The People First Party's (PFP) legislative caucus yesterday demanded the resignation of Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (
Tu announced earlier this week that the ministry planned to modify high-school history books to indicate that the Republic of China (ROC) is not the legal government of Taiwan.
The PFP accused Tu of "rewriting Taiwan's history incorrectly."
Meanwhile, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"The textbook disputes are a result of administrative willfulness. The ministry is trying to avoid monitoring from the legislature, and this shows that the ministry doesn't not respect the public," Wang said.
Wang said that after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) became the governing party, "four Yuans (branches of government) are gone," and the Legislative Yuan is the only place left to monitor the governing party.
He then urged the public to allow the pan-blues to dominate the Legislative Yuan after the elections next month so that they can keep acting as a check to government power.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Emphasizing that shifts in political control should not lead to shifts in the historical record, Lien said that the DPP administration's actions were "forgetful of [the nation's] ancestral tradition" and would "ruin the country and bring sorrow to its people."
While stumping for pan-blue candidates in Taipei County yesterday, Lien reiterated to reporters the pan-blue alliance's stance on Taiwan's history. In the Cairo Declaration of 1943, the three leaders, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Chiang Kai-shek (
It is very clear in the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the Sino-Japan Peace Treaty, Lien said, that the Japanese government surrendered sovereignty over Taiwan.
Furthermore, the Sino-Japan Peace Treaty, said that that all agreements signed with China and Japan were no longer effective as of the treaty's signing, including the agreement about Taiwan. In the text of the Sino-Japan Treaty, said Lien, it is clear that the "Republic of China" includes all claimed properties, which naturally includes Taiwan.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai