LEGISLATURE
Tax hike passes screening
A draft amendment that seeks to raise the cigarette tax to help finance the government’s long-term care program passed an initial screening at the legislature yesterday. The Finance and the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene committees passed the draft amendment to the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act (菸酒管理法) in a joint meeting. If passed by the full legislature, the amendment would raise the tax on cigarettes from NT$590 per kilogram, or 1,000 cigarettes, to NT$1,590, which would translate into a tax of NT$31.8 per pack, up NT$20 from the current NT$11.8. Minister of Finance Sheu Yu-jer (許虞哲) said the hike is aimed at curbing smoking, promoting public health and would contribute NT$23.3 billion per year to the long-term care program, he said.
SOCIETY
Radio pioneer Tsui dies
Broadcaster and radio drama director Tsui Hsiao-ping (崔小萍) passed away on Saturday at National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei at the age of 94, Chinese-language media reported. Tsui, who was born in Jinan, China, studied at the National Drama College in Sichuan Province during the Second Sino-Japanese War. She first came to Taiwan on a drama tour in 1948. After the Republic of China government lost the Chinese Civil War in 1949, she settled in Taiwan. Tsui introduced radio drama to the nation in the early 1950s. She was arrested in 1968, accused of being a Chinese Communist Party member and sentenced to 14 years in prison. After her released in 1977, Tsui taught at the National Academy of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts), Shih Hsin School of Journalism (now Shih Hsin University) and Kuo Kuang Academy of Arts (now National Taiwan College of Performing Arts). She wrote a memoir, telling the story of her arrest, almost a decade in jail and her career, which was published in 2001.
SOCIETY
Ex-AIT official gets residency
A former US Army officer who worked at the American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) Taipei Office prior to his retirement last year was given a “plum blossom” permanent residency card on Saturday in recognition of his contribution to security cooperation between Taiwan and the US. Randy Hulme Lawrence, 53, was assigned to head the AIT’s technical section five years ago and was responsible for bilateral military cooperation. Lawrence said he was pleased to stay in Taiwan because he and his family love Taiwan. Lawrence earned a bachelor’s degree in Asian studies from University of Virginia and a master’s in security studies from the US Naval War College. From 2002 to 2005, he served as a military attache at the US consulate in Hong Kong and was stationed in China from 2008 to 2011.
CHARITY
Book sale set for TAS
The Taipei American School’s (TAS) Orphanage Club is to hold its annual book sale on Saturday from 10am to 5pm in the school’s forecourt, lobby and cafeteria. The club has collected thousands of books, as well as magazines, comic books, games and DVDs. The books include classics, best-sellers, biographies, children’s and young adult titles, cookbooks, books on hobbies and learning languages and books about Taiwan and other Asian nations. While most of the materials are in English, there are scores of Chinese-language books and magazines. The money raised from the sale provides funding for orphans and other children in Taiwan. Admission to the fair is free. The school is at 800 Zhongshan N Rd Sec 6, Tianmu (天母).
This story has been corrected since it was first published to indicate that the Orphanage Club book sale will be on Saturday, not Sunday.
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the
FATAL ILLNESS: Untreated symptoms can rapidly worsen to complications such as high fever, seizures and loss of consciousness, and can be life-threatening, a doctor said Hospitals have been reporting dozens of people with heat-related illnesses every day over the past week, given continuous high daytime temperatures, so recognizing the early signs of heatstroke is crucial in preventing serious complications, a Taipei City Hospital emergency physician said. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a heat alert for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures in New Taipei City, Miaoli County and Pingtung County likely to exceed 38°C, and temperatures in 12 cities and counties likely to exceed 36°C for three days straight. More than a dozen people were taken to hospitals for heat-related illnesses every day from