Former Associated Press (AP) reporter Tina Chou (周清月), who did not attend the human rights conference held by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy last week, described her conflict with the KMT government during the Martial Law period with a paper presented at the conference.
Chou ran into trouble when she used the word "autopsy" when reporting the case of Chen Wen-chen's (
Chen was a political dissident who returned from the US in May 1981 to visit his family, but he was found dead on the National Taiwan University campus two months later.
There was wild speculation about Chen's death, and some suspected that his death was not natural and politically motivated.
Two US experts came to examine Chen's body and performed an autopsy, but the government denied this and after publication of Chou's story, the Government Information Office (GIO) revoked her press credentials on the basis that she wrote a "fabricated" report.
"It didn't make a difference at all that Prof. De Groot and Dr. Wecht announced their finding that Chen Wen-chen was a victim of homicide, suffering a severe beating prior to his death," Chou wrote.
Later the government and AP came to a compromise, and Chou was allowed to resume her career in 1982. She relocated to India in 1983.
"In 1986, after obtaining the GIO's consent, the AP transferred me back to Taiwan to head the Taipei bureau. On my first day at work I received word from the GIO, informing me that I would not be allowed to work as a journalist because I had never been reinstated," Chou said in the paper. "Thoroughly dismayed and frustrated, I left Taiwan for good."
Chou originally accepted the invitation to come back and tell her story in person at the conference, but pulled out in the end.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
WAY OF THE RUKAI: ‘Values deemed worthy often exist amid discomfort, so when people go against the flow, nature becomes entwined with our lives,’ a student said “Run, don’t walk” after your dreams, Nvidia cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) told National Taiwan University (NTU) graduates yesterday, as several major universities held in-person graduation ceremonies for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. “What will you create? Whatever it is, run after it. Run, don’t walk. Remember, either you’re running for food, or you are running from becoming food. Oftentimes, you can’t tell which. Either way, run,” he said. Huang was one of several tech executives addressing graduating students at Taiwanese universities. National Chengchi University held two ceremonies, with alumnus Patrick Pan (潘先國), who is head of Taiwan
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
RSS