ENTERTAINMENT
Pan An-pang passes away
Taiwanese singer Pan An-pang (潘安邦), known for his song Grandma’s Penghu Bay (外婆的澎湖灣), died on Sunday of kidney cancer at the age of 51. Pan, who was born in Penghu, began his singing career in 1979. Pan’s hit songs include Country Road (鄉間的小路), Sunshine and Rain (光和小雨) and Errant Love (聚散倆依依). Pan was also well-known in China and once performed Grandma’s Penghu Bay at China Central Television’s New Year’s Gala. He is survived by his wife and son.
DIPLOMACY
US charity praises Taiwan
Food for the Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the US, on Saturday praised Taiwan for its efforts to provide foreign aid. At a fundraiser held in Florida to mark the organization’s 31st anniversary, Food for the Poor president and chief executive officer Robin Mahfood praised the nation for its participation in a program to supply rice and provide technical agricultural assistance to Haiti. Mahfood also expressed his appreciation to Taiwan’s representative office in Miami for supporting fundraising events over the past three years to help with Haiti’s post-earthquake reconstruction. Mahfood later presented a citation to Mou Hua-wei (牟華偉), director of the Miami office, in honor of his work in promoting humanitarian diplomacy. The government has engaged in several projects with Food for the Poor in Central America in recent years, including promoting computer education and aquaculture and providing emergency food supplies. During a visit to Haiti in August 2010, first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) joined Mahfood in distributing rice to victims of the earthquake.
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