The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday distributed 20,000 limited-edition white piggy banks in its latest promotion for its “three little pigs” fund-raising effort.
The white piggy banks are decorated with Robin Hood hat stickers, making references to DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as the mythical British outlaw as after a recent Associated Press story described Tsai as a “Robin Hood-like heroine.”
“This is an ‘iPig’ rather than an ‘iPad,’” DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Like their less nattily attired predecessor piggy banks, the DPP would like the Robin Hood ones returned to DPP campaign headquarters on Dec. 10. Lin estimated that at least 300,000 piggy banks have been distributed nationwide since the beginning of the campaign.
The “piggy banks” campaign stems from an incident last month when the DPP had to return three piggy banks donated by three-year-old triplets after the Control Yuan warned that the donations were in violation of the Act Governing Political Donations (政治獻金管理條例) because the donors were not of voting age.
The law stipulates that only people of voting age and those who meet other eligibility rules are allowed to make political donations.
The incident sparked a craze among Tsai’s supporters for making donations to the party in piggy banks. The party has produced a banks in a variety of colors, including pink in Greater Kaohsiung and black in Taipei.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
Reports of Taiwanese going missing, being detained or interrogated, or having their personal liberties restricted in China increased about fourfold annually last year, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Last year, 221 Taiwanese who traveled to China were reported missing, were detained and interrogated, or otherwise had their personal freedom restricted, up from 55 the previous year, the council said. Reopening group tours to China would be risky, as it would leave travelers with no way to seek help through official channels after Beijing shut down dialogue between the associations tasked with handling cross-strait tourism, the MAC said. Taipei’s Taiwan Strait Tourism
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion