CULTURE
Local films in Dallas festival
Five Taiwanese films will be screened at the 12th Annual Asian Film Festival of Dallas, which opens on Thursday, the Ministry of Culture said. The films include the romantic comedy Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (明天記得愛上我), the inspirational sports film Step Back To Glory (志氣), the drama Finding Anthony (公主與王子) about socially marginalized youth, and Ye-Zai (椰仔), about bounty hunters for illegal immigrants, the ministry said. The documentary Go Grandriders (不老騎士), which portrays the story of 17 octogenarians who undertook a 1,178km trip around Taiwan by motorcycle, will also be shown. The Taiwanese movies will be among about 40 feature films, animations, documentaries and short films to be showcased at the festival, which will run until July 18. The festival, launched in 2002, has grown to become the largest showcase of Asian and Asian American cinema in the southern US.
CULTURE
PTS to show Lee’s films
The Public Television Service (PTS) will show a retrospective of films featuring theater director and actor Hugh Lee (李國修) over the next two weeks to commemorate his death on Tuesday at the age of 57. Part one of the 2011 documentary Lanlin Theatre Troupe (蘭陵劇坊), about Taiwan’s first theater group, founded in 1979, of which Lee was an influential member, will be aired on Sunday, PTS said. The second part will be shown on July 14, the station said. The documentary includes interviews with Lee and other members of the group. Lee, who founded the Ping-Fong Acting Troupe (屏風表演班) in 1986, died in Taichung after battling cancer for three years. He is considered one of the most prolific figures in contemporary Taiwanese theater.
GOVERNMENT
Control Yuan head impeached
Control Yuan members impeached Control Yuan Secretary-General Chen Feng-yi (陳豐義) in a 6-to-4 vote yesterday for destroying documents in violation of the Archives Act (檔案法). It is the first time the government watchdog has impeached one of its own secretaries-generals. Control Yuan member Ma Yi-kung (馬以工) said Chen did not abide by the Archives Act when destroying the documents, describing the act as “gross neglect of duty.” Another member, Lee Ful-dien (李復甸), said that Chen destroyed piles of Control Yuan documents. This caused the loss of many paper records of Control Yuan investigations, Lee added. Temporary records should not be destroyed before the expiration of their retention period or contrary to the procedures stipulated in the relevant regulations, according to the act.
CULTURE
Japanese star arrives
Fans thronged the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday to welcome Japanese singer-songwriter-actor Masaharu Fukuyama, who has been invited to present an award at the Golden Melody Awards tomorrow. Fukuyama waved to his fans, some of whom had come from Japan just to get a close-up glimpse of their idol at the airport. Fukuyama is the first Japanese male singer to have held concerts for 10 consecutive days at the Pacifico Yokohama Convention Center, drawing a record crowd of 180,000. He also holds the record for the highest number of top-selling EPs among Japanese male singers.
ENVIRONMENT
Cleanup campaign to be held
A monthly coastal cleanup campaign will take place during the latter half of this year to encourage the public to get involved in environmental protection efforts, the organizer said yesterday. The Taiwan Environmental Information Association said the idea is to teach people about what is happening to their surroundings so that proper environmental measures can be taken. During the cleanup at New Taipei City’s (新北市) Jinshan beach, participants will be able to observe the debris on the beach. The campaign could also help the authorities keep a closer eye on the make-up of the trash washed up on the beach and come up with solutions to littering problems. In a similar cleanup event held last month, 22 volunteers collected 160.5kg of trash, according to the association. Those who are interested in the event can go to http://ecowh.blogspot.tw/2013/06/2013-jinshan-coastal-cleanup.html.
CRIME
S Korean suspect repatriated
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) yesterday repatriated a South Korean economic crime suspect who was arrested at a Taiwanese airport in March for using a fake passport. Kwak Ho-young, 42, was detained at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on March 24 while attempting to leave Taiwan on a fake passport, according to the agency. Kwak is on the South Korean government’s wanted list and has been charged with offenses such as fraud, embezzlement and breach of trust in his home country. He has allegedly raked in illegal profits of more than US$17.35 million, the agency said. The Taoyuan District Court sentenced him to five months’ imprisonment, with penalties allowed to be commuted to fines, on charges of possessing a fake passport. After serving his term, Kwak was repatriated to South Korea yesterday.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods