The nation would fight hard against “GTB lunatics,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday in response to a Chinese official’s ridicule of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday criticized Tsai’s inspection of military bases and letter to Pope Francis in response to his message for the 52nd World Day of Peace on Jan. 1.
In the letter, Tsai said that Taiwan would remain resilient due to Beijing’s threat to invade Taiwan by force and continued suppression of its presence in the international community.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Ma ridiculed Tsai for “dressing up” like the cartoon character Popeye and acting like a Chinese opera actress when “complaining to foreigners,” adding that the moves were made to serve the interests of Tsai and her party.
Wu yesterday on Twitter defended Tsai, saying that Taiwan is on the front lines of the fight for freedom and democracy.
“We’ll keep fighting hard against state-level interference, infiltration, disinformation, military threats, international assaults, wumao, GTB lunatics & African swine fever,” he wrote.
The term wumao refers to Internet users who are paid to support the Chinese government’s propaganda, while “GTB” is a romanized acronym for the office, which is pronounced guo tai ban in Mandarin.
The Mainland Affairs Council on Wednesday said that the office’s ridicule and inappropriate remarks only show its rudeness and ignorance of how a democratic society functions.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai