National Palace Museum director Wu Mi-cha (吳密察) yesterday denied that the museum deliberately concealed incidents in which three artifacts were damaged.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Charles Chen (陳以信) yesterday told the legislature that staff at the museum dropped and broke two ceramic items, while Wu allegedly told staff to not officially record the damage.
Chen asked Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) to order an investigation into the report.
Photo courtesy of the National Palace Museum
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Shen Fa-hui (沈發惠) also asked the premier about the circumstances surrounding incidents during the legislature’s plenary session.
“The museum is highly professional and important to preserving national artifacts... I don’t think [Wu] is that kind of person,” Su said.
Attending the meeting at the legislature, Wu said that three artifacts were broken, and staff reported the incidents immediately as per protocol.
The museum investigated the incidents while its Civil Service Ethics Office also probed how the episodes were handled, he added.
Two artifacts were found broken on Feb. 3 last year and April 7 this year while staff were organizing the collections, and another was dropped accidentally by a staff member on May 19, the museum said in a statement following the meeting at the legislature.
Upon receiving the reports of the damaged pieces, the museum director and deputy director ordered the civil service ethics office to investigate the cases, the statement said.
The office determined that the cause of damage to the first two artifacts could not be determined, while a committee has yet to decide how the employee in the May 19 incident is to be disciplined.
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
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
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
RSS