Legislator Trong Chai (蔡同榮) of the DPP was elected president of the ROC-US Parliamentary Amity Association Wednesday, a group comprising 120 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties.
The association elected Chai to succeed Shih Ming-teh (施明德), who lost his re-election bid in the Dec. 1, 2001 legislative elections.
At the meeting in which the elections were held, association members also adopted a resolution allowing the three main opposition parties -- the KMT, the People First Party (PFP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) -- to recommend one of its legislators as new vice president of the association.
The TSU recommended Legislator at Large Wu Tung-sheng (
In addition, Hsiao Bi-khim (
Following his election, Chai said that he will do all that he can to increase official exchanges between Taiwan and the US.
Chai said that he is scheduled to lead a delegation on April 10 to attend an inauguration ceremony of the US-ROC Parliamentary Amity Association set up by the US House of Representatives.
Chai, a promoter of the establishment of the Formosan Association of Public Affairs in the US, voiced the hope that the formation of the two associations will help boost substantive relations between Taipei and Washington.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper