■ Real Estate
Madame Chiang's home sold
The New York apartment of Taiwan's former first lady Soong Mayling (蔣宋美齡), popularly known as Madame Chiang, has been sold for US$10 million, a local newspaper said yesterday. The sale was confirmed by Kung Ling-yi (孔令儀), a niece of Madame Chiang, the United Evening News said. The ninth-floor apartment was owned by the family of Madame Chang's elder sister, Soong Ai-ling (宋譪玲). Madame Chiang died at the age of 105 last October. She had spent her last nine years in New York and is buried in Ferncliff cemetery outside the city. She was the widow of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), head of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and ruler of Nationalist China before and during the Second World War.
■ Diplomacy
Justice minister visits US
Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) left for Los Angeles yesterday to take part in the 2004 conference of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG). Chen will give a speech at the "state dinner" of the annual meeting, in which attorneys general from the 50 states of the US will participate. Taiwan has for many years dispatched prosecutors to attend the important meeting and has invited NAAG members to visit in order to bolster mutual understanding and exchanges. While in the US, Chen will also meet overseas Chinese in other cities. He is slated to return to Taiwan on June 30.
■ Community
Filipinos observe national day
The Philippine community in Taiwan celebrated the 106th anniversary of the Republic of the Philippines at the Taiwan International Workers' Association (TIWA) headquarters in Taipei yesterday. "It means a lot to the migrant community to be able to celebrate their country's independence day in a foreign community. It is a good way for them to come together," said TIWA chairwoman Susan Chen. Although the Philippine independence day falls on June 12, this year's celebration was held a day late so that workers could enjoy it on their day off. This year's celebration was organized by the Taiwan chapter of the Overseas Foreign Workers' Club, Tamshui Filipino Community, Samahang Makata, Genuine Ilokano Taiwan Association, Kasapi and the Cordillera Organization in Taiwan.
■ Diplomacy
Overseas staffers nominated
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) yesterday revealed various possible nominees for the ministry's overseas posts, including representatives to the US and Japan. Chen said that both Joanne Chang (裘兆琳), a researcher at the Institute of European and American Studies under the Academia Sinica, and Stanley Kao (高碩泰), vice permanent representative to the World Trade Organization, will be appointed as new vice representatives to the US. Kao will travel with Taiwan's representative-designate David Lee (李大維) to Washington to take over their new offices, Chen added. He also revealed that there exists a great possibility that his predecessor Eugene Chien (簡又新) will be named as Taiwan's new representative to the EU to fill the post left vacant by Lee. Furthermore, he said that the appointment of Koh Se-kai (許世楷) as Taiwan's representative to Japan should present no problems and that Koh's deputy, Chen Hung-chi (陳鴻基), will travel with him to Tokyo to take over their new offices. Chen announced on May 18 that Koh, a professor at Providence University in Taichung County, would be Taiwan's new representative to Japan.
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
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