The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday objected to the term “Taiwanese defectors” that was used on the BBC’s Chinese-language Web site to refer to Taiwanese studying or working in China and those who acquire Chinese citizenship by renouncing their own.
“Taiwanese defectors” are like “Brexiteers” or North Korean defectors, said the BBC Chinese article published on Monday.
The trend of “Taiwanese defectors” moving to China to pursue education or careers or to change citizenship will only grow in the future, it said.
MAC Vice Minister and spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said that Taiwan is a free democratic country and its government has always protected the right to emigration and other fundamental human rights.
Therefore, the term “Taiwanese defector” is not appropriate for Taiwan, because the government respects everyone’s choice to hold and pursue different values, Chiu said.
Meanwhile, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) on Thursday said that China’s progress over the past decades has changed Taiwanese perception of the nation, Xinhua News Agency reported.
China will continue to welcome students and other Taiwanese, TAO spokesman An Fengshan (安峰山) was quoted as saying.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS