SOCIETY
Gender gap decreasing
Taiwan ranked 38th in the world in gender equality in a Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics’ (DGBAS) report released on Tuesday, higher than Singapore, China, Japan and South Korea. Taiwan’s gender gap index was 0.729 last year, an improvement of 0.005 from the previous year, pushing the nation’s ranking up by five notches, the agency said. The index uses the same formula as the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, which rates the relative gaps between men and women in the areas of health, education, economy and politics. Taiwan showed improvement in three of the four categories last year, the DGBAS said. The World Economic Forum report, which includes 144 countries, but excludes Taiwan, rated Iceland No. 1 with a score of 0.806, followed by Finland (0.845) and Norway (0.842). Among the major Asian countries, Singapore was ranked No. 55 (0.712), China No. 99 (0.676), Japan No. 111 (0.660) and South Korea No. 116 (0.649).
SOCIETY
Actress Lee Li-hua dies
Lee Li-hua (李麗華), who appeared in more than 120 films and was one of the most famous Chinese-speaking actresses in the world, died in Hong Kong on Sunday at age 92, the Executive Committee of Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival said. Lee was born in Shanghai in 1924 to parents were Peking opera performers. Her movie debut, Three Smiles (三笑), was released in Shanghai in 1940. Lee was twice awarded the Taipei Golden Horse “Best Leading Actress” Award — in 1965 for Between Tears and Smiles (故都春夢) and in 1969 for Storm over the Yangtze River (揚子江風雲). Lee was awarded the 52nd Annual Golden Horse Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.
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