DIPLOMACY
AIT director appointed
Former US foreign policy advisor to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Joseph Donovan Jr has been appointed managing director of the Washington office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Donovan has served as the US principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs and as US consul general in Hong Kong/Macau. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of minister counselor, Donovan’s Taiwan experience includes three assignments with the AIT as acting deputy director, political chief, Kaohsiung branch chief and language student. Donovan has a masters degree in national security affairs from the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University. Donovan’s foreign service assignments include deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Tokyo and director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs at the US State Department. He replaces Barbara J Schrage at the AIT Washington office.
RETAIL
E-shopping boosting sales
The nation’s e-commerce platform providers have prepared more items for the Lunar New Year holiday shopping period, aiming to boost sales ahead of the festival. Shopping platform operator PChome Store Inc said it has prepared 5,400 different types of snacks and drinks, up 40 percent from last year, from 22 countries. PChome said online shopping has become one of the major channels for Lunar New Year shopping as it saves time and the inconvenience of carrying goods and waiting in line.Sales of Lunar New Year products, especially food and drink, over the past two weeks have grown by 30 percent from the previous two weeks, it said. Online shopping platforms Yahoo Kimo, Momoshop, GoHappy, United Daily News Group’s und.shopping.com and many other sites have also set up designated areas for Lunar New Year shopping.
HEALTH
CDC warns on Bali rabies
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday urged the public to be on guard against rabies when traveling to Bali, Indonesia, and said two people have died there after contracting the disease. CDC Deputy Director Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said that a large part of the island’s dog population is afflicted with rabies, and around 100 people report dog bites daily. Chou urged the public to be cautious of cat and dog bites while traveling to the island. According to the CDC, rabies has caused two deaths in Bali since the middle of last year.
MILITARY
Ministry swaps postings
Commanding Army General Lee Hsiang-chou (李翔宙) is to take over as deputy minister of defense for armaments while the current deputy minister is to become the new chief of the army, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced on Friday. Both appointments are to take effect on Thursday. Yen Teh-fa (嚴德發), a former deputy army commander, assumed his current post as deputy defense minister just five months ago, whereas Lee became army chief in August 2011. MND spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said the changes were made based on the military’s needs and the terms of duty, adding that the job swap was in accordance with relevant regulations. The ministry has another deputy minister responsible for policy. That post is currently held by Andrew Hsia (夏立言), a career diplomat.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
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
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
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