Overseas Taiwanese held a parade on Saturday in New York City to call for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN as the 78th session of the UN General Assembly gets under way.
About 300 Taiwanese people walked from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in midtown Manhattan to the New York Public Library.
While walking in the city, the participants held flags and banners with slogans and chanted “Keep Taiwan Free” and “UN for Taiwan.”
Photo: CNA
They boarded a cruise ship, which had a banner hanging that said “UN Membership for Taiwan Now! Keep Taiwan Free,” and passed through the East River and near the Statue of Liberty.
The ship sailed past the UN Headquarters toward the end of the trip.
Hsu Puo-chen (許伯丞), the event organizer, said that this was the first time the parade was followed by a cruise trip, with the hope that more people in New York could learn about Taiwan’s exclusion from the UN and support the nation’s bid to join.
Photo: CNA
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York expressed Taiwan’s desire to meaningfully participate in the UN by having an animated short film broadcast in Times Square, which has been done for many years.
The short film featured a pink-orange background and imagery of Taiwan’s mountains and seas. Taiwan blue magpies were shown flying towards the UN, symbolizing Taiwanese people’s desire to join hands with the world to safeguard peace.
The office also tried a new method to promote Taiwan’s bid this year: having a food truck.
The truck had the slogan “Global Peace with Taiwan” printed on it and it offered winter melon tea, guava juice and bubble milk tea popsicles to New Yorkers along with interactive games.
“The world is safe when Taiwan is safe, the world is peaceful when the Taiwan Strait is peaceful — these are the consensus of the international society,” office director James Lee (李光章) said.
The purpose of the UN is to maintain peace and security globally, which includes taking effective actions to safeguard peace and eliminate threats, he said.
Legislators Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應), Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀), Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸), Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) and Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) joined the parade and volunteered at the food truck.
“There are food trucks everywhere in New York. It is very important to promote Taiwan in a way that is close to the local culture and let everyone know more about Taiwan and where it is,” Chen Ting-fei said.
The group of legislators went to New York “to get the world hear Taiwan’s desire to join the UN and participate in all its organizations,” Chang said.
Belizean Ambassador to the UN Carlos Fuller and Palauan Representative to the UN Ilana Seid took part in the food truck launching event and voiced support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN and its contribution to the organization’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS