A gay and lesbian group yesterday hailed what it said was the biggest ever gay pride parade in Asia over the weekend, saying 30,000 people had taken to the streets for the event.
“The rally was a big success as the turnout was bigger than we had expected,” spokesman for Taiwan LGBT Pride Rex Shau (邵祺邁)
said.
The tens of thousands who marched through Taipei on Saturday, included supporters from China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, organizers said.
Waving rainbow flags and placards, the marchers paraded for about 1km, many wearing Brazilian carnival-style costumes, while others wore only men’s briefs despite chilly winds and drizzle.
Organizers said they hoped to move gay and lesbian issues higher up Taiwan’s political agenda ahead of the special municipal elections in five cities that are slated to take place on Nov. 27.
“While we hoped the rally would raise awareness of gays and lesbians, the rally also aimed to vie for substantial support from the election candidates,” Shau said. “Some politicians just paid lip service, never taking real steps to adopt non-discrimination measures.”
The Executive Yuan in 2003 drafted a bill to legalize same-sex marriages and recognize the rights of homosexual couples to adopt children, which would make it the first country in Asia to do so. However, the law has yet to be passed and some gay groups have criticized its drafting as simply a ploy to woo voters.
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
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
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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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