Representatives and organizations from the Hakka community gathered yesterday calling for Hakka rights in response to an incident last week, when a legislator criticized Council of Hakka Affairs Minister Lee Yung-te (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Fong-chi (
According to Peter Lo (
"Chu's comment was disrespectful and degrading to the Hakka people, and we want her to give an open apology to our people," Lo said.
Yang Chang-chen (
Yang said the opposition paid lip service to diversity, but in reality practiced "fake" diversity and imposed a "cultural quarantine," in which Hakka rights were suppressed.
The department is pushing to establish a language equality law, and has encouraged Aboriginal legislators to give their official reports in their mother languages.
Former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) said that the Legislative Yuan had "no class," and that politicians were causing racial segregation and discrimination in Taiwan.
"The Legislative Yuan should be respectful and love all ethnic groups and minorities," Lin said.
SHORT-TERM OUTLOOK: The Chinese military would most likely focus on rebuilding its organization and leadership in the next few years, experts said Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) military purge has reduced the risks of a planned war against Taiwan, yet increased the danger of a conflict sparked by a miscalculation or accident, Taiwanese experts said yesterday. They made the comments at a seminar on the Fifth Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 20th Central Committee held by the research group Secure Taiwan Associate Corp (STA) in Taipei. The wholesale sacking of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers and managers of the aerospace and defense industry is sure to set back Xi’s timetable to prepare the PLA to launch an invasion of Taiwan
BATTLE-TESTED: Czech companies’ drones, software and navigation systems have been tested in the Ukraine war, while other countries’ are lab-tested, a Czech ex-official said Czech manufacturers are interested in setting up drone assembly lines in Taiwan, former Czech Chamber of Deputies president Marketa Pekarova Adamova told a forum in Taipei yesterday. Adamova made the comments at the inauguration of the Global UAV Academy, an organization dedicated to international cooperation in drone supply chains, technological certification and pilot training. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology said the Czech Republic is the largest importer of Taiwanese drones and uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) components. Adamova, who transitioned to the defense industry after retiring from politics, said the Roman adage “si vis pacem, para bellum” — “If you
Former China Central Television (CCTV) talk show host Cheng Wanjun (程萬軍) yesterday sought political asylum in Taiwan, a day after arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on a connecting flight from Thailand. In a video posted on X, Cheng said he was appealing to Taiwan to grant him temporary asylum on humanitarian grounds while he sought permanent resettlement in a third country. Cheng said he previously served as editor-in-chief of the journal Law and Life and hosted legal affairs programs on state-run CCTV. He said he ran afoul of Chinese authorities in 2019 after a video surfaced showing him discussing rulers whose actions
WORRIES PILE UP: The planned extension would generate nearly 10 million cubic meters of excavated soil, the disposal of which has not been explained, a former EPA official said Yilan County residents, backed by civic groups, on Wednesday filed an administrative lawsuit to overturn the environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval for the Yilan-bound high-speed rail (HSR) extension. They filed the lawsuit after the Executive Yuan on Sept. 11 rejected an administrative appeal. Former Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) deputy minister and lawyer Thomas Chan (詹順貴) said the project’s EIA review was one of the hastiest he had ever seen during his 30-year career in environmental law. Construction of the line would generate nearly 10 million cubic meters of excavated earth and rock, the disposal of which has not yet been explained to the