There are no government plans to rename the National Palace Museum, museum Director Wu Mi-cha (吳密察) said yesterday.
At a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee in Taipei to review the museum’s budget for next year, lawmakers asked Wu to respond to rumors that have spread during the past week about possible changes to the museum.
The rumors claimed that the museum, which is a second-tier agency of the Executive Yuan, is to become a third-tier agency of the Ministry of Culture, and that its name would be changed.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Before the budget review session began, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲), a convener of the committee, in her opening remarks called on Wu to address concerns that if the museum were to undergo a status change next year, it could affect the execution of the proposed budget.
Some of the news reports on the issue have been “completely misleading,” Wu said.
While the Executive Yuan has asked him about how other countries handle administrative arrangements for important museums such as the National Palace Museum, a name change was never discussed, he said.
The budget proposed by the museum was based on the tasks it expects to carry out next year under the existing situation, Wu said.
However, even if the museum were to be reassigned to the Ministry of Culture, those tasks would remain the same, he added.
Responding to Wan’s question about whether he would stay on as director of the museum if it is reassigned, Wu said that it would be decided by whoever holds the power to appoint the director.
That power currently lies with the premier, he added.
Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) also said that there have been no discussions about changing the name of the museum.
There was also no issue of a “desinicization” of the museum, he said, adding that regardless of the museum’s organization, its global status would remain unchanged.
KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) wrote on Facebook on Sunday that he did not agree with rumored plans to change the administrative status of the museum.
He described a possible reassignment of the museum to the Ministry of Culture as a “downgrade,” and said that KMT lawmakers would ask government officials to explain why a change was needed.
Additional reporting by CNA
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A magnitude 6 earthquake last night at 9:11pm struck off northeastern Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The earthquake’s epicenter was located in waters between Toucheng Township (頭城) and Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島), about 22.1km northeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 112km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Yilan’s Dongshan (冬山) and Nanao (南澳) townships and Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. It measured 3 in other areas of Yilan and Taipei, as
RSS