■ CULTURE
Festival to start in Taitung
The eighth festival of Austronesian Cultures will commence on Saturday in Taitung County with the theme of "strength and beauty." Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞) said this year's event would include Aboriginal dance and folk song performances in addition to an exhibition of twelve 3.5m wood carvings by 12 Aboriginal artists and a "Taiwan beer night" on the last night. Festival goers will also be entertained by performers from the Solomon Islands, Palau, Korea and Okinawa, Kuang said. The National Museum of Prehistory will host indoor activities, while outdoor activities will be held at Taitung Forest Park, she said.
■ SOCIETY
Hotline up for ex-inmates
The Taiwan After-care Association has set up a telephone line providing counseling services for prison inmates released under a commutation statute that will go into effect tomorrow. Released inmates can dial 0800-788595 for counseling, association Chairman Yen Ta-ho (顏大和) said. A total of 10,969 inmates will be released under the commutation program, which was implemented to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 228 Incident and the 20th anniversary of the end of 38 years of martial law. The association has also taken other measures to help released inmates return to normal life and to prevent recidivism, Yen said. Staff of the association will be deployed in prisons around the country tomorrow to offer rehabilitation information about returning to school, employment opportunities and medical treatment to the inmates prior to their release.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
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