A Taiwanese student has won the US President’s Volunteer Service Award — by giving homemade Taiwanese pineapple cakes to his neighbors.
Hu Kuan-ting (胡貫廷), who attends National Taiwan Normal University’s Affiliated Senior High School, was honored with the volunteer service award from US President Barack Obama.
Hu, who beat about 10,000 competitors to become one of the 20 winners awarded each year, said he felt wonderful helping other people and was honored that his efforts have been recognized.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
During his year in the US under the US Department of State’s Ayusa Program in association with Intrax Co, Hu volunteered at nursing homes and cleaned foliage in the neighborhood where he lived.
He also distributed homemade pineapple cakes, a traditional Taiwanese snack, to his neighbors.
Having heard how sharing food with others was a good way to mix in with the community, Hu said he sought baking tips before leaving for the US and made entire platters of Taiwanese treats, such as scallion pancakes, as well as making his own bubble tea, to share with others in his new community.
Hu said he learned a lot during the year in the US, adding that he did not think that he still had room to improve his language skills, until he went abroad.
According to the US government, more than 1.5 million people have been given the award, which encourages people living in the US to do good deeds and contribute to their communities.
It also seeks to encourage civic participation and inspire people to make helping others a key part of their lives.
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