The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to name this year "Taiwan-Japan Cultural Exchange Year," sources in the ministry said.
The first quarter of the year will focus on the opening of the high-speed railway between Taipei and Kaohsiung, the sources said, adding that this would be followed by other exchanges showing off Japanese culture, drawing on the success of last year's sumo exhibition.
The reason the ministry chose to make Japan the focus of its efforts this year is that China will be marking the 35th anniversary of Japan's switch of diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China with a similar sports and cultural exchange.
China and Japan are planning a series of celebrations and exchange activities, a ministry source said.
The source added that ministry officials have complained that while China and Japan are spending a lot of money on the event, the ministry has not been given a special budget for its exchange year, since Tokyo and Taipei do not have diplomatic relations.
Instead, officials must use funds set aside for general exchange activities to compete with Japan's focus on China this year, a source added.
An official, who declined to be identified, made the comments after the "Japan-China Exchange Year of Culture and Sports 2007" committee was recently inaugurated, under the chairmanship of Canon Inc chief executive officer Fujio Mitarai.
Former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori was appointed the committee's top adviser, and Foreign Minister Taro Aso delivered an address.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
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