Beijing abruptly shut the door yesterday on most foreign media seeking to cover the Olympic torch’s ascent of Everest after journalists objected to last-minute changes to travel and reporting plans.
China plans to take a special high-altitude Olympic torch to the summit of the world’s tallest peak next month and had invited world media to cover the event as a triumphant symbol of Beijing’s hosting of the Olympics.
But last-minute Chinese changes to coverage arrangements called for a rapid and tightly controlled trip of about three days through riot-hit Tibet to the Mount Everest base camp.
PHOTO: AFP
Reporters objected, saying that ascending too quickly to the camp’s elevation of 5,150m could cause severe health problems.
After foreign media requested a more paced trip, Games organizers set a sudden morning payment deadline yesterday for air tickets to Lhasa.
The situation descended into farce when the Olympic official charged with collecting payment refused to accept fees from several international news agencies present.
The payments of some foreign media had been accepted earlier.
Meanwhile, a Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN in New York over remarks they say insulted the Chinese people and are seeking US$1.3 billion in compensation — US$1 per person in China, a Hong Kong newspaper said.
The case against the Atlanta-based cable channel, its parent company Turner Broadcasting and Jack Cafferty, the offending commentator, comes after 14 lawyers launched a similar suit in Beijing alleging that Cafferty’s remarks earlier this month violated the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people.
Cafferty said the US imported Chinese-made “junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food” and added: “They’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”
CNN said Cafferty was expressing an opinion about the Chinese government.
In New York, beautician Liang Shubing and Beijing teacher Li Lilan said Cafferty’s words insulted all Chinese people and “intentionally caused mental harm” to the plaintiffs, the Ta Kung Pao newspaper reported yesterday.
China on Thursday reassured foreigners they were welcome at the Beijing Olympics in August and guaranteed their safety after a wave of anti-Western protests.
In related developments, in Canberra, a sea of red Chinese flags welcomed the Beijing Olympic torch relay yesterday, as thousands of Chinese supporters attempted to drown out emotional pro-Tibet protests.
Shortly after fireworks exploded in the pre-dawn darkness in celebration of the torch, raucous chanting between the two groups began.
Thousands of Chinese, mostly students, who had taken overnight buses to Canberra, turned out to support the relay.
Relations between Australian police and the torch’s blue-and-white tracksuit-clad Chinese escorts appeared strained.
Police on several occasions pulled one of the Chinese away from the torch, determined that the so-called flame attendants, who were described as thugs by a London Olympic official, would not have a security role at the event.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
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