BC Taiwanese Cultural Organization

Hi everyone! Welcome back to BC! 

This is less of an objective news, but rather an interesting article by J. Michael Cole, a Canadian, sharing his own viewpoint about the political situation in Taiwan. In the article, he states his opinion about Taiwan independence and its complicated political situation, and pointed out less than popular (yet worth contemplating) opinion about how Taiwan and China are different as countries. 

NOTE: TCO is not affiliated with any political organizations. This is merely an interesting article from Cole stating his personal opinion that offers insights into Taiwan’s political situation. 

An Educator’s opinion: the best investment Taiwan could make in national defense would be in the research and development of advanced technology. 

Lee Chia-tung, an emeritus chair professor at National Tsing Hua University, said Taiwan spends a lot of money buying weapons from other countries but has not done enough to encourage private sector development of advanced technology. 

Taiwan’s Rocky Lee suffered his first loss in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut on Saturday in Krakow, Poland. Rocky Lee is the first Taiwanese mixed martial artist to fight contracted to the UFC. 

A three-meter (9.8 foot) fan-made statue of Totoro is attracting lots of attention in the Dali District of Taichung. The statue, made mostly out of scrap wood, was made by Lin over the course of two months and cost about 6,000 TWD ($182). Every weekend, a line forms besides the giant Totoro with eager fans waiting to take pictures with the statue. Despite the joy it brings to fans, it most likely violates international copyright laws. However, Studio Ghibli lawyers will probably let it slide since Lin is not making any money from the statue.

A surgeon has recently attributed the death of a 17-year-old boy from colorectal cancer to his daily consumption of BBQ sausages. The teen, Hsiao Shan (小杉), had been eating the sausages every day since he was 12 years old until he started feeling unusual abdominal pains. Because of his young age and lack of family history, the surgery physician was shocked when he discovered that Hsiao Shan had developed stage-three colorectal cancer. The sausages, like many processed meats, contain nitrates that can be converted into cancer-causing nitrosamines in the body.

Several traditional Taiwanese foods, including fried dough sticks (youtiao, 油條), were found to contain the chemical acrylamide. It is commonly found in fried, starchy foods, and it’s believed to be carcinogenic and toxic to animals, according to Yeh An-i (葉安義), a food science professor at National Taiwan University. Another industrial hygiene professor at NTU states that the presence of acrylamide in food is a big issue, and the genetic damage caused by the chemical could lead to cancer.

President Ma Ying-jeou insisted that he was not affiliated with MeHAS, a controversial residential and commercial development project, despite reports showing his signatures on the contract. Ma told reporters that the signature was imprinted using a stamp.

Taipei City Government deputy spokesman David Huang explained that the public does not care about administrative responsibility, but political responsibility, indicating that political responsibility “cannot be discharged by pleading ignorance or claiming that one did not personally stamp the signature.”

Additionally, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je indicated that the MeHAS project was undertaken when Ma was mayor. Even though Ma may not have known about it, contracts signed by the city represent the mayor, and therefore Ma cannot evade political and legal responsibility.

The lights went off on Taipei 101 on Saturday in observation of Earth Hour, the global climate change awareness campaign. Across the world, iconic landmarks such as the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, and the Burj Khalifa dimmed their lights as well. In Hong Kong, the high-rise skyline along Victoria Harbour became a shadow, with the towering 118-story International Commerce Centre and other skyscrapers enveloping it in darkness.

The initiative began in Sydney in 2007, but the campaign soon went global, reaching nations across multiple continents. The goal of the campaign is not to achieve electricity savings, but to raise awareness about global climate change.

According to the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), yesterday morning, six Chinese international flights employed the controversial M503 air route. Although no abnormal movements or activity were detected, critics indicate that the new route is too close to Taiwan’s airspace, causing concerns of national security. 

The CAA, however, explained that the flights did not deviate from the route and maintained altitudes of 31,000 feet or higher. Unfortunately for China, the route was agreed upon to move west 6 nautical miles, due to Taiwanese public reaction.

According to a legislative report, National Security Bureau Director-General Lee Shying-jow explained that the modified route would “leave Taiwan with considerable leeway to react to any potential air attacks and would reduce China’s own patrol areas for Chinese fighter jets in the Taiwan Strait.”

Demonstrators gathered in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, on Monday as part of events marking the first anniversary of student-led protests that became known as the Sunflower Movement.

Last year, a group of protesters broke into Taiwan’s legislature and occupied it for 23 days to block efforts by the governing party, the Kuomintang, to approve a pact on service trades with China. The trade pact has been delayed pending a bill to set up a mechanism to allow closer monitoring of cross-strait agreements. But further progress is seen as unlikely until Taiwan holds presidential and legislative elections in January 2016. The Kuomintang suffered a sharp defeat during local elections in November, and analysts say that the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which is pro-independence and cautious about ties with China, is likely to do well at the polls next year.

Taiwan’s Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique is now officially the best single malt whiskey on earth, according to the World Whiskies Awards. 

The contest’s judges described the malt as “surprisingly smooth on the palate” and added: “it’s like Bourbon infused milk chocolate.” The spirit is produced at the King Car distillery in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan County, where the whiskey is aged in American oak barrels that once stored white and red wines.

Taiwan and Japan agreed on various amendments to regulations on fishing operations in waters near the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台列嶼) — known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands. The two sides agreed to make some amendments to the fishing regulations applied to both Taiwanese and Japanese fishing vessels operating in a designated area in the East China Sea where both are allowed to operate freely. The amendments are aimed at avoiding friction between Taiwanese and Japanese fishing boats caused by the different operating methods: an east-west direction method for Taiwanese and north-south for Japanese fishing line methods. 

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A 91-year old woman had been refused surgery for her appendicitis and had to make do with antibiotics received a little more advanced and less invasive procedure that put an end to her suffering. The woman was unfit for anesthesia due to aortic valve stenosis, an abnormal narrowing of the aortic valve in the heart that occurs in approximately 12 percent of people aged 75 and above. People with the condition have a mortality rate of 50 percent if they do not undergo a heart valve replacement surgery within a year. After careful consideration, Yin decided to receive a trans-catheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) surgery, which involves inserting a new artificial heart valve using a balloon catheter that enters the body through the femoral artery. Because of the relatively small incision, Yin was transferred into an ordinary ward after spending just one day in an intensive care unit and was able to walk by herself shortly afterward, Chen said.

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