Movie star Jackie Chan (成龍) says he will stay away from Taiwan for four years to avoid protests over remarks he made calling last year's presidential elections a joke, TVBS reported yesterday.
At a news conference in China last year, the action hero said Taiwan's disputed presidential election was ``the biggest joke in the world,'' provoking calls from politicians in this country to ban his movies.
In an interview in Cannes with TVBS broadcast yesterday, Chan said he wanted to avoid Taiwan for the time being.
"If I come, some people might organize something at the airport," Chan said, alluding to recent political protests at CKS International Airport.
Chan said he was hurt by the reaction to his remarks.
``I love Taiwan so much. I'm a person who likes Taiwan so much. I have done so many things in Taiwan, but then I get this result,'' he said.
The Hong Kong-born entertainer, who is married to a Taiwanese actress, was hugely popular in Taiwan, and has visited frequently. He has appeared in commercials on behalf of the police and an anti-smoking charity.
Meanwhile, Chan will front a controversial series of Chinese national anthem broadcasts aimed at promoting patriotism in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.
He is one of a group of celebrities who will appear in one-minute broadcasts to go out on Chinese-language TV channels before news bulletins, starting next Monday.
Chan will speak briefly on the history of the Chinese national anthem before the anthem is broadcast to a flag-waving backdrop, according to the report.
The broadcasts, introduced in the wake of pro-democracy protests in the territory, have been criticized by activists as "brainwashing" by China.
Daniel Heung (香灼璣), chairman of the government's Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education, told the paper the broadcasts would improve the public's knowledge about China.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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