President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) took part in the nation’s first National Women’s Conference (全國婦女國是會議) yesterday to demonstrate how much they care about policies relating to women’s affairs, but there was one small glitch: The Presidential Office was caught using a wrong character on its Web site when referring to the event.
In the section of the Presidential Office Web site listing the president’s public appearances, it was written that Ma would take part in the 全國婦女國事會議, mistaking the character 事 for 是.
Although the two characters have the same pronunciation, they have very different meanings.
While the term 國事 refers to “state affairs,” or everyday issues relating to a country, the term 國是 refers to a government’s policy directions.
Despite the Presidential Office’s error, both the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of the Interior, as well as the official event Web site, have been using the correct characters whenever the event is mentioned.
An unnamed official said that no one in government had “dared” inform the Presidential Office that it had made a mistake in its selection of characters.
The ministry made a special presentation on women’s rights and gender equality during the Cabinet meeting on Thursday and announced that a National Women’s Conference was to be held yesterday and today at the National Central Library in Taipei.
The meeting, which involves the participation of non--governmental groups, academics and representatives from government agencies dealing with women’s issues, aims to outline future policy directions to improve gender equality in the country.
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 US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative.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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
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