Taiwan should act calmly when facing a turbulent world, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) today said after having visited the grave of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) in the Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery this week several days before today’s Tomb Sweeping Day.
“At this critical moment, if we remain composed and stay united to safeguard Taiwan, the nation’s future will be in our hands,” Tsai wrote in a post on Facebook today.
Lee led Taiwan’s democratic transition from the authoritarian era, she said, describing Lee’s pursuit of democracy and the nation’s sovereignty as his important legacy.
Photo from Tsai Ing-wen’s Facebook
He endeavored to create “Taiwan’s own path” with Taiwanese after he concluded his presidential term, Tsai said.
Every generation faces different challenges, she said, “I believe our democratic system is mature enough to deal with the instability and challenges in the current international situation.”
Taiwan has gone a long way on “the path of democracy,” she added.
She hoped that the legacy Lee left behind could give Taiwanese wisdom to establish new strategies to cope with a changing world and guidance to overcome challenges in this era.
She also referred to “the happiness of being born Taiwanese,” hoping that every generation could live a peaceful and contented life and make contributions to the world.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS