Being watched over by Chinese security personnel is an “honor” for Taiwanese musicians performing in China, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said yesterday.
She said any picture could be subject to multiple interpretations after New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) showed a photograph purporting to show ranks of Chinese military police standing by at a concert of a Taiwanese musician.
Lim showed the picture during a question-and-answer session of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee.
“The military police are mainly concerned about the possibility of a riot, because everyone [in the audience] is so high,” Ko said.
She asked Minister of Culture Hung Meng-chi (洪孟啟) if he would dare discourage Taiwanese musicians from performing in China.
“This is an extremely great honor for a singer,” Ko said.
Lim — who is the lead singer of metal band Chthonic, which has been banned from performing in China because of its pro-Taiwanese independence stance — said the picture illustrates the failure of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to protect the rights of Taiwanese musicians performing in China.
“In eight years, we have never made any concrete demands that the freedom of our singers to perform be protected,” Lim said.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
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