■ POLITICS
Calendar causes stir
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsueh Ling (薛凌) yesterday drew attention to a calendar for next year produced by Taoyuan County Council bearing the signatures of council speaker Tseng Chung-yi (曾忠義) and vice speaker Chou Yi-shen (邱義勝) that had Oct. 1 marked as National Day and July 1 as “Reunification Day.” Both Tseng and Chou are members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Hsueh said Taiwan’s National Day is Oct. 10, and Oct. 1 is China’s. Reunification Day could be referring to the KMT’s timetable for unification with China, he said. The calendar has been produced as a gift for Taoyuan residents, the legislator said.
■CULTURE
Minister showcases expo
Visitors can enjoy traditional theater, gourmet, games and shopping at the Taiwan Hakka Exposition to be officially launched on Saturday, Council for Hakka Affairs Minister Huang Yu-chen (黃玉振) announced yesterday. “We’ve spent more than NT$100 million [US$3 million] in planning for the exposition,” Huang told a news conference at the council yesterday. “The expo ground will be divided into 11 areas, and I assure you that you can always find something delicious, spectacular and fun there.” Visitors can learn about outstanding Taiwanese Hakkas, traditional Hakka holidays and the history of Hakkas in Taiwan. They can also buy traditional Hakka products and enjoy Hakka cuisine. “We’ve invited more than 80 Hakka businesses and more than 100 performing troupes to participate in the exposition,” Huang said. The exposition will be held at the Taipei County Hakka Museum in Sansia Township (三峽), and will last until Feb. 15. Shuttle buses will depart from nearby Yingge Railway Station and Yongning MRT station. For further details, visit:
www.hakkaexpo.com.tw.
■TRANSPORTATION
Angkor flights to resume
TransAsia Airways is scheduled to launch its first direct charter flight on Friday between Taipei and the Cambodian city of Siem Reap, the gateway to the world renowned temple complex of Angkor Wat. Far Eastern Air Transport, which in cooperation with Cambodia-based Angkor Airways used to provide regularly scheduled flights on the route, canceled the service in May because of financial difficulties. TransAsia Airways will fly 15 charter flights a month, serving only tour groups and travelers that join foreign independent travel packages offered by travel agencies. The initial response to the charter scheme, which will continue for at least a year, has been good, with the first two scheduled flights already fully booked, the representative said.
■AGRICULTURE
Jujubes sent to Canada
A 2.5 tonne batch of Chinese dates produced in Pingtung County has been shipped to Canada recently, the first fruit of this kind to be exported abroad this year, the Pingtung Department of Agriculture said yesterday. New orders for the Chinese dates, also known as jujubes, or honey dates, have also been received from China and shipments are expected to be dispatched shortly, department officials said. Meanwhile, Cheng Shuang-chuan (鄭雙銓), chief of Pingtung’s Yenpu Township (鹽埔), is scheduled to lead some 80 jujube farmers to Taipei from Friday to Saturday to boost sales of the fruit. Jujubes are poised to become the second flagship fruit from Pingtung County behind the bell fruit, which has been a good earner for Pingtung’s farmers.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
RSS