Despite the anger from Aborigines, Vice President Annette Lu (
"Many Aborigines and even townships in central Taiwan wrote e-mail and letters to my office to express their support for my suggestion," Lu said yesterday during a tea party with reporters.
"Lin Wen-hsiung (
The Presidential Office arranged a news conference to allow the vice president to introduce the upcoming Democratic Pacific Assembly, which is scheduled to be launched during Aug. 13 to Aug. 15. Lu also answered questions about her emigration policy, which was made after the Tropical storm devastated mountainous areas in central Taiwan.
Lu stressed that the mountain and rivers in central Taiwan have been overcultivated, and the entire area needs rest. Therefore, she suggested that the residents, including both Han and Aborigines, may choose to move to Taiwan's allies in Latin America to develop their own new career as well as assisting in the exploitation of those countries' land resources.
Intending to reconcile misunderstandings between the vice president and those Aboriginal tribes, deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office, Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) invited some heads of townships, who are also Aboriginal, from central Taiwan to a luncheon at the Presidential Office yesterday.
"We accept the Presidential Office's apology and we suggest that Vice President Lu should visit our township and listen to our ideas," said Cho Wen-hua (
Lu yesterday said that she was willing to inspect Aboriginal areas after completing the assembly, adding that her suggestion was supported by many Aboriginals and even Taiwan's diplomatic allies in the Central America.
"Although some [Aborigines] were making a clamor because of misunderstandings, there is a lot of support from overseas Taiwanese who are Aborigines," Lu said.
"Moreover, the representative councils of Hsinyi Township reached a resolution last month to seriously consider my immigration policy to move to Central America," Lu said.
Lu stressed that countries including Belize, Fiji, Peru and Costa Rica have expressed support for her immigration policy, and some have even promised to provide over 1,000 hectares of land for Taiwanese emigrants.
"I am not talking nonsense: my suggestion was made in accordance with so much support, and what I am concerned about is building a new cross-ocean relationship to connect eastern Asia and the western side of the Americas," Lu said. "Not to mention that the associations of Taiwanese people in Central America are all willing to assist those people who are willing to emigrate."
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
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