■ DIPLOMACY
WHO article sparks row
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday it was looking into the WHO’s use of the term “Taiwan (China)” to refer to the country. The term was used in an article titled “Taiwan (China) urges event planners to take precautions against Pandemic (H1N1) 2009,” which was posted online on Tuesday by the WHO’s Western Pacific Regional Office in Manila. “The Foreign Ministry’s representative in the Philippines is now looking into the matter and will lodge a protest and request a correction from the world health body, but the process could take some time,” ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said. “We hope that Taiwan can be referred to as Chinese Taipei in WHO agencies and meetings. This is the goal that we are working toward.”
■ RELIGION
Church honors three
Artist Yang En-dian (楊恩典), who paints with her mouth and feet, is one of three people who will receive a special Family Values Award on Father’s Day today to recognize their strong family values, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a press release yesterday. This is the sixth consecutive year the church has recognized outstanding people for their contributions to strengthening families throughout Taiwan. Yang was born with no arms and a deformed right leg and spine. She was abandoned by her parents and brought to an orphanage in Kaohsiung in March 1974. Growing up to earn her own living by selling her paintings, Yang is now married and has a daughter of her own. Huang Suei-ping, founder of the Taiwan Spinocerebellar Ataxia Association, will receive the award for expanding her love for her stricken siblings to others with similar problems. Huang Chih-ming, chief advisor of Prudential Financial Inc, Taiwan, was chosen for his contributions to promoting family values.
■ SOCIETY
Shops plan gay soiree
Gay-friendly stores in Taipei City’s Gongguan (公館) and Ximending (西門町) shopping districts will hold events on Lunar Lover’s Day on Aug. 22 to mark the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the nation’s gay rights movement. The alliance of gay-friendly stores will celebrate the day with a series of events, including a forum on same-sex relationships at 1:30pm, a drama performed by students from Taipei National University of the Arts at 4pm, and a soiree on the square around the Red House Theater in Ximending. Participating stores will set up booths selling their wares, while gay rights activists will share a brief history of the movement over the past 10 years.
■ DIPLOMACY
Mine removal supported
Taiwan has provided assistance to the US-based nongovernmental Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI) in support of a program promoting landmine removal and assisting victims of landmines and unexploded ordnance in Vietnam. Kenneth Liao (廖港民), director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, and HDI president Ralph Cwerman signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in New York on Thursday. Liao later handed a US$200,000 check to Cwerman on behalf of the government. The amount is intended to support the HDI’s ongoing efforts to remove landmines in Vietnam and to expand mushroom farming there to generate jobs and income for those who have been left disabled by landmines or unexploded ordnance. Over the next two years, Taiwan will also send mushroom farming experts to Vietnam to take part in the program.
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
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
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
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
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