■ SOCIETY
Immigrant center opens
Amid rising numbers of divorces among international marriage couples, Taipei City’s Department of Social Welfare joined forces with a non-governmental welfare organization, the Can Love Social Service Association, to create the Taipei New Immigrant Women and Family Service Center, which was official inaugurated yesterday. Two immigrant spouses — Arelis Gabot from the Dominican Republic and Khuu Ngoc Hoa from Vietnam — attended the press conference and shared their personal stories. Both experienced cultural shock and language barriers when they first came to Taiwan more than a decade ago. Gabot was able to solve her problems because she actively looked for help from outside and talked to her husband about her difficulties, while Khuu said she has led a hard life after divorcing, taking care of her son alone while being harassed by her former husband. The new service center aims to help immigrant women in every aspect of their lives. The foreign-language service hotline is (02) 2558-0119.
■ TOURISM
Kaohsiung to keep office
The Kaohsiung City Government yesterday passed a proposal to keep the city’s Information Office after the city merges with Kaohsiung County at the end of the year. An extra administrative meeting yesterday, presided over by Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Lee Yung-te (李永得), backtracked on the city government’s agreement in November to eliminate the office and transfer its duties to the city’s Tourism Bureau. The Kaohsiung City Council had rejected the city government’s fiscal budget proposal because it did not follow a 2008 resolution to dissolve the office or merge it with other city government agencies by June this year. “The city needs the information office to help the city become an international port metropolis and raise residents’ [Kaohsiung] identity,” the city government said in a press release.
■ TRANSPORTATION
Holiday rail tickets available
Both the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) and the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) will allow people to start booking tickets for the Tomb Sweeping holiday from today. Tomb Sweeping Day this year falls on April 5, a Monday. Travelers will likely head home on the weekend of April 3 and April 4. People will be able to make online reservations for high-speed rail tickets from midnight tonight, while TRA online tickets became available at 6am today. THSRC said it is planning to add 64 services to the schedule for the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday and the TRA said it was planning to add 265 services.
■ EDUCATION
IELTS scholarships available
To encourage students to take the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam, the British Council will select and provide scholarships to five postgraduate students who take the test and apply to study abroad this year. Each of the qualified applicants could receive a scholarship of NT$100,000 toward tuition, the council said. Greg Selby, British Council IELTS manager in East Asia, said the council was also launching the scholarship in Vietnam, South Korea and India, with a total investment of about £60,000 (US$92,000) this year. Students who apply for the scholarship must live in Taiwan and score at least 6.5 on the IELTS exam. Applications must be received by the council by the end of July.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation
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