In an interview with the international press in Athens, first lady Wu Shu-jen (
Expressing disapproval of the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government's decision to call the nation "Chi-nese Taipei" at the Games, Wu said she would never have agreed to it if she had been in charge. The joint interview was attended by representatives from the BBC, AFP and La Libre Belgique, among others.
Wu said it is unreasonable that Taiwanese are not allowed to sing their national anthem and raise their national flag like other countries at the Games. Wu said she hoped the unfair regulation would one day be revoked to enable Taiwan athletes to sing their national anthem during the Games.
Dismissing suggestions that her holding a National Paralympic Committee (NPC) card was intended to provoke China, Wu said that her decision to lead the Taiwan Paralympic delegation was to fulfill a promise she made last October.
Wu referred to her words when meeting with the Taiwan delegation for the 2003 World Wheelchair Games last year, during which athletes expressed hope that she could head this delegation to this year's Paralympics. Wu agreed immediately, noting that her physical status should qualify her for the position.
Presidential Office Secre-tary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday lauded Wu asf carrying out "best citizen diplomacy."
"Via interviews with international press, the first lady let Taiwan's voice be heard in the international arena and allowed the world to see Taiwan's remarkable achievements," Su said.
Wu attended the judo event yesterday to cheer for two players from Team Taiwan, Lee Ching-chung (
On Friday night, Wu attended the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games in her capacity as the head of the Taiwan delegation using her NPC card, the highest-level official pass for the event.
Wu, on the advice of accompanying staff and doctors, took a seat in the VIP zone during the opening ceremony instead of her original plan to lead the Team Taiwan in the parade around the arena. Wu was paralyzed from the waist down after being hit by a truck in an assassination attempt in 1985.
According to delegation spokesman James Huang (
"The first lady had a pleasant exchange with the vice president of the Republic of Iran. They exchanged views on the experience of promoting sports events for the physically-challenged," Huang said. He added that International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Philip Craven of Sweden had wanted to introduce Sweden's queen to Wu, but the meeting did not happen because Wu had to enter the VIP zone.
Given that Deng Pufang (
While such interaction didn't take place Friday night, Huang said that a Chinese representative had seen Wu and a brief greeting took place.
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
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
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
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