With the approach of the Lunar New Year, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday released a karaoke-style music video featuring its first self-composed song to wish the people of Taiwan an auspicious and prosperous Year of the Monkey.
The two-minute-long Chinese-language song was composed by AIT Kaohsiung Branch Office Public Affairs Officer John Slover, who lived in Taiwan from 1999 to 2001 before he assumed the post in September last year.
Against a backdrop of Taipei’s National Theater and Concert Hall, Slover led a chorus of seven AIT employees in singing the song, which features several traditional new year’s greetings, such as gong xi fa cai (恭喜發財), which literally translates to “wishing you a financially prosperous year” and wan shi ru yi (萬事如意), meaning “may everything go as you wish.”
The AIT, which represents US interests in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties between the two nations, invited netizens to record their own versions of the song and share them on its Facebook page.
A short film preceding the music video depicted an AIT staff meeting, where the idea of giving Taiwanese a new year’s greeting in the form of a music video came into being.
“As you know, at the last staff meeting, I mentioned that we should find a way of telling the people here how great the relationship is. We do so much cooperation between the US and Taiwan. What I want to do is be able to say thank you and wish everyone a happy new year,” AIT Director Kin Moy says in the video.
AIT Public Diplomacy Section Chief Joseph Bookbinder proposes making a karaoke song to celebrate the Lunar New Year, given the popularity of karaoke in Taiwan.
Moy then turns to the camera and, imitating a style of monologue by US actor Kevin Spacey’s character Francis Underwood in the popular Netflix series House of Cards, says: “Technically, as the director of the institute, I should turn down this proposal, because it is inappropriate for diplomats to be seen singing on the Internet. Besides, our failure to carry a tune could jeopardize US-Taiwan ties.”
“But we at the AIT just like to have some fun,” he adds.
When asked why the AIT chose the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall as the setting for its music video, AIT Cultural Affairs Officer Alys Spensley said they wanted a cultural location in Taipei that would be recognized by people watching the video.
“We thought the beauty of the architecture and the connection to culture was nice for this video,” Spensley said.
As for why the AIT director did not sing in the music video, Spensley said Moy was featured in the video’s opening and that he would continue to engage with the institute’s friends and fans via its presence on social media platforms.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all