■ Politics
Anti-Chen rally in New York
More than 200 Taiwanese-Americans on Friday denounced the re-election of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), using the term "stolen presidency." The group held a protest near UN headquarters in New York, holding banners and posters that called for an inquiry into the assassination attempt against Chen and his running mate Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) on the eve of the election. Chen's opponents accused him of staging the shooting in order to gain sympathy from voters. A statement handed out by the protesters said that the election was "unfair and anti-democratic." The demonstrators, who waved Taiwanese and US flags, held banners that said, "Taiwan Fraud Election," "Stolen Presidency in Taiwan" and "Liar, Liar, Liar A-bian (阿扁)." The lunch-hour protest ended without incident. The demonstrators claimed that more than 330,000 "invalid ballots" had been discovered since the recount began.
■ Diplomacy
US state backs WHA bid
The New York State Assembly unanimously passed a resolution in support of Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer, according to the head of a Taiwanese-American group. The resolution, which was passed Wednesday, recognizes contributions made by Taiwanese-Americans to the US, and recognizes their efforts to promote Taiwan's bid to join the WHA as an observer, said Wu Ming-kee, president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs. Copies of the resolution were sent to US President George W. Bush, the US Department of Health and Human Services and WHO headquarters in Geneva. The resolution was initiated by New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and co-signed by New York State Assembly members Richard Gottfried, Barry Grodenchik, Catherine Nolan and Earlene Hooper, Wu said.
■ Hakka affairs
League established
During an annual conference on Hakka college organizations, the establishment of the National Collegiate Hakka League (全國大學客家聯合會) was announced. The league aims to encourage exchanges of Hakka culture among universities and to plan intercollegiate Hakka events. More specifically, league representatives said that the league has three main goals: to encourage Hakka youth to embrace their heritage and introduce Hakka culture to non-Hakka people; to establish a forum for discussion of Hakka issues among colleges; and to pool the resources of Hakka associations and groups in universities nationwide. The founding of the league is the result of months of planning, research and consultation. The league is made up of students from National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Normal University, National Chengchi University and Chinese Culture University, and encourages individuals with and without Hakka heritage to become members.
■ Earthquake
Temblor rattles Ilan
An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale rocked northeastern Taiwan yesterday. No damage was reported. Central Weather Bureau officials said the epicenter of the quake was 18.8km east-northeast of the Ilan seismic station in Ilan County and originated 91.7km below the earth's surface. The quake, which occurred at 1:07pm, had an intensity of 3.0 in Newdou, Ilan County and Shihtang, Miaoli County; 2.0 in Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Hualien counties; and 1.0 in Taipei City and Changhua.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
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