■ DIPLOMACY
AIT offices closed
In observance of Martin Luther King Jr Day, all offices of the American Institute in Taiwan will be closed on Monday. The offices will re-open the following day.
■ DIPLOMACY
Cambodia rebuffs Taiwan
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday it regretted the Cambodian government's continual objection to forging closer economic ties with Taiwan. Ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) made the statement after Phnom Penh reiterated that it did not welcome any form of Taiwanese liaison office in its country. The Central News Agency reported that the Cambodian foreign ministry had issued a statement yesterday saying that, because it respected Beijing's "one China" principle, Cambodia would not allow the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) to set up a branch in the country. At press time, TAITRA had not made any official response to Phnom Penh's rejection.
■ EDUCATION
Political speech contest
Foreign Mandarin students had an opportunity to weigh in on the political situation and display their language abilities in an "If I Were President" speech contest held by Radio Taiwan International on Sunday evening. A total of 46 students from 14 countries took part in the preliminary round of the contest co-sponsored by the publicly funded radio station and National Taiwan Normal University's Mandarin Training Center. The contest was a colorful affair, with the participants using a variety of creative approaches to liven up their speeches. One of the contestants from Vietnam, Du Duc Hiep, a business management student at Tamkang University, used a traditional form of four-verse poetry to express how he would govern as Taiwan's head of state.
■ CRIME
Changes to drug laws mulled
The Ministry of Education (MOE) plans to amend laws to require teenage drug users and their parents to attend counseling classes and impose fines on them, an official said yesterday. In addition, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is considering sending teenage drug users to juvenile court, said Wang Fu-lin (王福林), director of the MOE's military training department. The planned measures are part of the ministries' efforts to respond to the rapidly increasing numbers of teenage students using drugs in recent years, Wang told a national meeting in Kaohsiung attended by local education chiefs. Citing MOE statistics, Wang noted that the number of students who were caught using grade three drugs, including ketamine and flunitrazepam, saw a five-fold rise from 39 in 2004 to 195 last year.
■ SOCIETY
Former minister dies
Former education minister and Academia Sinica research fellow Wu Jin (吳京), who advocated the recognition of Chinese diplomas, died of cancer at noon in Tainan yesterday. The 74-year-old researcher was respected for his dedication to education reform during his term as education minister between 1996 and 1998. During his term, he sought to reform the education system because he believed it attached too much importance to students' grades. He also proposed a military training program for female college students in 1996. Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) expressed his condolences on behalf of the ministry and praised Wu's contribution to education reform.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
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