A black T-shirt worn by Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), one of the student leaders of the Sunflower movement against the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement, was sold for NT$26,676,666 (US$886,900) in an online auction yesterday afternoon.
The seller of the T-shirt said in the eventuality of the winning bidder deciding to cancel the sale, he would open a new auction for the item.
Chen took off the shirt and threw it toward a large crowd of participants at a public forum outside the Legislative Yuan at midnight on Wednesday, hours before he led the scores of students who had occupied the legislative chamber since March 18 to exit the building.
The person who caught the shirt subsequently put it up for auction on Ruten.com (露天拍賣) with a starting price of NT$1.
The description of the T-shirt on the Web site read: “Bear-hugging Wei-ting, the soul figure of the Sunflower movement, may not have as many fans as his partner, green coat-clad Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆).”
“Yet his animal magnetism and his innocence while sleeping have surely lured away the hearts of many young men and women, especially those who are in favor of same-sex marriage,” the description said.
The description was in referrence to an undated photograph of Chen hugging a stuffed bear while sleeping on the floor of the legislative chamber, as well as to a green coat that Lin usually wore when he appeared in front of the cameras.
“The money from the sale of the shirt will be donated to the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan to ensure that democracy will continue to thrive in the nation,” the description said.
“But part of it will have to go to the host of the forum as a ‘kickback’ to allow him to buy a bottle of beer and a piece of fried chicken,” it added.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard