President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he wanted Taiwan to make “full use” of its soft power and to become a provider of humanitarian assistance, which is one element of soft power.
Responding to a note of gratitude from Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan for Taiwan’s donations in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit on March 11, Ma said that as of Sunday, the Taiwanese government and private sector had collected a total of NT$4.4 billion (US$152.15 million) in relief funds for Japan.
“Taiwan is not a big country, but we have raised more money than countries that are 10 times our size,” Ma said. “It has made me proud to see how the amount of money has increased over the past few weeks in the wake of the NT$100 million pledged by the government.”
Ma said the development of the Taiwanese government was in keeping with that of the international community, which is committed to inclusive development and said that such development is diverse, not “single-minded.”
“The purpose of diversity is to increase the sense of happiness felt by the public,” he said.
Ma said he had put forth six goals in pursuit of a “golden decade” over the next 10 years — They include using innovation and culture, protecting the environment, implementing the Constitution and the development of peace.
On developing peace, Ma said the country’s main threat came from “the other side” of the Taiwan Strait — China.
“On the one hand, we must strengthen our defenses, but we will not engage in an arms race with the China because it is unnecessary and impossible,” he said. “The most important thing is to create an environment that ensures the use of military force is not a possible option.”
Ma said he would continue to work to improve cross-strait relations and increase interactions at various levels with China, including allowing more Chinese students to study in Taiwan.
“I believe the younger generation in China is different from older generations,” he said. “The more they interact with Taiwanese students, the better relationships they will develop and the more likely cross-strait peace is to be solidified.”
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching