The Kinmen County Government caused an uproar yesterday for ignoring a central government regulation mandating that the national flag be flown at half mast throughout the country on 228 Memorial Day.
The Kinmen County Government, instead, displayed three county flags on top of the county government building. Meanwhile, the branches of the central government in Kinmen and the Kinmen Council all had the national flags at half-mast yesterday.
It was the third year in a row that Kinmen County Commissioner Lee Chu-feng (李炷烽) of the New Party had the county flag raised instead of flying the national flag at half-mast on 228 Memorial Day.
Lee argued that if the central government wanted the national flag flown at half-mast on Feb. 28, it should do the same thing to commemorate the Kuningtou Battle (古寧頭炮戰) and the 823 Artillery Bombardment (八 二 三 炮戰).
The Kuningtou Battle took place on Oct. 25, 1949, when Nationalist forces repelled two regiments of China's People's Liberation Army in Kinmen. Meanwhile, Aug. 23, 1958 marked the beginning of the 823 Artillery Bombardment in which China dropped as many as 500,000 bombs on Kinmen over a period of 44 days.
Some Kinmen residents said that as the 228 Incident did not take place in Kinmen County, there was not much significance in ordering the county government to fly the national flag at half-mast on that day.
Others, however, said that as the central government has already made efforts to sympathize with the families of 228 victims, Kinmen residents should not ignore the order, causing other people to misunderstand their reasons.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition