President Chen Shui-bian's (
The traditional ceremony and banquet for the new couple was not open to the media. Therefore nearly 100 reporters gathered in front of the presidential residence to cover the whole event from a distance. Four members of the newly launched Next (壹周刊) magazine, however, pretended to be photographer's assistants in an attempt to enter the presidential residence, but were caught and ejected by security guards.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Chen Hsing-yu, 25, met Chao last October; when the couple were introduced to each other by Han I-hsiung (韓毅雄), a senior NTU Hospital doctor. They announced their intention to marry in April.
President Chen and his in-laws to be are all from Tainan County, a bastion of traditional standards in wedding and engagement ceremonies. As part of the tradition, the president's 70-year-old mother Chen Lee-shen (
The engagement ceremony began at around 10am, an auspicious hour according to the Chinese Lunar almanac, and was finished within one hour. The first family and Chao's relatives, about 50 people, then enjoyed a banquet prepared by the Asia Pacific Hotel's Chao Chou restaurant in Taipei.
The banquet, usually an opportunity for the bride's family to show off, was relatively modest -- a 12-course Cantonese meal for 50 guests at NT$1,500 (US$43) per person, according to the caterer.
President Chen personally instructed the caterer last week to change the original menu of the banquet and take off the usual delicacy -- shark fin soup, replacing it with oyster soup.
Soup made from the fins of sharks is a Chinese delicacy traditionally eaten on special occasions. But environmentalists warn that as so many sharks are being killed for soup, the fish could soon face extinction.
Earlier yesterday morning, four reporters from Next magazine drove a black Honda Accord in an attempt to mingle into the Chao family motorcade and enter the presidential residence. Security guards were suspicious after counting seven cars in the motorcade entering the compound, instead of the six they expected.
After checking the last car, the security guards rushed to check the previous cars, which were already in the compound. They found four people in the black Honda Accord, who were unable to produce identification. The four initially claimed that they had been sent by a wedding boutique company hired to take photos of the ceremony, according to the police. Police detained the four for questioning.
The four were identified as a reporter and two photographers from Next magazine and a driver. The first family has filed charges against the four, who face up to one year in prison if convicted of trespassing.
Later yesterday evening, the Presidential Office issued a press release expressing regret for the incident. The statement said that while the first family has tremendous respect for the freedom of the press, since the incident endangered security at the presidential residence, it was a matter for the presidential security detail to handle.
Pei Wei (裴偉), editor in chief of Next magazine, said that his reporters had no intention to trespass into the presidential residence. The reporters mistakenly thought the ceremony was open to outsiders when they saw the security guards beckoning them, Pei said.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS