Beijing should be cautious about its timing to pressure Taiwan, as pressuring the nation at international conferences on healthcare and sanitation might trigger a backlash similar to that caused by Taiwanese K-pop singer Chou Tzu-yu’s (周子瑜) forced apology, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
Ko made the comment when asked by reporters about Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ding-yu’s (王定宇) idea that Taiwan’s delegation to the World Health Assembly should bring with Zika and dengue-fever-carrying mosquitoes to the Geneva gathering to protest against Beijing subordinating Taiwan’s sovereignty.
“Disease prevention efforts should be thorough around the world. I believe that the Chinese Communist Party will apply all kinds of pressure on Taiwan, but it had better avoid some issues, particularly issues about healthcare and sanitation. Otherwise, the backlash triggered by the Chou Tzu-yu incident will recur. Beijing needs to be careful,” Ko said.
Chou made a tearful apology in January for briefly holding up a Republic of China flag during an appearance with other members of TWICE on a South Korean variety show, which had drawn a wave of protests from Chinese netizens.
Chou said in the video that she was “proud to be Chinese.”
However, her apology sparked a public outcry in Taiwan and has been cited as one of the factors to the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential and legislative election rout just two days later.
Ko also told reporters that the Farglory Group’s claim that the city government might have deliberately withheld information on a resolution made by the Taipei Construction Review Committee in March regarding the Taipei Dome project out of concern that it would negatively affect the city’s negotiations with company.
The committee found that Farglory carried out the construction according to the project’s construction drawings.
Ko said that the committee’s resolution simply meant that Farglory Construction Co carried out the construction according to the drawing handed to it by Farglory Dome Co, but it likely used a different drawing when the project passed a review by the city’s Urban Planning Review Committee in 2011.
Farglory Group’s claim was a red herring, the mayor said.
“They have such good public relations skills. I really admire their ability to manipulate the media. They would be great if they were fighting an election campaign,” he said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
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