The Kaohsiung Film Archive and the organizing committee of the 2009 Kaohsiung Film Festival yesterday announced it would go ahead with plans to screen The 10 Conditions of Love, a documentary about exiled Uighur rights activist Rebiya Kadeer, during the festival beginning on Oct. 16.
The documentary has raised political issues, as well as allegedly spurring a wave of cancellations from Chinese tourists.
Kadeer is the president of the World Uyghur Congress, which advocates the rights of the Uighur ethnic minority in China. She has been living in Washington since 2005 after China released her from prison and travels the world to campaign for the Uighur cause.
China portrays her as a separatist and accused her of plotting the July 5 riots in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, a charge she denies.
Concerns about the effect the screening would have on the city’s tourism sector caused the Kaohsiung City Government to hold four screenings of the documentary last Tuesday and Wednesday in a bid to minimize controversy, but film buffs wanted the work screened during the official film festival from Oct. 16 to Oct. 29.
The organizers have already decided to purchase additional screening rights for the film to be played during the festival.
Liu Hsiu-ying (劉秀英), director of the archive, said the location and movie times have not yet been finalized, but those interested in the film can reserve their tickets through the event Web site, which will post movie times soon.
When asked for comment, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the government would not prohibit the screening of the film in order to protect freedom of speech.
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
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