SOCIETY
Man donates NT$1m
A China-based Taiwanese businessman donated NT$1 million (US$33,800) in cash yesterday to a special fund established by the Chiayi City Government to help with post-disaster relief efforts in Japan. Yeh Hung-ting (葉泓廷), accompanied by his mother and newlywed wife, presented the money to Chiayi Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠), becoming the largest individual donor to the special fund. Yeh, 37, said that when he was a child, his family received financial help from many kind-hearted people after the sudden death of his father. Meanwhile, members of an association of visually impaired masseurs in New Taipei City (新北市) pitched in yesterday to donate NT$30,000 to a city government fund to help Japanese earthquake victims. Many Taiwanese people and charity groups have been making donations for relief aid to Japan. As of March 21, the amount had reached NT$1.3 billion, including NT$100 million donated by the government.
EDUCATION
Immigrant tutoring launched
The Ministry of Education announced yesterday that it would launch a language program for students from new immigrant families to help them improve their Chinese-language skills. The ministry said the program was necessary because the enrolment of “new immigrant” students — defined as children with at least one parent who is not a Taiwanese — has grown steadily, to 150,000 in 2009 from 30,000 in 2003. Many of the students come from families with one spouse, usually the mother, from a Southeast Asian country, and their language skills have not developed to a native level, the ministry said. To help them catch up with their peers, the ministry presented a white paper yesterday that pledges to help schools organize tutoring for the students and provide subsidies to hire interpreters to help improve communication and learning. The ministry added that it would also sponsor schools to conduct more family visits, and organize a series of activities for families and students who had lived abroad for years and did not have a basic foundation in Chinese.
ENTERTAINMENT
Bocelli selections revealed
Two concerts in Taipei by tenor Andrea Bocelli next month will feature a program that presents opera selections by Italian composers only, the organizers said yesterday. The Italian tenor, who will be performing in Taiwan for the third time, will present a program that is half opera and half Italian ballads, The Management of New Arts said. The program will include Night is Falling from Puccini’s Madam Butterfly and O Sole Mio by Di Capua. An estimated 70 percent of the seats for the Taipei concerts on May 17 and May 18 had been sold as of yesterday, the organizers said. To make it more convenient for fans outside Taipei to get to the Taipei Arena venue, Taiwan High Speed Rail is offering a 25 percent discount for people going to Taipei by train for the concerts, the organizers said. The tickets still available for the two concerts start at NT$2,400.
DIPLOMACY
Yang denies shuffle
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) yesterday denied a report saying that the ministry is considering replacing Donald Lee (李傳通), Taiwan’s representative to the Philippines, with the ministry’s spokesman James Chang (章計平). “We are not considering that,” Yang said in response to a report carried by the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday, adding that he had no idea what the information was based on.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all