■ FLORA
Taichung hosts flower show
The Council of Agriculture announced yesterday that 30 hectares of land showcasing more than 70 types of flowers will be on display in Taichung County’s Sinshe Township (新社) starting this weekend. Organizers said they expected the event, which will run for a month starting on Saturday, to draw more than 1 million visitors. Yang Chuo-chi (楊佐琦), a representative of the organizers, advised the public to come on weekdays to avoid the weekend traffic. The council expects the event to bring in more than NT$1 billion (US$31 million) in business opportunities.
■ SOCIETY
Man snares rats for mom
A man has been catching rats for 24 years so that his mother can eat what she considers a delicacy at every meal, local media reports said. The man, surnamed Hsiao (蕭), 37, is a farmer in Houpi (後壁), Tainan County, the Chinese-language United Daily News said. It said Hsiao started catching rats when he was 13 when his mother had surgery to remove gallstones. Hsiao’s family was poor and had no money to buy food, so his father taught him to catch rats in the sugarcane fields to make soup. Hsiao’s mother said that at first she was afraid to eat it, but she forced herself and eventually fell in love with the delicacy.
■ MEDICINE
ART attracts foreign couples
The number of foreign couples traveling to Taiwan to seek medical help to enable them to conceive has been growing steadily thanks to the nation’s advanced development of assisted reproductive technology (ART), said Lee Mao-sheng (李茂盛), a gynecologist and obstetrician. Lin said more than 100 foreign couples visit each year for ART help, generating more than NT$40 million (US$1.23 million).
■ POLITICS
DPP pans Hsinchu mayor
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused Hsinchu Mayor Lin Junq-tzer (林政則) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of agreeing with Beijing that Taiwan is a province of China. Lin was recently a guest at the unveiling of a monument on Pingtan Island in China’s Fujian Province, just 68km from Taiwan. The inscription on the monument described China as the “motherland” and Taiwan as a subordinate island. Lin said he did not know in advance what was written on the monument and was only a guest. “The Chinese consider the People’s Republic of China their motherland, but for Taiwan, our mother country will forever be the Republic of China,” he said. DPP lawmakers were not convinced, accusing Lin of silently assenting to please Beijing for his own personal gain. “It is impossible that Lin did not know the inscription before the ceremony,” DPP lawmaker Su Cheng-ching (蘇震清) said. “It is a shame that a Taiwanese local government chief did not even have the courage to protect the dignity of Taiwan and its people.”
■ POLITICS
Hau has challenger
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Yang Shih-chiu (楊實秋) yesterday announced his bid to run in next year’s mayoral election. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), also of the KMT, said he respected and welcomed Yang’s decision, adding that the party would select its candidate democratically. Yang yesterday accused Hau of distancing himself from his predecessor, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), and adopting a campaign strategy of attacking Ma to boost his own popularity. Hau said he would work to improve his approval rating, but would not distance himself from Ma for political gain. He said Ma knew that he could not distance himself from his predecessor because Ma’s projects as mayor are ongoing.
■ HEALTH
Vaccine under way
Taiwan will work with Canada on a vaccine to protect Taiwanese and other Asians from the pneumococcus bacteria that causes pneumonia, an official said yesterday. “The cooperative project is expected to come to fruition in five to 10 years,” Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) said. Although an existing Canadian vaccine is used in Europe, the Asian strain of the bacteria is different, Wong said. As many Taiwanese children and elderly have developed pneumonia after being infected with pneumococcus, Wong said Taiwan looked forward to producing a vaccine suitable for Taiwan and other Asian countries.
■ POLITICS
Wu calls Ma ‘chairman’
Former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday referred to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as “chairman” when he asked a Chinese official to convey Ma’s greetings to Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). While meeting Liang Baohua (梁保華), head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Jiangsu Province, Wu referred to Ma as “chairman” throughout his speech. Only once did he refer to Ma as “yuan shou” (元首) or “head of state.” Wu asked Liang to pass on “Chairman Ma’s” regards to Hu, who doubles as CCP general secretary. Liang is the first CCP provincial committee secretary and the highest-ranking CCP official to visit Taiwan. His delegation is also the biggest to visit, with more than 3,000 people. The delegation is expected to make purchases in Taiwan worth up to US$2 billion.
■FLORA
Taichung hosts flower show
The Council of Agriculture announced yesterday that 30 hectares of land showcasing more than 70 types of flowers will be on display in Taichung County’s Sinshe Township (新社) starting this weekend. Organizers said they expected the event, which will run for a month starting on Saturday, to draw more than 1 million visitors. Yang Chuo-chi (楊佐琦), a representative of the organizers, advised the public to come on weekdays to avoid the weekend traffic. The council expects the event to bring in more than NT$1 billion (US$31 million) in business opportunities.
■SOCIETY
Man snares rats for mom
A man has been catching rats for 24 years so that his mother can eat what she considers a delicacy at every meal, local media reports said. The man, surnamed Hsiao (蕭), 37, is a farmer in Houpi (後壁), Tainan County, the Chinese-language United Daily News said. It said Hsiao started catching rats when he was 13 when his mother had surgery to remove gallstones. Hsiao’s family was poor and had no money to buy food, so his father taught him to catch rats in the sugarcane fields to make soup. Hsiao’s mother said that at first she was afraid to eat it, but she forced herself and eventually fell in love with the delicacy.
■MEDICINE
ART attracts foreign couples
The number of foreign couples traveling to Taiwan to seek medical help to enable them to conceive has been growing steadily thanks to the nation’s advanced development of assisted reproductive technology (ART), said Lee Mao-sheng (李茂盛), a gynecologist and obstetrician. Lin said more than 100 foreign couples visit each year for ART help, generating more than NT$40 million (US$1.23 million).
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
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