Three lawmakers from the DPP and the TSU said yesterday that they would visit Washington for a week-long trip in a bid to seek Taiwan's participation in post-war reconstruction in Iraq, despite criticism from opposition legislators.
The DPP's Parris Chang (張旭成), one of the three visiting lawmakers, said that since Taiwan has agreed to donate money for humanitarian relief and post-war reconstruction, "it's reasonable for us to ask for participation [in reconstruction work.]"
"We can act as subcontractors," Chang said.
Chang will head to the US with DPP Legislator Trong Chai (
The trip is scheduled for Sunday to April 13.
The visit triggered attacks from KMT and PFP legislators..
PFP Legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) said Chang had told him in private that one of the items on the agenda was laying the groundwork for a visit to the US by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
KMT Legislator Sun Kauo-hwa (孫國華) questioned the timing of the visit, saying US lawmakers would be too busy dealing with the war in Iraq to meet the delegation.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
RSS