The growth of culture and arts would be a priority if he is elected president, Vice President William Lai (賴清德), said at a campaign event in Taipei yesterday.
Lai, the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate, said that he would focus efforts to foster the sector to make it a “pillar” of the nation.
The technology sector forms Taiwan’s “wings” allowing it to compete globally, but culture is the nation’s defining factor, Lai said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
“If we only had technology and no culture, no one in the international community would know who Taiwan was or what it was like,” he said.
Lai said he is thankful for the advice and policy platforms presented by those in political circles who are also interested in fostering cultural growth, which resulted in legislation such as the Cultural Fundamental Act (文化基本法), and organizations such as the Taiwan Creative Content Agency and the Taiwan Design Research Institute.
During his time as Tainan mayor, his vision was to make it the nation’s “cultural capital,” enabling city residents to be proud, and providing a “core identity” for Taiwanese to recognize and promote national solidarity for a better future, he said.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsun, Taipei Times
“Those who identify as Taiwanese will be the masters of this nation,” he said.
When he gave his administrative report at the Legislative Yuan as Tainan mayor, he told lawmakers that culture is the “soul of an ethnic group” and that Taiwan should go to greater lengths to foster cultural growth, he said.
Hopefully, everyone can work together to improve Taiwan, Lai said, urging people at the event to also support Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Tseng Sheng-kai (曾聖凱) of the DPP in their legislative election bids.
Lawmakers are also essential to ensure that policies to foster cultural growth gain greater traction in the Legislative Yuan, Lai said.
Separately, Taoyuan City Councilor Ling Tao (凌濤), a spokesman for the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) campaign, said that Lai had double standards regarding housing rights.
Lai was “ruthless” in removing residents when the Tainan City Government had a railway project that forced people out of their homes, but he cried when he was accused of building an illegal home in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里), Ling said.
Lai has said that the home is at least 50 years old and was once a dormitory for gold miners.
Additional reporting by CNA
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS