Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Parents protest city response to child drug claims

Taipei Times

Nearly 1,000 people, mostly parents accompanied by their children, yesterday protested at the Civic Plaza outside New Taipei City Hall, voicing discontent over the city government’s handling of the alleged drugging of preschool students.

New Power Party Chairwoman Claire Wang (王婉諭) and Taiwan Children’s Rights Association director-general Wang Wei-chun (王薇君) organized the “Do Not Drug and Harm Our Children” rally after children from a private preschool in the city’s Banciao District (板橋) tested positive for traces of sedatives.

The city government took more than three weeks after it first received reports of children being sedated to provide on-campus drug testing and hold consultations with parents, Claire Wang wrote on Facebook.

Awareness key in the face of China

Taipei Times Editorials

Local media last week reported on a Coast Guard Administration officer in Penghu County who allowed four Chinese to disembark a yacht and wander around freely for several days without an entry permit, sparking shock and concern over national security.

Four Chinese citizens and one US citizen, traveling on a Saint Kitts and Nevis-registered yacht from Quanzhou in China’s Fujian Province to Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture, sought temporary shelter from Typhoon Mawar in Penghu County’s Magong Port on May 27. The incident attracted attention as one of the Chinese crew uploaded video footage of their interaction with a coast guard officer, a man surnamed Lin (林) who was deputy head of the inspection office at Magong Port, to Chinese social network platform Xiaohongshu, and it was widely shared on Douyin.

British minister met with Audrey Tang, reports say

Taipei Times

British Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat on Wednesday met with Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang (唐鳳) to discuss mutual security interests, Reuters cited people with knowledge of the talks as saying.

The meeting broke with the UK’s conventional foreign policy, the report said.

Britain has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Ko a danger to democracy

Taipei Times Editorials

As the presidential candidates of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are occupied with putting out fires — the former with preschool drugging, the latter with sexual harassment allegations — one candidate seems to be above the fray: Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founder, chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).

However, Ko is still in the limelight after a series of diplomatic blunders. He had a spat with American China specialist Bonnie Glaser. During a Brookings Institution forum, Glaser said that compared with New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the KMT, Beijing would be “more comfortable” supporting Ko because he had a track record of handling relations with China. Ko interpreted that to mean that “he is the one most capable of communicating with China and the US.” When Glaser opposed Ko’s misinterpretation, Ko said: “Who gives a damn about her.”

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