The Executive Yuan said yesterday it would ask its agencies to be more sensitive after a comic strip designed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to promote a cross-strait economic pact was criticized as discriminatory.
Government Information Office Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said government agencies should be careful in publications not to offend anyone.
The remarks came after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Wednesday criticized the MOEA cartoon, which was designed to promote an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
The DPP said the comic strip was “extremely offensive and derogatory” because it described those who oppose the ECFA as stupid and uninformed about current events.
Su yesterday urged the public not to be offended.
“[Different government agencies] have different needs and considerations when promoting policies in different ways and for different purposes,” he said.
Asked whether the Executive Yuan would instruct the MOEA to scrap the comic strip, Su said it respected the authority of the ministry.
At a separate setting yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝) described the comic strip as “ridiculous.”
“[The comic strip] should help the ministry promote this policy, but instead will create ethnic division,” she said.
The male character in the comic strip, “Yi-ge” (一哥), is a middle-aged, Hoklo-speaker from Tainan.
He is described as knowing little about the ECFA or economic matters and works as a salesman in a traditional industry.
He has a vocational school education, speaks “Taiwanese Mandarin” and is usually content to follow others. But when it comes to protecting himself, he “goes all out.” The profile says he is the kind of person who talks tough but never takes action.
In contrast, the female character, Fa-sao (發嫂) is an active, self-motivated and highly capable, married woman who is fluent in English, Mandarin, Hoklo and Japanese.
Her profile says she has a thirst for knowledge and knows what the ECFA is about.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS