Minister of National Defense Lee Tien-yu (
"It was initially thought that the policy would help new recruits feel more comfortable in their new surroundings. However, I also understand that many of them do not like it. So we will cancel the policy immediately," Lee said.
Lee made the remarks during yesterday morning's National Defense Committee at the legislature where the "hug-hug" policy was ridiculed and criticized by legislators.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (
The "manual" also "teaches" new recruits "how to hug each other closely."
"Here, it says that `when you hug a person, your body shall stick to his or her body closely.' Things like this will only make rookies tense. It is not going to improve anything," Lin said.
Another KMT Legislator and retired general, Shuai Hua-min (
"What is this all about? This is the military, not Ang Lee's (
Lee explained that the idea actually came from the "give me five" gesture.
"We hope that everybody would treat each other like family," Lee said.
Lin then asked Lee to perform a demonstration "hug" with General Political Warfare Bureau Chief Chen Kuo-hsiang (陳國祥), but Lee refused.
"We are old friends already so we do not need to do that," Lee said.
The minister was then criticized for forcing soldiers to do something that he would not do himself.
Lee promised to suspend the "hug-hug" policy immediately.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
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