LANGUAGE
RDEC rewards video artists
Prizes were awarded yesterday to creative artists whose short videos stood out in an English film competition held by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) to promote an English-friendly speaking environment. A total of 31 competitors from around the country participated in the “So Beautiful! My Village” contest, which required each contestant to produce a two-minute film introducing the village or city in which they live, said RDEC Minister Chu Chin-peng (朱景鵬), who praised participants’ creativity and the quality of their work. First place went to Yu Hui-lan’s (游惠嵐) video entitled Monkey Rocks Kao-hsiung featuring the port city. Karl Zimmerman, a retiree from the US, who came to Taiwan a year ago with his Taiwanese wife to run a farm in Shangan Village (上安) in Nantou County, won second prize. According to the commission, the films have been posted on the Internet at www.so-beautiful.org.
DIPLOMACY
Taiwan mulls US midterms
The outcome of the just--concluded US midterm elections present both a challenge and an opportunity Taiwan’s representative to the US Jason Yuan (袁健生) said on Thursday. With many new faces elected to the US Congress, the challenge is how to ensure the newcomers gain a better understanding of Taiwan-US relations and win their support, Yuan said during a gathering with foreign journalists based in Washington. This provides a great opportunity to win new friends, he said. Regarding Taiwanese media reports that the Republican victory in the elections was favorable to Taiwan’s bid to acquire arms from the US, Yuan said it did not make any difference which party controls Congress, as arms sales to Taiwan was a non-partisan issue.
CHARITY
Donation made to families
A philanthropist has donated almost NT$860,000 (US$28,430) to relatives of six Indonesians who died in a freeway construction accident in September, according to the Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Indonesia. The donation last month of a total of NT$1 million by Nanlien International Corp chairman Lee Tong-liang (李棟樑) also included money for the family of Chuang Yung-ho (莊永和), the lone Taiwanese killed in the accident. Taiwan’s representative to Indonesia Andrew Hsia (夏立言) presented the remaining NT$857,142 to the Indonesian relatives on Thursday at the TETO in Jakarta. The Ministry of the Foreign Affairs paid for the victims’ relatives’ travel expenses to the Indonesian capital. The seven workers lost their lives when scaffolding collapsed near the Freeway No. 6’s Beishan Interchange in Nantou County on Sept. 30.
SPORTS
Princess re-elected to FEI
Jordanian princess Haya Al Hussein was re-elected president of the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) in a landslide victory at the body’s general assembly in Taipei yesterday and pledged to continue reforms in her second term. The princess won with 90 votes out of a possible total of 124, beating contenders Sven Holmberg of Sweden and Henk Rottinghuis of the Netherlands. During a post-election press conference, she thanked the host country, saying she had many happy memories of Taiwan, including the warmth and hospitality of the people. She added that she would like to visit Taiwan again. Al Hussein also acknowledged criticism about her first term, saying: “I took criticism seriously and I have learned a lot.”
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
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
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