Taiwan and the Philippines should not let their diplomatic spat affect the exchanges between their peoples, a Taiwanese film director has said.
“I believe that more exchanges in the fields of culture, arts and sports are needed in times of clashes, because they help people from the two sides understand each other,” said Jasmine Lee (李靖惠), whose 2011 documentary Money and Honey (麵包情人) depicts the lives of Filipino migrant workers in Taiwan.
“I believe right now we are in a lose-lose situation,” Lee said in a recent interview, referring to Taiwan’s decision to suspend all exchange activities with the Philippines.
As part of that decision, the Philippine men’s national basketball team was this year not invited to participate in the Jones Cup, an annual invitational tournament held in Taiwan.
The diplomatic rift was sparked by the killing of Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成) by Philippine Coast Guard personnel on May 9.
The Taiwanese government has instituted a series of retaliatory measures against the Philippines, including a freeze on new hirings of Filipino workers and a travel alert for the Philippines. High-level exchanges and exchanges in business, trade and technology research have also been suspended.
Lee urged the Philippines to apologize, and said politicians and the media on both sides should “return to rational communication” and not allow the incident to hurt cultural and sports exchanges.
“These Filipino athletes could become Taiwan’s allies or even pressure their own government into treating Taiwan well if Taiwanese maintain exchanges with them,” said Lee, who spent 13 years filming Filipino migrant workers in Taiwan.
Lee, an assistant professor in the Department of Visual Communication Design at Dayeh University, said the biggest victims of the diplomatic incident are Taiwanese fishermen and Filipino workers.
She said she hopes the dispute can be settled soon in such a way that the labor freeze on Filipinos can be lifted and talks on fishing rights can begin, to the benefit of the two groups that she described as disadvantaged.
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