■ Investment
Delegation visits Panama
A Ministry of Economic Affairs delegation is visiting Panama to offer consulting services to Taiwanese businessmen who have made investments there. The delegation, composed of administration experts from the China Productivity Center and Ming Chuan University, hopes to assist businessmen abroad in reducing risks to their investments and in integrating the efforts of Taiwanese entrepreneurs. In a symposium Friday, delegation members spoke of key administration strategies designed for businessmen with investments in Panama and communicated the importance that the government places on businesses abroad. Prior to arriving in Panama, the delegation visited the Dominican Republic. It will head for Costa Rica next. The consulting services are part of the ministry's effort to offer various services to Taiwanese businessmen around the world, especially those investing in Southeast Asia and Central and South America.
■ Culture
Aboriginal band wows Paris
The Aboriginal band Amis, made up of musicians from Taiwan's indigenous Ami tribe, on Friday treated Paris audiences to an extraordinary night of exotic music. The band, playing handmade musical instruments, made their debut in Paris' popular park Jardin du Luxembourg as a warm-up for the Paris music festival Fete de la Musique to be held tomorrow. Wearing colorful traditional outfits, the members of the band played flutes, drums and xylophones. Among the traditional instruments a special kind of nose flute attracted much attention. The band's show reached a climax when the public joined the dancing, and after the show members of the audience peppered the band members with questions about where they came from and how they made and play the instruments.
■ Culture
Music festival in Chiayi
The Asian Musical Festival, an eight-day event sponsored by the Chiayi County Government to mark the summer solstice on June 21, began yesterday. The festival will present music groups from five Asian countries. Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) noted that Chiayi is located at the Tropic of Cancer, where the sun is directly overhead at noon on the day of the summer solstice. To observe the solstice, the county government organized the Asian Musical Festival so that local residents would not have to travel abroad to see excellent foreign musical groups perform, Chen said. In addition to foreign groups, the organizers also invited local folk and Aboriginal groups to open shows for the out-of-town acts.
■ Diplomacy
Canterbury tour
Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂), Taiwan's representative to Britain, paid a visit to Canterbury City in Kent County Friday at the invitation of Canterbury Mayor Martin Vye. Accompanied by Vye, Tien attended a preview of the city's biennial arts exhibition and visited several noted cultural sites in the city. Among the exhibits on display at the Canterbury biennial arts show is a piece created by Hsiao-ching Li (李小鏡), a Taiwan-born artist based in New York. The exhibition was to be formally opened yesterday for a 16-day run. After the tour of the exhibition, Vye hosted a luncheon in honor of Tien and several staff members of the Taiwan representative office in London.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
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