■ Expatriates
Petition launched in Paris
About 40 Taiwanese students and expatriates in France launched a campaign yesterday at the Taiwan Representative Office in Paris to urge members of local Taiwanese communities to sign a statement requesting that the UN play an active role in maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait. The statement said that Taiwan has no intention of challenging the rights of any UN members by pushing its bid to join the world body, adding that Beijing's continuous obstruction in dealing with Taiwan's efforts to join the international community can only irritate the 23 million people of Taiwan and Taiwanese living abroad. "This obstruction will not help improve relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. On the contrary, it will be harmful to peace in the Strait," it said.
■ Politics
PFP candidate says he's best
Former People First Party (PFP) Legislator Hsieh Chang-chieh (謝章捷) yesterday called for his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源) to drop out of the race for Changhua County commissioner, saying that he does not rule out the possibility of running as a KMT flag-bearer. Hsieh also called on the PFP and KMT headquarters to speed up their merger plan and begin by cooperating to jointly nominate a better candidate in Changhua County. He said that he believes he is the better candidate and stands a better chance of winning the race. In response, Cho said that he has no plan to drop out of the race. He also proposed to settle the matter through a poll or party-to-party negotiations. Cho's office said that it is ridiculous for Hsieh to make such a request.
■ Water supply
Lawmaker slams Ho
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Tu Wen-ching (杜文卿) yesterday demanded the resignations of Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) and Water Resources Agency Director-General Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢) for what he called negligence in fixing the nation's flooding problems. Tu threatened to launch another round of action if Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) fails to positively respond to his request. Tu said that Ho and Chen have shown little concern for the flooding problem in his constituency of Miaoli County. One segment of the embankment along Ta-an River (大安溪) collapsed last year and has not yet been fixed, causing flooding during the typhoon season this year, he said. When Tropical Storm Haitang swept through southern Taiwan last month, the water supply in Miaoli County was cut off for two days without notice, Tu said. He later discovered that the water was diverted to Taichung.
■ Culture
Festival to be held in London
Taiwan's top envoy in London said his office will hold a two-day "Taiwan festival" on Saturday and Sunday at Brent Cross, the biggest shopping mall in the north of London, to introduce the country's art and culture. Edgar Lin (林俊義), Taiwan's representative to the UK, said that the festival is aimed at showing the differences between Taiwan and China in the fields of art and cultural performance, as well as clarifying the concept of "China is China, Taiwan is Taiwan." In the past, Lin said, such performances have always been part of the activities of a "Chinese festival" organized by the Chinese Embassy and the municipality of London.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
President William Lai (賴清德) today condemned an alleged attempt by two Chinese to snatch a letter of congratulations handed to Taiwan’s taekwondo team after they won silver at the Summer World University Games in Essen, Germany, yesterday. A Chinese man and woman reportedly tried to snatch a congratulatory letter to athletes Hung Jiun-yi (洪俊義), Jung Jiun-jie (鍾俊傑) and Huang Cho-cheng (黃卓乘) from the Ministry of Education, and then argued with media employees. “Why are you taking our things?” the media employees asked. “Does that say Chinese Taipei?” the two Chinese reportedly said. Following the incident, Sports Administration Director-General Cheng Shih-chung (鄭世忠) wrote on
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