot on the eve of the election," Lu said, "and I was able to survive because of a miracle."
She said that the country's democracy, freedom, progress and prosperity are not presents given by the gods, but are hard-won fruits earned by the efforts of all Taiwanese people.
"Taiwan is an independent country, whether other countries in the world admit it or not," she said, "and our efforts to seek democracy and peace will not surrender to any violence or military threat."
"The international community and some individual countries always adopt their own perspective to understand Taiwan, so I would like to provide the Taiwanese view to assist those foreign guests and countries in understanding Taiwan," Lu said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
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