The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday set a timer to calculate the number of days it would take for China Airlines (CAL) to change its name to Taiwan Airlines after Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) reiterated his support for the name-change campaign on Monday, adding that it dared the transportation minister to rename the airline.
Whether the airline’s name should be changed has become a subject of heated debate after it was entrusted with the task of transporting masks and other disease-prevention materials to countries severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The airline’s name, which was also displayed on the containers of the materials, has led some people to think that the materials were donated by China, not Taiwan.
Asked about it yesterday, Lin said: “We welcome the KMT and the public brainstorming ideas for Taiwan to be recognized for its efforts. The party may have tried to generate conversation about the topic by setting up a timer, but by doing so it inadvertently exposed its own problems... If it truly embraces Taiwan, it should set a timer for itself, counting the days until it changes its name to the Taiwan Nationalist Party.”
People likely care more about when the party will change its name than when the airline is to be renamed, Lin added.
Changing the airline’s name would require the public and politicians to reach a consensus, Lin said, adding that it is also a matter for the airline’s management.
The KMT should not turn the issue into a political one, he added.
“Our message to the world is: ‘Taiwan can help,’ and we are taking medical aid to people around the world on the belief that disease prevention has no borders. Through the foreign aid, we are also sharing our experience of combating the disease with the world,” Lin said. “People should cherish the hard-earned recognition from the international community for our performance in curbing the spread of COVID-19.”
Lin later said on Facebook that this was not the first time that people had raised the issue, but it drew much more feedback from young people this time because they do not want other countries to confuse Taiwan with China.
Lin said that he had reminded the airline to not use unnecessary signs that might easily lead to misunderstandings.
Even though the Ministry of Transportation and Communications is the airline’s major shareholder, the airline is a publicly traded firm and has to respect other shareholders, he said.
Before the public reaches a consensus on this issue, Lin said that he would ask the airline to highlight imagery on the exterior and interior of the aircraft that would be less confusing.
“The KMT seems to think such an important issue can be decided by a single politician alone, as if we are still under an authoritarian regime,” he said.
“Instead of setting up a timer or creating a Web site for Taiwan Airlines, we sincerely hope that the KMT can work with us and Taiwanese … and join us in preventing the spread of disease,” he added.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS