DIPLOMACY
Chopin Web site updated
The designation of Taiwan on the International Chopin Piano Competition’s Web site has been changed to “Chinese Taipei,” after the government protested the use of two other names, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. When the contestants for the preliminary round were named last week, the country of the Taiwanese was first listed as “PRC Taiwan” before being changed to “China Taiwan.” After the Taipei Representative Office in Poland lodged a protest, the appellation was changed on Saturday to “Chinese Taipei,” ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said. Although the designation is still not what the government would prefer, it is “acceptable,” Ou said. She thanked the competition’s organizers for their efforts to resolve the matter, despite pressure from Beijing.
EARTHQUAKES
Tainan rocked by temblor
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake hit southern Taiwan at 9:52am yesterday, but no damage or injuries were immediately reported. The epicenter was in Tainan’s Nanhua District (南化), and the quake hit at a depth of 13.2km, the Central Weather Bureau’s Seismology Center said. The quake’s highest intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, measured 4 on Taiwan’s zero to 7 intensity scale in Nansi and 3 in Kaohsiung and Chiayi County. It had an intensity of 2 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County.
DIPLOMACY
UN Woman criticized
The Presidential Office on Friday criticized the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women for not including President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in the “Women in Politics: 2020” map it produced with the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The map, released on Tuesday, also shows Taiwan in the same color as China, suggesting that they are one nation. “Hello @UN_Women: If you really want to empower women around the world, you may need 2 things: 1) NEW GLASSES so you can see past your prejudices; 2) MORE COURAGE so you can face reality & acknowledge #Taiwan’s widely admired head of state, President @iingwen!” the office tweeted. The office also posted a map showing Taiwan as one of 21 nations that have a female as head of state or government leader. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it has asked the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York to file a protest with the UN over Tsai’s exclusion.
EDUCATION
Gold medalists honored
The Ministry of Education on Friday presented awards to the gold medalists of last year’s International Exhibition for Young Inventors. Taiwanese won nine of the 33 gold medals that were awarded at the exhibition in Indonesia in October, the ministry said. They included students from Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taipei, Taichung, New Taipei City and Yilan County, whose projects were chosen from out of 140 submitted. Last year’s event drew participants, aged six to 19 from 11 nations, who competed in seven categories: disaster management; education and recreation; foods and agriculture; green technologies; safety and health; technologies for special needs; and art technology. The K-12 Education Administration said that by recognizing the medalists, it hopes to encourage students to continue to invent and to innovate, and to inspire others to be passionate about technology and invention.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
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