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.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS