Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) stood in front of the White House on Tuesday and poured a bucket of ice-cold water over his head, as part of a drive to raise money for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The Ice Bucket Challenge has swept the world over the past two weeks, with tens of thousands of people tipping freezing water over their heads to draw attention to the disease that robs victims of the ability to eat, speak, walk and eventually breathe.
As he stood soaking wet in Lafayette Park, directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, Lai said that he had cared for ALS patients during his medical career and that he felt honored to have been asked to participate in the fundraising campaign.
The event drew more public attention to Lai’s visit to the US this week than any of the meetings he conducted with government officials, business executives and Little League Baseball organizers.
At a press conference immediately before he took the Ice Bucket Challenge, Lai said one major issue in his Washington discussions had been Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) policies toward China.
He said the party had adopted a more proactive and interactive policy on cross-strait relations and did not want to see a “continuation of the strong public discontent and dissatisfaction” that had led to the Sunflower movement.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has proven itself “incapable of having a comprehensive vision for cross-strait relations that reflects the public will,” Lai said.
He said that US officials wanted to see Taiwan and China maintain a stable and ongoing working relationship and to continue progress in improving relations.
“Things have changed a lot over the last few years and there is a different public mood, and the DPP has adjusted its approach as the international environment has changed,” Lai said.
He said that DPP relations with US officials had improved significantly, as had communications.
Looking ahead to the Nov. 29 elections, he said the Ma administration’s incompetence had lost the support of the public , but that was no guarantee of DPP electoral success.
“If we are overly confident, we could be in for a bad surprise,” Lai said.
He stressed the importance of Taiwan gaining membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and acknowledged that restrictions on the importation of US pork were a major barrier.
“Something needs to be done about pork — the issue needs to be resolved,” Lai said.
“It is not possible to make it happen overnight, but if the government had a more comprehensive plan for public communication and implementing measures, we believe this issue could be resolved over time,” he said.
However, Lai said there were many issues in the US-Taiwan trade relationship and it did not make sense to focus solely on pork at the expense of everything else.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
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