President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) took part in the nation’s first National Women’s Conference (全國婦女國是會議) yesterday to demonstrate how much they care about policies relating to women’s affairs, but there was one small glitch: The Presidential Office was caught using a wrong character on its Web site when referring to the event.
In the section of the Presidential Office Web site listing the president’s public appearances, it was written that Ma would take part in the 全國婦女國事會議, mistaking the character 事 for 是.
Although the two characters have the same pronunciation, they have very different meanings.
While the term 國事 refers to “state affairs,” or everyday issues relating to a country, the term 國是 refers to a government’s policy directions.
Despite the Presidential Office’s error, both the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of the Interior, as well as the official event Web site, have been using the correct characters whenever the event is mentioned.
An unnamed official said that no one in government had “dared” inform the Presidential Office that it had made a mistake in its selection of characters.
The ministry made a special presentation on women’s rights and gender equality during the Cabinet meeting on Thursday and announced that a National Women’s Conference was to be held yesterday and today at the National Central Library in Taipei.
The meeting, which involves the participation of non--governmental groups, academics and representatives from government agencies dealing with women’s issues, aims to outline future policy directions to improve gender equality in the country.
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.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
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
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry