The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus criticized Taiwan Post Co (
At a press conference, KMT caucus whip Kuo Su-chun (
"However, no one would call the national flag of the Republic of China controversial," Kuo said. "Only Taiwan Post considers the flag controversial or politically sensitive ... it really made us wonder whether the company belongs to the nation or to the Democratic Progressive Party."
PHOTO: CNA
Kuo said that Taiwanese people carry the national flag when traveling abroad or going to sports events.
"It is unthinkable that the postal company would be afraid to circulate [stamps featuring] the flag," she said.
KMT Legislator Pan Wei-kang (
"Although the company agreed to the latest design, it would still not sell the stamps to us, even though we were willing to pay a commission," Pan said.
"There must be political concerns behind [the company's decision]," she said.
KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (
"Why is it OK for the service to sell [personalized stamps with the cartoon character] Hello Kitty and [those featuring late minister of justice] Chen Ding-nan (
In its defense, Wu Min-yu (吳民佑), president of postal services, said the company agreed to print the stamps for Pan, but did not agree to sell the stamps at post offices.
Wu said the company made the decision because it was "inappropriate" to sell stamps that looked "similar" to previously issued stamps, adding that the stamps with the national flag icon issued by the company dated back to 1981.
Wu, however, did not answer questions on why the postal service had issued three different editions of stamps bearing the flag since the nation was established.
Wu said the decision was made by the company's "stamp design committee," which is composed of officials of the postal service and "people from outside the company."
"The company enjoys the authority to decide whether to sell a certain set of personalized stamps at post offices. There is no absolute standard. We make the decision after evaluating each case," he said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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