First lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) appeared as a “mystery guest” at a World Vision Taiwan rally at Linkou Gymnasium in Taipei County yesterday to lend support to the charity’s 30-Hour Famine campaign aimed at raising awareness of global poverty.
More than 13,000 people participated in yesterday’s event, which was opened by its ambassadors — entertainers Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒) and Stanley Huang (黃立行). The 30-hour fast ran from noon Saturday to 6pm yesterday.
During the rally, Chow talked about a visit she and a group of children, who were sponsored by World Vision Taiwan, made to children in Typhoon Morakot-ravaged Pingtung County a day before the storm’s one-year anniversary.
Chow said she was pleased to see that the children were so optimistic and had not given up on their dreams and hopes despite the difficulties they face.
Other participants at the event yesterday included residents and children from areas in southern Taiwan devastated by last year’s destructive typhoon.
Lin Yiu-chen (林宥蓁), a nine-month-old baby girl, was the youngest participant at the poverty awareness campaign. The girl’s mother, Hsieh Hsiu-feng (謝秀汾), who was participating in the event for the first time, said she hoped to instill in her child the concept of “helping others and helping yourself” by participating in charitable activities.
A series of activities were held throughout the day, including a donation event, film screenings and a forum for the discussion of natural disasters, wars, food crises and HIV/AIDS.
The campaign was to culminate with a concert by pop singers including Rachel Liang (梁文音), Fan Wei-chi (范瑋琪) and Drifters (浪花兄弟).
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
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
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard