Civil engineering industry leader Shih Yi-fang (施義芳) said he held firm in upholding the nation’s dignity on the international stage by successfully rectifying his credentials as representing Taiwan, not “a province of China,” at a UN-related professional engineers’ conference in Prague.
Shih had registered to attend this year’s World Engineers Convention (WEC), from Monday last week to Sunday, organized by the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO).
The WFEO is a UNESCO group that is the leading organization for the worldwide engineering profession, with more than 30 million members from more than 100 countries, its Web site says.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Institute of Engineers
Taiwan’s professional engineering association on Wednesday said in a news release that Shih had arrived in Prague and headed to the event site to obtain his credentials to participate as a member in this year’s WEC events.
Shih is the chairman of CECI Engineering Consultants, Taiwan, the director of the Taiwan Professional Civil Engineers’ Association and has served one term as a legislator-at-large from 2016 to 2020.
“When receiving my credentials from the secretariat, I found that Taiwan was denigrated by being listed as a province of China,” Shih said.
A photograph provided by Taiwan’s engineers’ association showed “Taiwan, China” printed on the originally issued badge.
“For years, I have represented Taiwan, visiting many countries, attending international meetings and also pushing to hold these big events in Taiwan, but we were often denied due to pressure from China,” Shih said.
“This time I represented Taiwan by attending the worldwide convention of professional engineers and we have again come under pressure,” he said. “To uphold our nation’s dignity, I would not accept such denigration again… So I protested and made my case, and succeeded in getting the credential changed to Taiwan.”
“In the past, when registering...it usually took less than 15 minutes to complete and receive my delegate’s badge. This time we had to wait for WEC organizers to meet to discuss it, so it took some time,” Shih said.
“At the time, I was anxious, because I could not enter to discuss it in person, and was unsure of the outcome,” he said. “Fortunately, the result was what I had hoped.”
“From my experience, when we protest such matters, whether it success depends on the host country’s organizers. Taiwanese delegates attended an international engineers’ meeting in Russia, and they could not get a name change despite raising the issue, and they got so angry that they left the meeting in protest,” he added.
Shih said he was happy with the outcome.
“We have not degraded our nation’s dignity, and we thank the host country organizers for having a good understanding of this issue,” he said.
The main theme of this year’s WEC is “Engineering for Life: Breakthrough Technologies and Capacity Development.”
The convention is a leading platform for engineers from around the world, who give presentations and exchange ideas, resembling a mini-UN forum with more than 100 professional engineers’ associations from more than 80 countries.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS