ART
Singer’s China show axed
Taiwanese Mando-pop singer Tien Fu-chen (田馥甄), better known as Hebe Tien of the girl band S.H.E., yesterday expressed regret after her scheduled performance in China next month was canceled by the Chinese event organizer. Tien was initially listed in the line-up to perform at the Bubbling Boiling Music & Arts Festival in Tianjin on Thursday. Following protests attributed to “little pinks” — a term used to describe young, jingoistic Chinese nationalists online — event organizers on Saturday announced her performance would be canceled. Chinese online pundits have labeled Tien a supporter of Taiwanese independence ever since August 2022 when she posted a picture of herself eating spaghetti on Instagram at a time when then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. Pelosi is of Italian descent and Tien’s post was taken as a show of support for Pelosi. Tien has not performed in China since. Separately, Taiwanese singer Crowd Lu (盧廣仲), originally slated to perform on Friday at the Strawberry Music Festival in Beijing, would not be performing at the event anymore, event organisers said on April 21, citing a health issue of a member of Lu’s team. Lu was previously blacklisted by Chinese authorities over his support of the 2014 Sunflower movement.
Photo courtesy of Pourquoi Pas Music
FOOD
Sudan III found in pepper
A black pepper product submitted by a New Taipei City company for voluntary testing that was found to contain a synthetic chemical dye has been recalled, the city government said yesterday. The samples, submitted by YOU-CI Co, contained Sudan III and Sudan IV industrial dyes that are banned from use in food products, said the New Taipei City Department of Health, which tested the pepper products. As a result, that brand of black pepper powder, which is sold mainly to bulk buyers, has been recalled in the city, the department said. It said it has collected ingredient samples from the company’s suppliers for testing, to determine whether the toxic dyes were in the raw materials used or were added during the production process. The batch of contaminated black pepper — about 170kg — had been distributed in New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung, and in Yilan, Hsinchu, Changhua, Yunlin and Pingtung counties, the department said, adding that all the local governments have been informed of the problem.
DIPLOMACY
Former AIT head joins GTI
Former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director Brent Christensen is to join the Washington-based think tank Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) the institute said. “As a longtime Taiwan fan, I look forward to working with the GTI to promote stronger US-Taiwan relations,” Christensen was quoted as saying in a press release issued by the institute on Thursday. Institute executive director Russell Hsiao (蕭良其) said: “[Christensen’s] lifelong passion for Taiwan and dedication to the practice of US foreign policy are precisely the combination of enthusiasm and hands-on expertise that will help further the unique role that GTI plays in advancing the vital US-Taiwan partnership.” Christensen is to become the third member of the institute’s advisory board who has served as AIT director, along with Stephen Young and William Stanton. The institute was founded in 2016 with a vision to “raise awareness, deepen affinity, and create opportunities for strengthening the relationship between Taiwan and the international community,” it said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
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