Another "explicit" admirer of Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) made himself public yesterday, this time via a large sign saying "I love you" placed alongside the highway near Changhua in central Taiwan.
The admirer, Tony Chen, who is an English teacher at a cram school, said the move was absolutely not a momentary impulse, adding that he has planned it for a long time as a gift to Lu for the upcoming Valentine's Day.
The billboard shows a photo Chen took with Lu and the words: "Vice President Lu Shiu-lian, I Love You. Confession from Famous English Teacher Tony Chen. Happy Valentine's Day!"
The "I love you" sign will stand for one year at cost of NT$1.028 million, including location rent, fees to have the sign made, the electricity bill and building costs, according to Chen.
Chen denied putting up the highway sign to gain personal publicity, saying that "I don't need to publicize myself as I'm already a popular cram school English teacher, a well known writer and a scholar with two master's degrees from the United States who has more than 100 lecture chairs a year."
He stressed that the sign is only an expression of his admiration for the vice president, whom he said he has long been attracted to for her "compassion for people, congeniality, courage, political perceptiveness and global vision."
Noting that a roadside sign is the "most direct" way of showing his love for Lu, Chen said that he wants the entire country to see his expression of love and that he hopes the vice president will give him a kind response.
If possible, Chen said, he would be pleased to help the vice president to fulfill one of her wishes of seeing the English level of the people of Taiwan further upgraded.
Some people have expressed concern that the sign might be viewed as illegal and therefore removed. Chen responded by arguing that if that is the case, all the billboards along the Sun Yat-sen Freeway should also be removed.
A previous admirer of Lu, a man who runs a Taipei debt collection agency tried to take 999 roses to her at the Presidential Office last year.
Tung Nien-tai (董念台) tried to bring Lu the roses to court her, but the move caused a commotion in front of the Presidential Office and Tung and his roses were barred by police from entering the premises.
The flowers were not acknowledged by Lu's office and Lu did not respond to Tung's courtship.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
RSS