Renowned writer Lung Ying-tai (
As the appointed head of the bureau, Lung said it would concentrate on constructive cultural tasks, and would not simply be a forum for entertainment.
With the bureau, Taiwan's first at a local level, still in its preparatory stages, Lung said it was vital to create an environment conducive to "the improvement of the quality of humankind (in Taiwan)."
She said the bureau would not limit itself to being a provider of entertainment.
"Even if activities are offered, they will be linked to our vital tasks. The bureau is not a director, but rather a facilitator to private cultural groups."
She also said the bureau would focus on the needs of the general public, saying it was vital that more people became involved in cultural activities at a community level.
But Lung admitted that she needed time to explore further people's expectations of the bureau, and to work within the government bureaucracy to help realize her ideas.
The bureau is scheduled to begin work on November 6.
Analysts have supported Lung's vision.
Chen Chi-nan (
Nan Fang Shuo (南方朔), publisher of the Journalist magazine, said cultural activities should go beyond high-minded serious events such as concerts to include events closer to the life of the general public.
He said that the public should not take the city's cultural bureau too seriously.
"It is only a small part of the government agencies in charge of culture affairs in Taiwan," he said. "But her celebrity status often misleads people to expect the bureau to create something extremely terrific. However, to have your expectations too high is not fair to her."
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS