CULTURE
Macau Orchestra to visit
The Macau Orchestra is to perform in Taiwan for the first time during a concert tour opening today, performing works by Rachmaninoff and other masters. Led by artistic director and principal conductor Lu Jia (呂嘉), the orchestra will hold concerts in Taipei today, in Hsinchu on Saturday, in Greater Kaohsiung on Monday and in Greater Taichung on Tuesday, said the tour’s promoter, New Aspect, Environment, Culture & Creation. Taiwanese pianist Rueibin Chen (陳瑞斌) is to join the orchestra in performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, while Chinese pipa player Zhang Hongyan (章紅艷) is to perform Little Sisters of the Grassland, a Chinese pipa concerto composed by Liu Dehai (劉德海), Wu Zuqiang (吳祖強) and Wang Yanqiao (王燕樵).
CULTURE
NY to show Taiwanese films
Four Taiwan-produced films will be screened at the upcoming 37th Asian American International Film Festival in New York, with each showing a different side of Taiwanese society. The films include director Cho Li’s (卓立) The Rice Bomber, based on the true story of Yang Ju-men (楊儒門), a man who planted 17 rice-filled explosive devices in Taiwan in 2003 and 2004 to protest what he saw as the government’s neglect of farmers. Also to be shown are director Chang Tso-chi’s (張作驥) A Time in Quchi, a film about a boy who comes of age while visiting his grandfather in rural Quchi in New Taipei City, and US director Henry Chan’s (陳發中) romantic comedy 100 Days, which concerns a career-obsessed man who returns to his hometown after his mother’s death, only to run into his childhood sweetheart. The black-and-white short A Breath From the Bottom by director Chan Ching-lin (詹京霖) is also to be screened at the festival, which takes place from July 24 to Aug. 2.
SOCIETY
Charities report missions
Taiwanese charity groups traveled to remote areas of Sri Lanka and Mongolia earlier this month to provide medical services to people in the countries, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which covered part of the missions’ costs. The Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps provided free treatment for people in southern Sri Lanka on a July 5 to 13 medical mission, Department of NGO International Affairs director-general Ray Mou (牟華瑋) said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Bliss and Wisdom Cultural Foundation sent a mission to Mongolia from July 6 until Thursday last week, Mou said. During its trip, the mission provided clinical services, basic checkups and seminars on health education.
SOCIETY
Global affairs camp to open
A summer camp aimed at increasing young people’s understanding of international affairs and the development of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is to be held next month in Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The ministry is commissioning the Taipei-based Ming Chuan University to organize the five-day camp, which is to begin on Aug. 13, said Ray Mou (牟華瑋), director-general of the ministry’s Department of NGO International Affairs Lectures. The camp will include discussions on topics such as eradicating poverty, encouraging sustainable development and gender equality, he said, adding that visits to local NGOs would also be part of the itinerary. The camp is open to those aged 18 to 35, and proficiency in English is required, as it is an all-English-language program, Mou added. This is second year that the camp is being conducted solely in English.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
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