Lawmakers yesterday accused the Veterans Affairs Commission (VAC) of belittling itself with its recommendation that recreational farms remove the names of government agencies from their titles and in their promotional material to avoid “offending” Chinese tourists and the government in Beijing.
The commission said in its January report on the nation’s participation at the Chinese International Travel Mart in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, in October last year that the wording on promotional material should not violate “local taboos,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers Tsai Chih-chang (蔡其昌) and Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) told a press conference yesterday.
The lawmakers said commission officials asked representatives of Wuling Farm and Cingjing Farm to remove the wording “Executive Yuan” from their promotional material, citing political concerns and Beijing’s displeasure.
Photo: Liu Hsin-der, Taipei Times
The two recreational farms in central Taiwan are affiliated to the commisssion, which is under the Executive Yuan, and are among the most popular destinations for domestic and overseas tourists.
“The commission has always prided itself in its loyalty to the country, but now we’re seeing this self-belittling practice to cater to Beijing. It is ridiculous,” Tsai said.
The 100-member Taiwanese delegation was led by officials from the commission and the Tourism Bureau, Chiu said.
Chiu demanded that the government hold officials in the bureau and the commission accountable.
The commission’s demand was first disclosed by an unidentified Internet user on his or her Facebook page, which led the lawmakers to track down the report that had previously gone unnoticed.
Commenting on the matter, the commission said that according to Taiwan Visitors Association regulations stipulated in its exhibitors’ invitation program, the content of any publication, brochure and souvenir prepared by participant organizations must conform with “cross-strait conventions” and should undergo prior examinations by the association.
Such regulations exist to prevent unqualified material from impeding the customs clearance processes of the rest of the promotional items, the commission said, adding that staff at Cingjing Farm had removed references to the Executive Yuan on their own initiative after becoming aware of the rules.
However, an official at the commission said that removing words referring to official Taiwanese agencies from promotional material “lacked political sensitivity.”
“However, since the farm only took part in the exhibition to draw Chinese tourists to Taiwan, rather than engaging in any cross-strait dialogue with China or participating in any sort of political event, its conduct should not be defined as ‘belittling,’” a commission official said.
Taiwan Visitors Association Secretary-General Yeh Pi-hua (葉碧華) said that as the association had not received any funding from the government and that the removal of references to the Executive Yuan was not belittling.
With translation by Stacy Hsu, staff writer
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS