Among the tens of thousands of visitors to the World Expo in Shanghai last week were a bevy of pan-blue politicians.
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmen Lien Chan (連戰) and Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), along with People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), arrived in Shanghai before the expo’s opening and met Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on Thursday.
Lien and Wu attended the opening ceremony on Friday night and visited the China pavilion on Saturday morning before joining Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) for the launch of the Taipei pavilion.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
After visiting the China pavilion, Lien said the Cross-Strait Peace Development Foundation, of which he is president, would donate 3.13 million yuan (US$450,000) for post-earthquake relief work in Qinghai Province after last month’s quake that killed more than 2,200 people and injured 12,000.
Lien later lauded the Taipei pavilion for demonstrating the city’s great achievements in wireless access and garbage recycling to the world, but declined to comment when asked about Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), chairman of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, who accompanied him to the pavilion.
Wu said the invitation to Taiwan and Taipei to participate in the expo was a result of peaceful cross-strait relations, adding that he expected the two sides to increase such exchanges.
“Taiwan’s participation in the Shanghai Expo is the result of us replacing cross-strait confrontation with peaceful cross-strait development. We should push for more cross-strait exchanges,” he said.
A group of pan-blue legislators and Taipei City councilors also attended the expo, while Independent Legislator Kao Chin Su-mei (高金素梅) led a group of Aboriginals who were invited to perform at the expo’s opening ceremony on Friday night.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
The government yesterday donated US$200,000 to the Philippines to support post-earthquake relief and recovery efforts, following a powerful magnitude 6.9 quake that struck Cebu Province late last month, killing at least 72 people and injuring 559 others. The donation was presented earlier yesterday by Representative to the Philippines Wallace Chow (周民淦) to Cherbett Maralit, deputy resident representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, at Taiwan’s representative office in Manila. In his remarks, Chow expressed concern for those affected by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the central Philippines on the night of Sept. 30. "We sincerely hope for the earliest possible
RSS