President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been named this year’s recipient of the Eisenhower Medallion for his efforts to promote regional peace, according to the US-based People to People International (PTPI) organization.
The award, presented by the organization founded in 1956 by then-US president Dwight D. Eisenhower, recognizes Ma’s East China Sea peace initiative that seeks to resolve territorial disputes in the area through peaceful means.
The 2012 initiative advocates that all claimants to disputed areas refrain from antagonistic actions; set aside their controversies and engage in dialogue; observe international law and resolve disputes through peaceful means; seek consensus on a code of conduct in the region; and establish a mechanism for the joint exploration and development of resources.
Ma, 64, was nominated by the PTPI’s Greater Tainan chapter and is to receive the award on Friday at the PTPI’s 21st worldwide conference that is being held from today until Sunday in Greater Tainan.
Tainan PTPI official Chang Fu-chuan (張富全) said Ma’s peace initiative, which urges trilateral discussions among Taiwan, Japan and China to reach an agreement on territorial disputes, was recognized and praised at a PTPI board meeting.
The award is presented to an internationally known individual or organization in recognition of their exceptional contribution to world peace during a period of at least five years, according to PTPI’s Web site.
Ma is the second Taiwanese to receive the honor, after Master Cheng Yen (證嚴法師), founder of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, in 1994.
Past Eisenhower Medallion recipients include former South African president Nelson Mandela (2010), tenor Luciano Pavarotti (2004), King Hussein I of Jordan (2002), archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu (2000), Medecins Sans Frontieres (1992), Mother Teresa (1988) and Neil Armstrong (1969).
PTPI promotes international understanding and world peace through cultural, educational and humanitarian activities.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS