President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that his administration is to honor two people who helped innocent Chinese and Jews during World War II and soldiers who fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War, when the Republic of China (ROC) holds a series of events next month to mark the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory.
The ROC’s eight-year fight against Japan (1937 to 1945) was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis Powers were defeated by the Allies.
As part of a series of commemorative events, Ma said that his administration is to honor German businessman John Rabe and ROC diplomat Ho Feng-shan (何鳳山) in recognition of their efforts to save the lives of many people during World War II.
Rabe is known for helping to create a safety zone in Nanjing in 1937 when that city — then the capital of China — fell to Japanese troops. The zone provided shelter for more than 200,000 civilians and prevented them from being slaughtered by the Japanese army.
The ROC government has invited Rabe’s grandson, who is a professor at Heidelberg University, to Taipei to receive a commendation on behalf of his grandfather, Ma said. John Rabe died in 1950.
“I will present a presidential citation in honor of him, which comes 70 years too late,” Ma said.
While receiving a group of Chinese at the Presidential Office in May, the president also praised Ho.
Ho was posted to Vienna, Austria, as consul-general by the ROC between 1938 and 1940. During that period, he issued visas to more than 2,000 Jews in Austria, when that country was annexed by Nazi Germany, enabling them to flee.
Ho earned the nickname the “Chinese Oskar Schindler,” the German businessman who saved the lives of more than 1,000 Jews during the Holocaust.
Noting that Ho died in 1997, Ma said his administration is to invite his daughter, Ho Manli (何曼禮), to Taipei to receive a commendation on his behalf.
Ma added the government is to grant medals to those who joined the ROC military to fight in the war against Japan in recognition of their efforts to protect the country.
The president said there are still about 400 living in Taiwan and that his administration would issue a medal to each of them.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
RSS