DIPLOMACY
MOFA helps relief efforts
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it would donate US$800,000 for recovery efforts in the US states most severely affected by Hurricane Helene, including US$300,000 each to Florida and North Carolina, and US$200,000 to Georgia. “Taiwan is frequently hit by typhoons in summer and autumn” and “deeply empathizes with those who have suffered tremendous losses in life and property” due to Hurricane Helene, the ministry said. The funds aim to help US residents reconstruct their homes and get back to their normal lives, the ministry said, adding that its overseas missions in Miami and Atlanta would soon discuss with relevant US agencies how to make the donations. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on the evening of Sept. 26. It has killed more than 230 people and caused at least US$30 billion in damage.
Photo: AFP
CRIME
Workers probed in China
Four Taiwanese employees of Foxconn’s factory in Zhengzhou, a major Apple supplier, are under investigation in China on suspicion of accepting bribes and embezzling funds, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said on Friday. Authorities are handling the case in accordance with the law while ensuring the protection of the suspects’ legal rights, TAO spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said. Reports said the Taiwanese employees were accused of accepting bribes, with two facing embezzlement allegations. The Zhengzhou police arrested and detained the four employees on charges equivalent to a “breach of trust” offense in Taiwan, but Foxconn said that it has suffered no losses and that the employees have not harmed the company’s interests.
AWARDS
Taiwan film gets top award
Taiwanese film Yen and Ai-Lee (小雁與吳愛麗) on Friday won the Busan International Film Festival’s (BIFF) top prize, the Kim Jiseok Award, marking the first time a Taiwanese film received the award. Village Rockstars 2, a film coproduced by India and Singapore, also received the Kim Jiseok Award. The Taiwanese film was “an unfinishing and bold portrayal of a traumatic mother and daughter relationship, with powerful and beautiful performances,” the BIFF said. The 108 minute black-and-white film was directed by Tom Lin (林書宇), and features actresses Yang Kuei-mei (楊貴媚) and Kimi Hsia (夏于喬). Meanwhile, Another Home (日泰小食), a film coproduced by Taiwan, Hong Kong and France, won the Mecenat Award for documentaries. The 84-minute film, directed by Hong Kong director Frankie Sin (冼澔楊), is about an elderly couple and their food stall on Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong.
ENTERTAINMENT
Taiwan play joins festival
This Is Not an Embassy (Made in Taiwan), a play exploring the complexities of national identity in Taiwan, is to be performed next month at the Paris Arts Festival, an event organizer said. It would be the first Taiwanese piece to appear at the 52-year-old festival, festival art director Francesca Corona said. It was coproduced by German theatre group Rimini Protokoll and the National Theatre of Taipei. The play centers around a fictional Republic of China (Taiwan) embassy, set in a miniature decor, and features three performers who are Taiwanese. It presents complex topics in a nuanced way, without oversimplification or polarization, Corona said. The 105-minute show is to be performed in English and Mandarin, with French and English subtitles, at the MC93 public multicultural venue from Nov. 14 to Nov. 17.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
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