Being watched over by Chinese security personnel is an “honor” for Taiwanese musicians performing in China, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said yesterday.
She said any picture could be subject to multiple interpretations after New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) showed a photograph purporting to show ranks of Chinese military police standing by at a concert of a Taiwanese musician.
Lim showed the picture during a question-and-answer session of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee.
“The military police are mainly concerned about the possibility of a riot, because everyone [in the audience] is so high,” Ko said.
She asked Minister of Culture Hung Meng-chi (洪孟啟) if he would dare discourage Taiwanese musicians from performing in China.
“This is an extremely great honor for a singer,” Ko said.
Lim — who is the lead singer of metal band Chthonic, which has been banned from performing in China because of its pro-Taiwanese independence stance — said the picture illustrates the failure of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to protect the rights of Taiwanese musicians performing in China.
“In eight years, we have never made any concrete demands that the freedom of our singers to perform be protected,” Lim said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
RSS