Popular Taiwanese author Giddens Ko (柯景騰) yesterday fulfilled a pledge to donate 700 boxed meals to those in need after it was reported that a Filipino had been denied service at a Taipei cafeteria, an incident which was later proved untrue.
Ko, one of the nation’s best-selling authors better known by his pseudonym Jiu Ba-dao (九把刀), paid for 700 boxed meals at a boxed lunch shop in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Jhonghe District (中和). The meals are being held under a model that allows people to pay in advance for food that is later claimed by those in need.
The author specified that the meals should be distributed from yesterday to June 8, in the form of 25 meal boxes over 14 days.
Ko made the pledge to buy 700 reserved meals after a 38-year-old woman surnamed Tung (董) said in a May 15 Facebook post that she had bought lunch for a Filipino worker who had been denied service at a cafeteria.
At the time, Ko questioned the accuracy of the information and said he would buy 700 boxed meals for the homeless and the less well-off if Tung’s post proved to be a true story.
Earlier this week, Tung confessed that she had only heard of the situation, but wrote the story as if she had witnessed it personally.
Although the rumor proved to be untrue, Ko said, he wanted to donate the meals anyway to “give the incident a heartwarming ending.”
The first person in line, a man from New Taipei City’s Nanshijiao area (南勢角), said he had been waiting since 9:30am and thanked Ko for his kindness.
Ko rose to fame after his semi-autobiographical novel and a subsequent movie You are the Apple of My Eye (那些年，我們一起追的女孩) scored big successes.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas,” the US military said yesterday, as tensions between China and Taiwan raise concerns in Washington. US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defense identification zone near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). The US military said the carrier strike group was in the South China Sea, a large part of which
STRATEGIC MISTAKE: Beijing’s deployment of aircraft near Taiwan proves the ‘China threat theory’ that sees it attempting to destabilize the region, an analyst said China on Saturday and yesterday sent a record number of military aircraft into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in what analysts said was an attempt to flex its military might for US President Joe Biden. Thirteen Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ on Saturday and 15 entered yesterday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. On Saturday, eight Xian H-6K bombers, four Shenyang J-16 fighters and a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, entered the ADIZ, while yesterday there were two Y-8s, two Su-30s, four J-16s, six J-10 fighters and a Y-8 reconnaissance
DISPOSING MYTHS: A new constitution would better reflect reality, as the current one was drafted ‘in and for China,’ without the consent of Taiwanese, advocates said Independence advocates yesterday launched the Taiwan New Constitution Alliance to promote drafting a new, localized constitution. “This is a historic moment for Taiwan. Drafting a new constitution is the most important task Taiwanese face,” veteran independence advocate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said at the inaugural event in Taipei. “Although the Democratic Progressive Party is in power, its authority is based on the Republic of China [ROC] Constitution, which has no connection to Taiwan,” said the 95-year-old Koo, a former presidential adviser. “The historic task of drafting a new constitution depends on efforts by all Taiwanese,” Koo said. “A constitution for a sovereign, independent Taiwan
RSS