As media attention focuses on the eight-day, 300km Matsu pilgrimage which kicked off at midnight on Saturday, it is clear the annual event has become decidedly more political than when it began 200 years ago.
In the run-up to the March 18 presidential election, remarks from Yen Ching-piao (
Yen said that he would decide who to endorse in the election when Matsu gave him "future instruction." He later endorsed independent candidate James Soong (
Chen Lan Temple, in Tachia township (
Four of the presidential candidates included a visit to the temple in their busy schedules.
The election now over, only Soong and fellow independent candidate Hsu Hsin-liang (
Hsu vowed to prostrate himself along the entire trail, while Soong participated in the ceremony to see off a statue of the sea goddess Matsu, which will be carried throughout the pilgrimage in a palanquin.
The annual pilgrimage also serves as a touchstone for direct links between Taiwan and China.
Before the passage of the Offshore Island Development Law on March 21, over 100,000 Taiwanese Matsu worshippers yearly traveled either illegally in fishing boats across the Strait or went through a third country to reach Matsu temple in Meizhou (
With the passage of the law, worshippers can theoretically travel directly to China with a short stop in Kinmen, instead of going via Hong Kong or outlying Japanese islands.
An easing of the ban on direct links is the stated goal for temple chairman Yen Ching-piao.
On Jan. 30, Yen was joined by religious representatives on a trip to Fujian to conduct talks on a direct boat service for the annual pilgrimage. Earlier on Jan. 18, the Mainland Affairs Council and the transport ministry agreed that quasi-direct passenger boat services to China would be allowed after the March presidential election.
Chen Lan's fame as the starting point for the current pilgrimage, is offset, however, by the temple chairmen's reputation for their connections with organized crime groups.
Donations from Chen Lan's swelling number of believers have made the temple a prosperous business and sparked intense, and sometimes violent, competition between people vying for the coveted post of chairman.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS