The National Youth Commission yesterday introduced its “Youth Travel Spots in Taiwan” project for the winter vacation, hoping to create opportunities for young people — Taiwanese and foreigners alike — to get in touch with local culture.
“When asked about their own countries, most foreign students in Taiwan are able to give a detailed introduction to their culture, as well as interesting places in their countries,” commission chairwoman Wang Yu-ting (王昱婷) told a press conference in Taipei.
“However, when young Taiwanese are asked the same question, most of them are only able to talk about the food, snacks and the Taipei 101 skyscraper,” Wang said.
The commission’s new “Youth Travel Spots” in Taiwan is aimed at giving young people in Taiwan, as well as those from abroad, the opportunity to see, touch and experience Taiwan’s rich cultural heritage, Wang said.
“You may have seen a ox-pulled carriage in a book, but seeing one with your own eyes and riding one is another thing,” she said.
The commission has designed 40 “youth travel spots” and routes for the project.
A two or three-day stay in Rende Township (仁德), Tainan County, would allow participants to learn traditional drumming from a Grammy Award-winning local drum troupe and take a ride on old-fashioned trams used to transport sugarcane from fields to sugar refineries.
A stay in Jhongliao Township (中寮), Chiayi County, would give visitors the opportunity to learn how to dye clothes using herbs. Participants can also learn traditional Taiwanese hand puppet skills from hand puppet masters in Yunlin County, or bring home traditional hand puppets.
More information is available online at youthtravel.tw/grandtour.
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a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
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
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
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