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Taiwan News Quick Take

■ POLITICS

DPP to hold fundraiser

The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Taipei branch announced on Saturday it would initiate a fundraising event next month to rekindle supporters’ faith and passion for the party, while urging the government to claim the nation’s sovereignty during the Olympic games. The DPP would seek to rediscover its grassroots spirit and attract public support by holding the event, Huang Chin-lin (黃慶林), director of the DPP’s Taipei branch, said yesterday during a press conference at Pinchiang Market. As a political party that grew from street protests, the DPP has been counting on supporters, rather than party assets, to help with the party’s finances, he said. The fundraiser will be held on Sept. 19 at the Pinchiang Market. Visit the branch’s official Web site at www.tpdpp.org.tw/webtpdpp for more information.



■ DIPLOMACY

Sa to replace Parris Chang

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday that former assistant representative to France Sa Chih-yuan (薩支遠) has been appointed to serve as the new representative to Bahrain, replacing former representative Parris Chang (張旭成), who was removed from the post earlier this month after he was discovered to have a US green card in June. Sa, a senior diplomat, has previously served as the representative to Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo) and assistant representative to Belgium.



■ POLITICS

Minister defends cake ad

Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) defended himself yesterday after a report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily said he had made a 30-second commercial costing NT$1.5 million (US$45,000) to promote the sale of moon cakes for the benefit of disadvantaged groups. The report said the money could have bought 3,000 to 4,000 boxes of moon cakes. Liao said yesterday that figure was the total sum for the whole project, and included the cost of a press conference, printed advertising, telephone information service and distribution. Liao said the cost for the 30-second ad was NT$500,000. Liao said he was concerned that the sale of moon cakes for disadvantaged groups were not good, and added that the NT$500,000 spent on the ad was equivalent to selling 3,000 boxes of moon cakes at the most. Liao said he hoped the media attention would result in the public buying more moon cakes to show their concern for disadvantaged groups.



■ CROSS-STRAIT

Bush, Hu hold talks

Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and US President George W Bush held formal talks on Taiwan and other issues yesterday, after Bush appealed for greater religious freedom during a church visit earlier in the day. Chinese state media quoted Hu as telling Bush that China remained opposed to formal independence for Taiwan and urged the US to “properly handle the Taiwan issue to support the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.” “No matter what kind of changes take place in the cross-strait relations, our stance of adhering to the “one China” principle and opposing ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist activities will never change, and cannot be changed,” the Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying. Bush was quoted as saying that the US was happy to see the recent improvement in cross-strait relations. Hu said China would continue to “push for the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait.”


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