Wu thanks
Beijing, confirms trip to Olympic Games
NAME GAME: KMT chairman
refused to comment on claims that negotiations on how Taiwan would be referred
to at the Games were held between the KMT and the CCP
By Mo Yan-Chih AND
Su Yung-Yao
STAFF REPORTERS
Sunday, Jul 27, 2008, Page 1
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) expressed
appreciation yesterday for Beijing’s “goodwill” over the controversy surrounding
the title of Taiwan’s Olympic team and said he would attend next month’s
Olympics in Beijing.
“I am glad about the outcome and I can tell you that I will accept Beijing’s
invitation to attend the Olympic Games,” Wu said at the KMT’s Taipei City
branch.
Wu declined to comment on allegations that Beijing had made promises on the
title following KMT negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) via a
KMT-CCP platform, bypassing the Mainland Affairs Council’s authority.
“We have made it clear that the KMT will do whatever it can to help as long as
it is in the national interest,” Wu said.
KMT Spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) confirmed on Friday that Wu had made clear
the party’s position on the Taiwanese Olympics team being referred to as
Zhonghua Taibei (Chinese Taipei, 中華台北) — Taiwan’s official title at the Olympics
— to Beijing via KMT-CCP talks and that the party believed Beijing’s move was a
positive response to that request.
Wu is scheduled to travel to Beijing to attend the opening ceremony on Aug. 8
and the Taiwanese baseball team’s first match against the Netherlands on Aug.
13.
The KMT had previously said it would boycott the Games if Chinese authorities
insisted on referring to the Taiwanese team as Zhongguo Taibei (Taipei, China
中國台北).
In its Chinese-language reports on Thursday, the China News Service used
Zhonghua Taibei, rather than Zhongguo Taibei.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), however, said yesterday that based on
the principle of mutual respect, the government should request that China call
Taiwan “Republic of China” (ROC) or “Taiwan,” as doing otherwise would not
extend much goodwill.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said Taiwan was referred to as
“Taiwan” in all documentation and name plates during the Rome Olympics in 1960,
as well as in the Tokyo and Mexico Olympics in 1964 and 1968 respectively, but
that the KMT had lodged a protest against this practice with the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) and insisted on Taiwan being referred to as “Republic of
China” or “China.”
After the China seat at the UN was given to the People’s Republic of China (PRC)
in 1971, the PRC also received the China seat at the IOC and Taiwan was forced
to accept the title “Chinese Taipei” and to replace its national flag and anthem
in all Olympic contexts.
Chen said that if the Ma administration feels that China is extending its
goodwill by asking its media to refer to Taiwan as Chinese Taipei, it should
take the opportunity to request that the Olympic Committee call Taiwan the
“Republic of China” or “Taiwan.”
Chen also said that if China really had feelings of goodwill toward Taiwan, it
should stop pressuring Taiwan and allow international sports competitions to
take place here.
Rice to PRC:
Respect legitimate dissent
AP, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
Sunday, Jul 27, 2008, Page 1
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned China yesterday not to use its
massive Olympic security apparatus to crack down on legitimate dissent.
Beijing officials maintain the Olympics are threatened by terrorists and other
extremists and some fear Chinese authorities could use that as an excuse to move
against political opponents.
“Security threats have to be dealt with and that is fully understood by
everybody, but security should not become in any way a cover to try and deal
with dissent,” said Rice, who will head the US delegation to the Olympic closing
ceremonies. “That would be unfortunate.”
US President George W. Bush will attend the opening ceremony on Aug. 8 to
demonstrate US support for what Rice called “really a wonderful thing for China
and the Chinese people.”
“We are hopeful that the Olympic Games will come off without a hitch,” Rice
said, adding that Chinese authorities should make good on promises to “showcase
not just the Olympics but an attitude of openness and tolerance.”
Uighur
group says it launched attacks
AFP, WASHINGTON AND BEIJING
Sunday, Jul 27, 2008, Page 1
A Uighur separatist group has taken credit for a deadly bus bombing in Shanghai
in May and warned of new attacks in China during the Olympics, a group
monitoring threats by extremists on the Internet said late on Friday.
In a video statement, Commander Seyfullah of the Turkestan Islamic Party claimed
credit for several attacks, including the May 5 Shanghai bus bombing that killed
three; another Shanghai attack; an attack on police in Wenzhou on July 17 using
an explosive-laden tractor; a bombing of a Guangzhou plastic factory on July 17;
and bombings of three buses in Yunnan Province on Thursday.
Three people were killed as a result of the explosion on the crowded bus in
Shanghai on May 5, police and witnesses said.
Seyfullah said the blast was the work of his group and warned of more explosions
to come.
“Through this blessed jihad in Yunnan this time, the Turkestan Islamic Party
warns China one more time,” Seyfullah said in the video dated Wednesday, a
transcript from the US-based Intel Center said.
“Our aim is to target the most critical points related to the Olympics. We will
try to attack Chinese central cities severely using the tactics that have never
been employed,” he said.
Later yesterday, Chinese authorities denied the claims by the Uighur separatist
group that it was behind deadly bus bombings in two cities, state media
reported.
A public security official in Yunnan Province said no evidence had been found
linking the attacks with terrorism, Xinhua news agency said.
