A NASA Web site that offers researchers downloadable satellite data no longer lists Taiwan as “Taiwan, Province of China” on the page. After a Taiwanese blogger who goes by the pseudonym “Shortcake” wrote about it in his blog, a large group of Internet users sent protest e-mails to NASA, which changed the name to “Taiwan” on Thursday.
Shortcake said the Web site used to refer to Taiwan as “Taiwan,” but speculated that the government’s talk of a “diplomatic truce” with China led to the change on the NASA Web site.
The blogger said this violated the 1996 Memorandum of Understanding signed by the US Department of State, which stated that the US government and its officials should refer to Taiwan as “Taiwan.”
Shortcake wrote a protest letter to the agency and invited fellow Internet users to copy his letter and send it to NASA. Within a day, NASA edited the Web page and changed Taiwan’s name back to “Taiwan.”
Shortcake went to school in the US and worked there for more than a decade. In his blog, he discusses acts by governments, agencies and international organizations that degrade Taiwan’s national sovereignty.
This is not the first time he has written a letter of protest and called on other Internet users to join in the written protest. Most organizations, after receiving letters of protest, change Taiwan’s name to Taiwan on their Web sites, he said, citing a US railway company, Google Maps, the WHO, the Global Invasive Species Database and Nokia as examples.
Shortcake returned to Taiwan in July last year, quitting a well-paid job because of the passion he felt for his country, he said.
Shortcake said he had promoted activism because he felt that Taiwan is often degraded in the international community.
“It is a country’s basic right to maintain its name, yet Taiwan’s name has been abused by others over and over again, revealing that there are still deficiencies in Taiwan’s right to exercise sovereignty,” he said.
He said he felt he had the duty to protest this treatment and help the nation combat it.
Over the years, Shortcake said he has been pleased to find many like-minded people. As long as people are willing to speak out, Taiwan has a good chance of having its name respected, he said.
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
RSS