A number of Danes have written to Denmark's largest circulation daily newspaper to take a Chinese diplomat to task for his unjustifiable remarks about Taiwan and express their support for the nation.
The Jutland Post contributed a half-page in last Tuesday's edition to publishing readers' letters in support of Taiwan. Most of the letters were written to rebuke Jin Zhijian (金智健), a counselor with the Chinese embassy in Copenhagen, who claimed in a letter published in the Post dated Sept. 6 that "according to the Cairo Declaration [1943] and the Potsdam Proclamation [1945], Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China."
Jin wrote to the Danish daily in response to Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳), who published an article in the Post on Aug. 25 about the nation's bid to enter the UN using the name "Taiwan."
Kenneth Stormoen, one of those who wrote to the daily, dismissed Jin's claims, saying that the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and UN Resolution 2758 seemed logical on the surface, but in fact their meanings and stipulations were unclear and therefore do not provide a solution to the question of Taiwan's status.
Stormoen said if the three historical documents had been clearly defined, the so-called "Taiwan issue" would not have been left unresolved for so long.
Another reader said in a letter that China had suppressed Tibet and its people for decades, and was now attempting a forced annexation of Taiwan. The reader said maintaining the status quo was not actually what the people of Taiwan wanted. Instead, the current stasis was a result of intimidation by the Chinese military, he said.
Also responding to Jin's claim, Pia Kjaersgaard, chairwoman and cofounder of the Danish People's Party -- the third largest political party in Denmark, which regards itself as center-right -- almost immediately issued a statement saying that Jin's letter to the newspaper was an attempt to cover up the fact that the People's Republic of China's sovereignty has not for a single day extended to the island of Taiwan.
Kjaersgaard said that from now on, the Danish People's Party would extend every assistance to help Taiwan be accepted as a normal member of the international community.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of