Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) will not appear at a public hearing on the special arms budget tomorrow, because he felt "reasonable discussions" of the issue would not take place with anti-arms bill activists also taking part in the event, a ministry spokesman said yesterday.
People First Party Legislator Chao Liang-yen (
She invited Lee and other high ranking officials from the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to sit with anti-arms bill activists, including the convener and vice convener of the Anti-Arms Procurement Alliance Chang Ya-chung (
Ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Liou Chih-chien (劉志堅) yesterday said that Lee decided not to attend the hearing because "there would be no reasonable discussions and that a consensus cannot be reached at the hearing because those participants already have solid stance opposing the arms bill."
To avoid any arguments at the hearing, the MND suggested that Lee and other ministry officials not attend the meeting, Liou added.
Liou said that according to the law, legislators can conduct hearings on bills that have been placed on the legislative agenda and are being reviewed, but because the special arms bill has not been placed on the legislative agenda, legislators cannot conduct a hearing on it.
Chao yesterday criticized the MND, saying it was unwillingly to communicate with the public on the arms issue.
"The hearing will still be held without any of the military the officials," Chao added.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
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