The organizing committee of the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival on Monday offered an apology to the Taiwanese delegation, which was unable to walk the “green carpet” on the opening day due to a protest raised by the Chinese delegation over Taiwan’s name.
Festival office chief Nobushige Toshima told the Central News Agency (CNA) in a telephone interview that the Taiwanese delegation was among the distinguished guests invited by the festival organization while the Chinese were not.
On the opening night of the festival on Saturday, as throngs of international stars and filmmakers were gracing the green carpet, the Taiwanese and Chinese groups were feuding over the name that would be used to introduce Taiwan’s delegation.
The Chinese side, headed by director Jiang Ping (江平), demanded that Taiwan’s group use the word “China” as part of its name, a request deemed unreasonable and rejected by the Taiwanese delegation led by Chen Chih-kuan (陳志寬), director of the Department of Motion Pictures Affairs under the Government Information Office.
The argument lasted over 90 minutes, causing both delegations to miss their grand entrances.
Speaking to the CNA, Toshima said the committee was shocked and dumbfounded when it received the news regarding the feud. However, when asked why the organizers did not step in to mediate the dispute, he admitted the committee did not take good care of the Taiwanese delegation.
Taiwan has been a regular participant at the festival and has always attended under the name “Taiwan,” Toshima said, and he promised that the committee would not deviate from that as long as Taiwan continues to be part of the event in the future.
During the argument, Jiang threatened the committee with an ultimatum that if the name issue were not resolved in China’s favor within 10 minutes, the Chinese delegation would withdraw from the festival and contemplate never attending again.
According to an individual familiar with the film festival, Jiang’s behavior left the committee feeling “used” as his own self-promoting tool. Although the Chinese delegation was at fault, the committee’s hands were tied, the source said.
He added that Jiang participated in the film festival last year but did not make the same request. If Jiang had made the demand one week ahead of the event, the organizer would have had time to come up with a solution, but what Jiang did caught everyone by surprise.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS