A decision by the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Student Association to remove a Republic of China (ROC) flag during a recent forum attended by a group of students from China has sparked a campus controversy.
The association drew widespread criticism from within the school after an association staffer took away an ROC flag displayed at a school auditorium minutes before a speech by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴) on Dec. 10.
Chiang was scheduled to deliver a speech entitled “Humans Rights and Diplomacy” at the invitation of the association. A group of students from Tianjin University visiting the school also attended the occasion.
A video clip posted by an anonymous person on YouTube showed a Cheng Kung student protesting the removal and saying “the association should have had the guts to show the students from Tianjin University that we in Taiwan do have a national flag.”
The clip shows the moderator of the speech denying that the flag had been there. The moderator then asks the protester to respect the rights of other attendees.
Chiang tells the protester: “I don’t know if the flag was there, but we are in Taiwan ... Just let it go.”
The incident was brought up the next day at the university’s latest student rights forum.
Lin Hung-yi (林宏易), a student representative, questioned the need for the association to remove the flag.
Lin described the removal as a “political incident,” adding that there was “political ideology” behind the decision to take the flag away.
He said the association should have dealt with the matter with more caution and maturity.
In response to the criticism, Tsai Cheng-han (蔡承翰), deputy chief of the association’s international affairs department, said it was a “general rule” among international student organizations that national flags should not be displayed during exchanges with students from different countries.
He said the association’s removal of the flag was in line with the rule.
Another department staffer called the association’s removal of the flag “inappropriate,” but said the association had been trying to prevent the speech from becoming politicized.
When asked for comment, university secretary-general Lee Wei-hsien (李偉賢) said the school authorities did not know that the association would remove the flag.
Lee called the flag’s removal “unnecessary,” adding that the school would seek to prevent a repeat of the incident.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS