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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
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
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
RSS