Dog lovers travel in style on the ‘pet party’ express
BORN FREE: A group of Taipei tourists and their furry friends traveled in a
chartered train car to Hualien on an organized tour. The advantage? No cages
required
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Sunday, Jul 27, 2008, Page 2
|
|
| Pet owners travel with their pets on
the first group train trip for tourists and their dogs following the
launch of a three-month trial period. The group traveled in a charter
“pet party” train car.
|
A group of dog lovers and their pets boarded a train for
Hualien yesterday on the country’s first train travel package allowing pet
owners to tote their furry friends.
The group traveled on an express train from Taipei yesterday in a charter “pet
party” carriage for dogs and their owners.
The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) launched a three-month trial period on
July 1 to allow passengers to bring pets on the trains.
Liu Chu-mei (劉淑美), assistant manager at the Taipei-based travel agency that
organized the tour, said the “very important dogs” traveling with the group
would not only accompany their owners on the train, but also stay in their
owners’ hotel rooms and eat at the same restaurants.
Liu, also a dog lover, said she first contacted the administration about 18
months ago about the possibility of designating train cars for pets to allow
passengers to travel with them in a relaxed atmosphere.
To avoid disturbing other passengers, the tour group took a morning train and
boarded on the remote fourth platform.
But the 19 dogs attracted the attention of other travelers as they passed
through the train station lobby.
Station director Lee Yung-sheng (李永生) said he had received some complaints in
response to the decision to let animals on trains.
While pet lovers applauded the policy, some passengers were not happy about the
change. One person has filed a lawsuit in an administrative court, arguing that
the rights of passengers were being ignored.
Those with health concerns in particular should not be “forced to sit together
with pets,” the complainant said.
TRA Deputy Director-General Chang Ying-huei (張應輝) said the company would take
public opinion into account.
Chang said the administration had conducted two separate public surveys on the
policy before launching the trial run.
In a poll conducted in 2003, 70 percent of respondents said they did not want
pets on the train, while 14 percent approved of the proposal.
Earlier this year, the TRA conducted another survey, which showed that the
percentage of those who disapproved of the plan had dropped to 55 percent, while
those who approved rose to 24 percent.
The TRA said an increasing number of people want to travel with their pets,
which was a reason to offer the trial period.
It said, however, that each pet must be kept in a carrier measuring no larger
than 40cm by 30cm by 26cm that can be stowed under a seat during the trip and
that will not leak urine.
The group traveling in the charter “pet party” carriage yesterday, however, did
not have to keep their dogs confined. Animals could sit with their owners and
were fed a custom-made breakfast. The train car was decorated with colorful
balloons and pictures of dogs and people.
The special pet car is equipped with a separate ventilation system to allow for
independent air circulation, a TRA official said, adding that the TRA had also
hired a cleaning service to disinfect the carriage after the tour.
Lee En-huei (李恩蕙), the owner of a 14-year-old mini doberman, said she joined the
tour group because it was quicker to travel to Hualien by train than by car and
she wanted to take her dog.
Tao
struggle for tradition
For decades the Tao of Orchid
Island have used colorful canoe-like boats to net flying fish in the warm waters
of the Pacific. But now more and more Tao men are migrating to the Taiwanese
mainland, leaving fewer villagers to maintain the old traditions
By Wally Santana
AP , ORCHID ISLAND
Sunday, Jul 27, 2008, Page 13
The four dozen men in loincloths stopped repeatedly to toss the new boat into
the air as they carried it through their village to shore.
Then they launched it ceremoniously into the Pacific Ocean. It was the first
launch of a Tao fishing boat in seven years.
For decades the Tao Aborigines of Orchid Island have used colorful canoe-like
boats to net flying fish in the warm waters of the Pacific. But now more and
more Tao men are migrating to Taiwan’s cities to look for work, leaving fewer to
learn how to build the 7m boats. The tribe is also under siege from Taiwan’s
majority Han culture.
About 4,000 Tao live on Orchid Island, 62km east of Taiwan’s southern tip. They
are among the country’s 460,000 Aborigines — 2 percent of the population — whose
ancestors migrated from south Pacific islets starting 6,000 years ago.
Last month, villagers filled the new boat with taro roots. They slaughtered
about 40 pigs near the shore for a mass barbecue. Then the men waved their fists
angrily at an imaginary enemy to summon strength for the sacred task of
launching the boat.
The launch was the culmination of a process begun three years earlier when
fisherman Syman Koten went to Orchid Island to search for the bread tree, dragon
eye and other types of wood. The boat is made of 27 wooden planks from five
kinds of trees, held in place without any nails or fastening devices.
“I remember my father told me before he died ... I must take up the
responsibility to lead our family fishing team,’’ said Koten, 69. “And that is
why I built this boat for my family. A big boat that can take 10 of my family
members.’’ The boat is decorated with elaborate red, black and white designs,
including an eye in the shape of a wheel to guide it on safe journeys.
“The tradition of catching the flying fish has bred an endless culture that
should be passed from one generation to another,’’ said Tao cultural researcher
Syman Fengaien, 45. (Syman refers to Tao married men.) “So catching flying fish
is not only the center of the Tao people’s life, it’s also the core of the Tao
culture.’’ Amid the rejoicing, the launch of Koten’s boat served as a reminder
of the fragility of the Tao way of life. Koten’s 37-year-old son said his
interest in life on the Taiwanese mainland has prevented him from truly
practicing Tao culture.
“While I have taken part in the boat building project, I didn’t learn the skills
needed to build a boat,’’ said Syman Manidong.
