CULTURE
Paris Taiwan center opens
France’s second Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning opened in Paris on Saturday, and is to promote Taiwanese culture and Taiwanese-style Mandarin learning in the country. The center was inaugurated at L’Encrier Chinois, a Chinese-language school that opened in 2005. Representative to France Francois Wu (吳志中) and Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) Deputy Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) attended the opening ceremony. Hsu said the center, founded by Taipei, serves as a platform for French to learn about Taiwanese culture and democracy. OCAC began opening Mandarin language centers in September last year. Today, 45 centers have been established around the world, including 35 in the US, two each in France, Germany and the UK, and one each in Austria, Hungary, Ireland and Sweden, it said. France’s first center opened at the Association Linguistique et Culturelle Chinoise in September last year.
CRIME
Police nab fugitive teacher
A former elementary-school teacher from Tainan, who was last year convicted of sexually assaulting one of his students, was arrested in Taichung on Saturday afternoon, after being on the most wanted list for more than two months, the Tainan City Police Department said. Chang Po-sheng (張博勝), fired in 2019 after being accused of sexual assault by the student’s mother, had been wanted since Jan. 26, after he failed to hand himself over to the authorities to start serving his prison sentence, police said. Chang was sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison. The ruling was final after his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court on Nov. 4 last year. Tainan police began to search for Chang after the prosecutors’ office issued a warrant for his arrest on Jan. 26.
SOCIETY
Boat sinks, killing two
The bodies of two men were recovered on Saturday after a cargo boat sank off Keelung, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said. The Tung Yang No. 6 sank about 0.2 nautical miles (370m) south of Keelung Islet, with its two Taiwanese crew members, surnamed Wu (吳) and Lin (林), trapped on board, the CGA said. Wu and Lin had no signs of life when their bodies were recovered by the crew of a leisure fishing boat and Keelung Islet security staff, the CGA said, adding that they were pronounced dead shortly after being rushed to hospital. The CGA said it believes the boat sank because of flaws in its drainage system, which caused the vessel to take on water.
SOCIETY
New hospital for Hsinchu
Government officials on Saturday unveiled a plaque for a children’s hospital in Hsinchu City. It is the first local government-initiated hospital to be built based on the build-operate-transfer model in Taiwan, Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) said. It involved the coordination of the local government, which provided the land, funds invested by Mackay Memorial Hospital and a construction firm, Lin added. The Hsinchu Municipal Mackay Children’s Hospital is to have 32 pediatric sub-specialty divisions, including acute care, rare diseases, obstetrics and gynecology, when it officially opens on Sept. 1. The hospital would enable children in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli, where there is no medical center, to receive the best possible care, as it is classified as a medical center — the highest level on Taiwan’s four-tier classification of medical facilities based on medical equipment.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
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