Taiwan’s Dharma Master Cheng Yen (證嚴法師), founder of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, was named as one of this year’s 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in recognition of her contributions to serving the needy.
Cheng, 73, founded Tzu Chi in 1966, with the motto of “instructing the rich and saving the poor,” with four major missions — charity, medicine, education and culture.
Under Cheng’s leadership, Tzu Chi is now a global organization involved in international disaster relief, bone marrow donations, environmental protection and community volunteer work.
Photo courtesy of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation
The venerable nun also took fifth place with 112,330 votes in a “People’s Choice” online poll conducted by the magazine. Time’s Asia editor Zoher Abdoolcarim described her as “a saint.”
Detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未), the activist mayor of a tsunami-hit Japanese town, and South Korean singer Rain were also on the list.
Campaigners made a strong showing among the 17 Asians on the global list, which the magazine said was themed around social media and activism.
However, topping a separate reader poll was Rain, as Time’s online readers cast aside moguls and heads of state for the third year running in favor of the heartthrob and singer of Hip Song.
Ai, detained in Beijing since April 3 on suspicion of “economic crimes” and whose whereabouts are unknown, appears in an entry unlikely to please the Chinese government.
China’s rising influence is also reflected in the listing of Charles Chao (曹國偉), founder of the Web giant Sina-Weibo (新浪), journalist Hu Shuli (胡舒立), who started Caijing (財經) magazine, and media personality Hung Huang (洪晃).
Chinese Vice President and leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping (習近平) also made the list.
Leading Myanmar dissident Aung San Suu Kyi is meanwhile described as an “Asian hero and global inspiration” in an entry written by exiled Chinese campaigner Wang Dan (王丹), a leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
However, also on the list appears Kim Jong-un, bluntly described as North Korea’s “tyrant in waiting” since his father and national leader Kim Jong-il apparently named him as a successor.
The disasters in Japan — hit by a huge earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency in March — brought onto the list two men who were anything but household names until the quake: Katsunobu Sakurai and Takeshi Kanno.
Sakurai, mayor of the Japanese town of Minamisoma, earns the title “Boat Rocker” for his decision two weeks after the disasters to release a passionate YouTube video calling for help for his town from the central government.
Local doctor Kanno, who saved dozens of people at a public hospital by moving them to a high floor before the tsunami hit, joined him on the list.
WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and pop music heartthrob Justin Bieber were also among the 100 “most influential people in the world,” as well as 30-year-old Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who became a hero of the Egyptian revolution.
Britain’s royal couple Prince William and Kate Middleton to be married next Friday appear together as one entry.
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
The zero emissions ship Porrima P111 was launched yesterday in Kaohsiung, showcasing the nation’s advancement in green technology, city Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. The nation last year acquired the Swiss-owned vessel, formerly known as Turanor PlanetSolar, in a bid to boost Taiwan’s technology sector, as well as ecotourism in Palau, Chen said at the ship’s launch ceremony at Singda Harbor. Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also attended the event. The original vessel was the first solar-powered ship to circumnavigate the globe in a voyage from 2010 to 2012. Taiwan-based Porrima Inc (保利馬) installed upgrades with
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese
RSS