Taiwan will neither encourage nor ban overseas compatriots from participating in China’s National Day celebrations, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday.
Fielding questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), the premier said the government respected the rights of compatriots and the democracy of the nations where they live.
“The government cannot impose a ban on any compatriots’ activities,” Wu Den-yih said. “Therefore, we will not encourage them [to take part in China’s celebrations], but we cannot prohibit them, either.”
Wu Den-yih said that the government would respect the decisions of individuals, adding that the government would work hard to win the hearts of overseas compatriots.
“We hope they can also see the Republic of China’s achievements and promote cross-strait peace when meeting people from mainland China,” Wu Den-yih said.
Minister of the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission Wu Ying-yih (吳英毅) told reporters at the legislature on Monday that the commission had sent letters to its overseas commissioners, who are unpaid officials, to try to prevent them from participating in China’s celebrations next month.
However, Wu Ying-yih said it would be “acceptable” if overseas compatriots took part in the celebrations as individuals.
Wu Ying-yih said China’s overseas compatriot officials had been in frequent contact with Taiwanese overseas compatriot organizations and used to demand that the Taiwanese groups remove the nation’s flag and picture of Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) during meetings. However, the number of such occurrences had decreased, he said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS