President Chen Shui-bian (
Sitting in a wheelchair, Havel received the medal at the Presidential Office. The ceremony was also attended by first lady Wu Shu-chen (
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Forced to take a light schedule in Taiwan because of his delicate health, Havel stumbled at the hotel he was staying at and hurt his feet on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said when explaining why Havel needed a wheelchair.
"It is my greatest honor to meet with a world-class writer, thinker, political leader and noble dissident. I am deeply sorry for Mr. Havel's injured feet and offer my apologies. I wish our guest can recover as soon as possible," Chen Shui-bian said after bestowing the medal on Havel.
The president expressed gratitude for Havel's public support for Taiwan's participation in the UN during the world body's general assembly in 1995.
"Our guest today has a deep understanding of universal values such as human rights. He said `human life, human freedom and human dignity represent higher values than state sovereignty' and that `while the state is a human creation, human beings are the creation of God.' I highly admire his thoughts," Chen Shui-bian added.
Havel said that although the Czech Republic is far away from Taiwan, they have many things in common.
"We are both democratic states. I admire the people of Taiwan and the economic development here," he said.
"It was my bad luck that I got hurt. I often get hurt when visiting other countries. It is not Taiwan's fault," Havel said.
"Although Taiwan faces a difficult situation in the international community, its people have been courageous. I believe Taiwan should join the UN. I supported Taiwan's entrance to the UN in the past. I still support its participation in the UN and will do so in the future," Havel said.
Havel gave his only public speech in Taiwan at the National Central Library on globalization and the future of democracy yesterday afternoon.
Mark Chen, Czech Republic's representative to Taiwan Michal Kral, Maysing Yang (
Chiu, whose university performed Havel's drama The Increased Difficulty of Concentration for him on Sunday, said although the play shows the influence of the theater of the absurd, Havel does not exhibit the despair writers who try to catch the sense of the absurd usually betray.
"The play highlights modern people's emptiness and complicated lives. Havel is obsessed with words, yet he strongly distrusts words. He uses a lot of cliches in the play. These cliches contain deep meanings," Chiu said.
"No matter what he went through, he never stopped writing. Havel believes a writer should not confine his whole time to literary creation only -- that would hurt literature. For him, a writer is the conscience of the society. He is a writer and a statesman," Havel said.
Havel received a standing ovation as he entered into the library's packed auditorium in a wheelchair. Thanking the kindness of his host, the TFD, Havel said he has traveled to more than 50 countries in different continents and that he found the world is struggling to find a new order.
"I am trying to realize what is the most important element in this new order," Havel said. "People should respect each other and not force others to change their views. Everyone is absolutely equal."
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
RSS