■SOCIETY
Scooter and owner reunited
A motorcycle exhibition at the National Science and Technology Museum in Kaohsiung City was recently the setting for a reunion between an old Suzuki Landie 50 scooter and its former owner. Huang Shih (黃寔), 69, is a voluntary worker at the museum. The moment she saw the moped she had owned for dozens of years before being forced to auction it online over two years ago because of financial problems, Huang shed tears of joy. Huang was despondent when she handed more than the scooter to Chen Yen-shan (鄭燕山), a 30-year-old antique motorbike collector from Kaohsiung County, and pleaded with Huang not to tear the bike apart. The exhibition, which runs through May 10, displays motorcycles that have run on Taiwan’s roads and streets over the past half-century. Chen said the three-gear Landie 50, which was produced in the 1970s, has been his treasure since he first bought it and that he had spent NT$50,000 on the restoration.
■SOCIETY
Ma buys food with vouchers
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) purchased food yesterday at a Taipei traditional market using cash and consumer vouchers as part of his effort to promote plans to help boost the country’s sluggish economy. Ma made the purchases while accompanying his mother, Chin Hou-hsiu (秦厚修), on a trip to buy Lunar New Year treats at Xinglong Market in the Wenshan district. The NT$3,600 consumer vouchers were distributed on Jan. 18 by the government in an attempt to stimulate consumption.
■DIPLOMACY
Taiwan donates to disabled
Representative to the Philippines Liu Shan-shan (劉姍姍) donated equipment for the disabled to the Philippines on Friday following the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the issue with the Philippines’ Department of Social Welfare. Liu, on behalf of the Taiwan-based Eden Social Welfare Foundation, donated the equipment, which included 65 wheelchairs, 150 crutches and 10 walking sticks for the blind, during a ceremony in Manila. Department of Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral signed the memorandum of understanding on behalf of the Philippines and expressed gratitude to the Eden Social Welfare Foundation for the donation, part of which will be given to the Philippines chapter of the Women’s Federation for World Peace. Taiwan donated relief supplies and humanitarian aid to the Philippines in 2005 and again last year after areas of the country were devastated by typhoons.
■SOCIETY
Hakka culture park planned
Construction of a Hakka culture park in Miaoli County began on Friday and is scheduled to be completed in 2011. Addressing the park’s groundbreaking ceremony, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said the park would be a landmark in Miaoli, but also a “spiritual fortress” for the nation’s Hakka population. Located in the southern section of the Tongluo Science Park, the Hakka cultural center will be the only one in Taiwan to comprise both cultural and industrial structures. Siew said he hoped that high-tech companies in the Tongluo park would support cultural development and the new Hakka park would inspire and enrich Taiwan’s scientific and technological development. Council of Hakka Affairs Minister Huang Yu-chen (黃玉振) said the new culture park was expected to work in concert with the existing Liuduei Hakka Culture Park in Pingtung County to preserve and spark a rennaissance of Hakka culture.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
Upon its completion next year, the new Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) in New Taipei City is to be an important landmark in Taiwan, alongside Taipei 101, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said today. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in December next year and open to the public in the first half of 2026, connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts. It is an asymmetric single-tower suspension bridge, nearly 70 stories tall, designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. The bridge aims to alleviate traffic in Tamsui and on the Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋), in addition to increasing the
PROBLEMATIC: Popular hotpot restaurant chains were among the list of restaurants that failed the inspection and have been ordered to remove bad ingredients The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of hotpot ingredients in hotpot restaurants resulted in a 16.7 percent failure rate. Eight vegetables had excessive pesticide residue and two other items had aflatoxin and excessive preservatives. As the weather is getting colder, more people eat at hotpot restaurants so a random inspection of ingredients was conducted in October to ensure food safety, the department said. Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) said 60 different ingredients were tested: 15 high-risk vegetables, 15 processed food items, 10 soy-based food items, five meat items, five lamb items, five seafood items and five peanut powder
EXERCISES: A 2022 article by a Chinese intelligence expert identified at least six People’s Liberation Army assault boats hidden inside the Hong Kong-flagged ship A Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship that had been docked at Taichung Port and which previously took part in Chinese military exercises departed from the port on Saturday, the Taiwan International Ports Corp’s Taichung branch said yesterday. The statement came in response to a post on the social media platform X by Taiwan-based journalist Chris Horton that said the ship, the SCSC Fortune, had been docked at the port since Tuesday and questioned whether Taiwan has any rules regarding foreign civilian vessels that have participated in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises. Horton referenced a 2022 article by Chinese intelligence expert Rod Lee that
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