POLITICS
Follow-up went well: MOFA
Efforts to contact the signatories of an open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) who voiced concerns about the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s actions against the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration over the alleged disappearance of 36,000 official documents were favorably received, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday. Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達), director-general of the Department of North American Affairs, said most of those contacted by the ministry appreciated the chance to communicate their concerns. Former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Nat Bellocchi and 33 others from the US, Canada, Europe and Australia published a letter earlier this month expressing concerns that the charge involving former DPP officials was politically motivated. “We understand they acted out of concern for Taiwan’s democracy. We welcomed this and also let them know we wished they would respect our administrative and judicial procedures,” Linghu said.
ENTERTAINMENT
‘Swing’ nominated for award
US-based Taiwanese director Kuo Yen-ting’s (郭彥庭) first animated film, Swing, has been nominated for a Student Academy Award, just weeks after it won the Tokyo Big Sight Award at the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2011. Kuo, in his late 20s, said he had been entering various competitions and understood that each festival has a “different taste.” Recognition from judges “both in the East and the West” had given him greater confidence to continue in his work, he said. Swing is a four-minute film about how people influence the perspectives of those on the brink of death. Kuo said he chose death as the topic because of the experience of losing his grandfather four years ago. The film was aimed at encouraging audiences to “reconsider life and death,” he said. For his next production, Kuo wants to create a Taiwanese superhero who could use betel nuts as his or her weapon, he said.
DIPLOMACY
Chen Chu seeks flood tips
Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) will lead a delegation of city officials to the Netherlands today to learn about its experiences in preventive flood management, Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆), director-general of the city’s Information Bureau, said yesterday. Lai said the city would like to draw upon Dutch experiences to guide its policies in hydraulic infrastructure, urban planning and environment protection because Greater Kaohsiung is located in the same kind of low-lying area as the Netherlands.
SOCIETY
Teens’ suicide bid kills one
Two teenagers jumped from a Taipei high-rise on Monday in an apparent double suicide. The boy survived, although he suffered multiple bone fractures, while his girlfriend died. Firefighters said they received an emergency call about 9am saying that two people had jumped from a building on Hsinlung Road in Wenshan District (文山). They rushed the pair to Wanfang Hospital. Witnesses said the pair jumped, holding onto each other, from the 12th floor, and hit a parked car before landing on the street. No suicide notes were found. An initial investigation determined that the teens were students of Taipei Jingwen High School and Taipei Jingwen Vocational High School, and were considered to be “a couple” by classmates. Because of opposition by both sets of parents, they “eloped” on Wednesday last week. The parents of the 17-year-old girl had threatened to file a lawsuit against her boyfriend.
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
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
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