The Presidential Office yesterday denied that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had reneged on his promise to issue memorial coins in commemoration of democracy trailblazer Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水).
Paul Chang (張國葆), acting director-general of the Presidential Office's Department of Public Affairs, said Ma wrote Chiang's family a letter asking for their consent to use the image of the democracy pioneer after the central bank informed Ma of its plan to issue memorial coins in honor of the president and Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) after they were elected last year.
“The president thought it would be a better idea to consider using the image of those who contributed to Taiwan's democratic development,” Chang said.
In September last year, Ma praised Chiang as “a great man of Taiwan,” saying that studying the life and times of Chiang was a good way to promote Taiwanese identity.
Chiang, who founded the nation's first political party, the Taiwan People's Party (台灣民眾黨), formed the Taiwan Culture Association (台灣文化協會) with a group of intellectuals in October 1921.
Its aim was to awaken Taiwanese consciousness through cultural enlightenment. Chiang was imprisoned more than 10 times for defying orders from the Japanese regime. He died of typhoid in 1931, at the age of 40.
Chang yesterday said the central bank told the president that it would “solicit public opinion” about Ma's proposal and deal with the matter “in accordance with the law and regulations.”
Once the procedure is completed, it will send the recommendation to the Executive Yuan for approval, Chang said.
Chang made the remarks in response to reporters' questions about a report in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) yesterday.
The report said the Chiang family was upset and felt they had been deceived because while they had agreed to Ma's proposal to use Chiang's portrait for the coins about one-and-a-half years ago, the matter was still unresolved.
Chang said the media should ask the central bank when it planned to present the proposal to the Executive Yuan, adding that he believed it would come sooner or later.
Chang said Ma only made the recommendation and that the president would respect the central bank's decision.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
RSS