The Taiwan Frisbee Dog Club seems to have spurred the president into some kind of action on the sporting front.
With the soccer World Cup approaching the next round, President Chen Shui-bian (
"Taiwan is the only country that competes in the Olympic Games that cannot sing its national anthem and fly its national flag," the president said in his weekly e-newsletter.
REGRETS
Chen said he was filled with regret when he saw players from other countries and their supporters holding their national flags.
"The Caribbean island country Trinidad and Tobago, which has a population of about 1.1 million, and the west African country Togo, with an area of only 56,000km2, became a focus of global attention because of their performances in the World Cup," he said.
Chen said he would like to see the public participate in more international competitions and local governments hosting international matches to raise the profile of the country.
Chen made the remarks in response to a letter from Ho Tsai-yuan (
DOG FRISBEE
Ho told Chen that he and fellow members were thrilled to see their national flag flown during an international Frisbee Dog contest in Japan earlier this month. Organizers had also printed Taiwan's national emblem and the national flag on the Frisbees, Ho said.
Chen said the public must not give up striving for the nation's rights, nor must local governments forbid the public from bringing the national flag into venues where international competitions are held.
The president said it was strange that the Taipei City Government had banned spectators from bringing their own flags to national and international sporting events last year.
At the time, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard