Officials yesterday defended Vice President Annette Lu (
Next questioned the legitimacy of the prize as well as what it described as the wrongdoings of the major organizers.
The report said although WPPAC, together with its related agencies such as the World Peace Corps Academy and the World Peace Corps Mission, have registered with the US government, the authority of the peace prize was marred by the organization's history and the reputations of its founders.
For instance, the world peace prize, which came into being in 1990, was not granted on a regular basis, with the award going to four winners in 1995, two in 1996 and 1997 respectively, and none in 1991 to 1994, 1998 and 1999.
Controversy over the qualifications of previous prize winners also triggered misgivings on the part of critics, the report said.
According to related materials, in 1995 the prize was awarded to Han Min-su, an evangelist from South Korea, who co-founded the World Peace Corps Mission with late US congressman Robert Leggett in 1989.
The organization also crowned the controversial Cambodian leader Hun Sen in 1996, and even granted the prize to the repressive late South Korean dictator Syngman Rhee in 1996, some 30 years after Rhee passed away, the report argued.
Based on a report by AFP correspondent Michael Field, the magazine reported what it termed a hoax believed to be introduced by Han after the WPPAC awarded the world peace prize to the Tongan King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV in 1996.
Han then introduced some Koreans to sign a contract with the Tongan government in order to secure rights to explore Tonga for natural gas and to set up a nuclear waste facility, which then evaporated into thin air, the report said.
"The organization that granted Lu the World Peace Prize was just like adding flowers to brocade (
"The organization didn't ask for a single penny," Chang said.
Chang also said the foreign ministry has just played a subsidiary role throughout the process and hasn't taken the initiative in lobbying the group to give Lu the award.
Chang's comments were made in the wake of the report in the latest issue of Next which hit news stands yesterday.
In response to the Next article, the Vice President's Office issued a press release yesterday, saying the report has "focussed intense attention on the vice president." The press release also states that Lu has requested the award's sponsors to look into Next's allegations.
"We've been conducting an investigation into the validity of the report, and will hold a press conference to explain the whole episode soon," a staffer at Lu's office told the Taipei Times.
The press release said the natural gas episode in Tonga "was purely a business transaction pertaining to an individual that seemed unrelated to the award council."
Chang said Taiwan's de facto embassy in Washington confirmed that the WPPAC had registered with the US government and its chief judge, Lester Wolff, as well as the former chairman of the US House Asian Affairs Committee.
"The importance of these prizes indeed varies. One can't expect each of these awards to be as grand as the Nobel Peace Prize," Chang added.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS