■ Society
Aboriginal volunteers leave
Seven Aboriginal college and graduate students will head to Thailand today to engage
in volunteer service in tribal villages and refugee camps
in the Thai-Myanmar border area, the Chinese Association for Human Rights (CAHR) said yesterday. It is the first time that the organization has arranged such a trip. CAHR president Hsu Wen-pin (許文彬) said the dispatch of the volunteers is part of the group's efforts to encourage young Aborigines to take part in international humanitarian relief work and expand their international perspective. During the 11-day visit, Hsu said, the group will hold seminars with Aboriginal inhabitants in the Thailand-Myanmar border region on subjects related to indigenous peoples and minority ethnic groups. The group will also visit remote tribal towns, Hsu said, adding that it will share the nation's experience in promoting indigenous culture.
■ Education
Youth camp opens
The King Car Education Foundation and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission announced the beginning of its "2004 Overseas Chinese Youth -- ABC Schwietzer English Teaching Camp" yesterday in Taipei. The camp, which seeks to bring American-born Taiwanese to remote areas of the country to teach English, will run from Monday through Aug. 14 in two schools in Chiayi and Hualien. Organizers stressed that they hoped the camp would facilitate a culture and language exchange between the students and volunteer teachers, while giving
student teachers a chance
to give back to their mother
culture. The teachers were
mostly recruited from
the commission's recent "Overseas Compatriot Youth Summer Formosa Study Tour to Taiwan." While over 100 students applied to teach in the camps, said foundation general director Morgan Sun (孫慶國), there were only room for 24. He said it was planning a one-year teaching program for overseas Taiwanese next January.
■ Diplomacy
Village opened in Paraguay
The Luque Village, a Taiwanese-funded residential complex for low-income families in Paraguay, was inaugurated on Thursday in Asuncion, with Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte presiding over the ceremony. Ambassador Yen Pin-fan (顏秉璠) and other members of the diplomatic corps attended the inauguration ceremony. Duarte said he has delivered on his campaign promise of using Taiwan-donated funds to built housing units for low-income families. He said he will continue to build housing units with Taiwanese funds during his tenure to benefit impoverished people. Yen said the inauguration of
the village epitomizes
the transparency in the Paraguayan government's
use of Taiwanese donations
and the solidity of relations between the two countries. Yen said Taiwan will continue to help Paraguay improve the living conditions of its people.
■ Diplomacy
Yu to visit Latin America
Premier Yu Shyi-kun will be President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) special envoy at the inauguration ceremony of Dominican President-elect Leonel Fernandez Reyna, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Yu will depart on Aug. 12. The premier will transit in Los Angeles and arrive in the Dominican Republic on Aug. 14. Yu
will also visit Honduras
and Nicaragua, two of
the nation's other allies in
Latin America. He will stop
over in New York on his
way back to Taipei. His delegation is scheduled to return here on Aug. 25. A number of top government officials will accompany Yu in the delegation.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by