A group composed of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Young Turks was accepted as a member by the International Federation of Liberal Youth earlier this month, the party's Youth Department said yesterday.
The Taiwan Young Democratic Union was founded in September to offer a platform for youngsters to participate in public affairs and pursue public policies and legislation which serve justice.
The group was recognized as a "youth wing" member at the annual convention of the federation held in Andorra, Deputy Director of the DPP's Youth Development Department Chou Yung-hong (周永鴻) said.
The federation, a sub-organization of Liberal International, a global organization consisting of liberal-oriented political parties.
Chou said that the department will go into college campuses and hold conferences or forums to address the importance of young people's international participation as well as national identity.
"Taiwan, with its special international status, should enhance nonofficial diplomatic channels to promote itself. I think starting with the appeal of common values is a good way to link Taiwan with other countries," Chou said.
Chou said he found young Europeans generally show a high level of concern about international affairs, unlike young Taiwanese.
"Young people in Taiwan seem to be lukewarm to what is happening in the world. I think it is a problem for the younger generation to comprehend the complicated relations between Taiwan and China without a global view," Chou said.
"It is not easy to fully understand cross-strait affairs or regional conflicts in the Asia-Pacific area if we don't see them from a global strategic perspective," Chou said.
Chou, who represented the party's Youth Department and the union at the convention, said members of the federation showed their concern at the event about how to help Taiwan join the international community while China obstructs the nation's diplomatic ties.
He also urged federation members to pay close attention to the threat to human rights and security in the Asia-Pacific region brought by China's rising power.
He said attendees agreed admission to international organizations should not be limited to areas holding statehood but should be granted taking human rights into consideration, adding that they would communicate the idea to members of Liberal International.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods