Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) exhorted members of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC) yesterday to make the most of their good relations with communities around the globe to establish "Taiwan friends associations" in all major cities.
Addressing the opening of the 2004 annual conference of the OCAC in Taipei, Lu urged OCAC members to help optimize Taiwan's diplomatic efforts by tying overseas Chinese affairs to the diplomatic front.
Lu said that all Taiwanese should feel proud and fortunate to be Taiwanese. Although Taiwan is geographically small, she went on, the country is big in terms of global competitiveness, economic growth, export capacity and women's participation in politics.
Taiwan is too strategically important to let go from China, which has for long schemed to build itself into a new Chinese empire -- a giant map that would include Taiwan, Lu said.
Lu said that Beijing has maintained a mentality of denial toward the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government over the past four years in the belief that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) would not be re-elected.
But a Taiwan High Court ruling Thursday that reconfirmed the validity of Chen's re-election leaves no room for Beijing to ignore the DPP any longer, Lu argued.
The US House of Representatives yesterday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which stipulates that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican US Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude China from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China
Garbage and recycling schedules are to vary from Saturday through Sunday next week over the Lunar New Year holiday period. The following collection information is from the governments of the six special municipalities. Taipei Regular service: Sunday to Monday next week. No service: Tuesday to Thursday next week. Extra service: Friday next week. Regular service resumes: Saturday next week. New Taipei City Extra service: Sunday. Adjusted collection time: Monday next week — garbage collection is to begin in the morning and end at 6pm. No service: Tuesday to Thursday next week. Regular service resumes: Friday next week. Note: Garbage can be dropped off at 70
A KFC branch in Kaohsiung may be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$200 million (US$1,907 and US$6.37 million), after a customer yesterday found an entire AAA battery inside an egg tart, the Kaohsiung Department of Health said today. The customer was about to microwave a box of egg tarts they had bought at the fast-food restaurant’s Nanzih (楠梓) branch when they checked the bottom and saw a dark shadow inside one of them, they said in a Threads post. The customer filmed themself taking the egg tart apart to reveal an entire AAA battery inside, which apparently showed signs of damage. Surveillance footage showed
GROUP EFFORT: The number of inbound travelers rose 11 to 12 percent last month, with a significant increase in tourists from Europe and North America, an official said The government aims to attract 9.4 million visitors this year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday, citing last year’s success in diversifying tourist markets. Taiwan last year drew about 8.57 million international arrivals, 72.3 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels. By contrast, the nation had about 18.94 million outbound tourists last year, surpassing the pre-COVID-19 level of 17.1 million. The estimated tourism revenue deficit was about NT$700.9 billion (US$22.22 billion). Taoyuan International Airport Corp expects more than 160,000 passengers to pass through the nation’s largest airport daily during the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Saturday. As of Jan. 30, the nation’s average hotel occupancy rate
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