New legislature inaugurates its caucus for promoting closer ties with US Congress

New legislature inaugurates its caucus for promoting closer ties with US Congress

2024-02-23

The newly-elected Legislative Yuan on Friday inaugurated its Legislative Yuan USA Caucus that promotes friendship between Taiwanese lawmakers and American members of Congress. In attendance was U.S. deputy ambassador Jeremy Cornforth, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu and vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim. The political significance doesn’t just stop with a further warming of Taiwan-U.S. ties. It’s also a sign that compared with past legislatures, there’s a new atmosphere of cross-party cooperation. The caucus is jointly headed by DPP lawmaker Wang Ting-yu and KMT lawmaker Ko Chih-en and a total of 73 legislators from across the political spectrum are taking part.

The newly-elected Legislative Yuan on Friday inaugurated its Legislative Yuan USA Caucus. Not only was KMT legislative speaker Han Kuo-yu and his deputy Johnny Chiang present, but also American Institute in Taiwan Deputy Director Jeremy Cornforth and vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim. This was the first time Hsiao entered her old stomping grounds, the Legislative Yuan, since being elected vice president.

Hsiao Bi-khim
Vice president-elect
The hat I’m wearing today should not be that of vice-president elect. I come today as a graduate of the 9th Legislative Yuan. That’s one of my hats. My second hat is head of the Legislative Yuan USA Caucus for the 9th Legislative Yuan.

Han Kuo-yu
Legislative speaker
We’ve got 113 legislators, and 73 are taking part in the Legislative Yuan USA Caucus. This number is really extremely surprising. Each one of you will meet many members of U.S. Congress in the future and you must welcome them to the Legislative Yuan for a meal. Dining out with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is colorless, while dining out with the Legislative Yuan is colorful.

Tien Chung-kwang
Deputy foreign minister
I will definitely share this with my colleagues when I return, but I must report to caucus members that Ministry of Foreign Affairs banquets are splendid and meaningful affairs.

It is the first time for the caucus, which is in its 11th iteration, to have two heads: the DPP’s Wang Ting-yu and KMT’s Ko Chih-en. Reports had said that Chiang had originally planned to form the caucus with his party. However, Wang also had the same plans and was set to form the group before him on Thursday. To avoid conflict, the two parties’ caucus conveners met for negotiations and decided on the current arrangement.

Wang Ting-yu
DPP legislator
Actually, I invited Ko Chih-en to serve as deputy chair at the very beginning. There was definitely a negotiating process. It’s not about who is fighting for dominance. All sides, each political party, hopes to care about and work for Taiwan-U.S. relations. We must organize and integrate as one, and everyone can work together.

Ko Chih-en
KMT legislator
According to my understanding, the largest party in the legislature should take on the role of chair. Because it’s like this, each and every one of us feel that they should make even greater contributions to Taiwan-U.S. relations. So we can say we’ve set a precedent. The AIT also hopes to have a counterpart unit.

In a break from the past, there’s a new atmosphere of cross-party cooperation, starting with the just-formed Legislative Yuan USA Caucus.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

立院"台美議員聯誼會"邁入11屆王定宇.柯志恩任會長

2024-02-23

立法院今天成立台美國會議員聯誼會，包括AIT副處長柯傑民、正副院長韓國瑜、江啟臣及前任會長蕭美琴也受邀出席，這屆聯誼會共有73名跨黨派立委參加，由民進黨立委王定宇及國民黨立委柯志恩共同擔任會長，傳出原先藍綠都搶著要率先成立、最後出動雙方總召協調，才定案、並下創"雙會長制"首例。

立法院舉辦"台美國會議員聯誼會"成立大會，不只正副院長到了，AIT副處長柯傑民、前任會長蕭美琴也受邀，這是她當選副總統後，首次回立院娘家。

[[副總統當選人蕭美琴]]
“我今天來的身分，應該不是這(副總統當選人)身分，我今天來是以第九屆的畢業生，這身分是其中一個，第二個身分就是第九屆的台美國會議員聯誼會長的身分”

[[立法院長韓國瑜]]
“113位立委竟然有，73位立法委員參加台美國會聯誼會，這個數字實在是非常震撼，各位將來碰到很多美國國會議員，一定要歡迎他們到立法院吃飯，跟外交部吃飯是黑白的，跟立法院吃飯是彩色的”

[[外交部政務次長田中光]]
“我會回去一定跟同仁分享，但是我必須跟委員報告，外交部的宴會，其實也是多彩多姿的”

台美國會議員聯誼會邁入第11屆，首創"雙會長制"，由民進黨立委王定宇及國民黨立委柯志恩擔任，但傳出原先國民黨團屬意江啟臣籌組、沒想到王定宇搶先22號要成立，就怕鬧雙包，最後出動雙方總召出手協調。

[[立委(民) 王定宇]]
“其實柯志恩一開始，我就邀請她擔任副會長，這協調過程一定有，倒不是誰跟誰搶主導權，每一方面，每個政黨，都希望在台美關係上面，關心出力，組織整合成一個，大家一起來共事”

[[立委(國) 柯志恩]]
“依照我的理解是，國會最大黨應該是來擔起這個主席的角色，就是因為這樣，彼此之間都覺得應該為台美關係做出更大貢獻，就說是創先例，AIT也希望有一個單一對口單位”

新國會新氣象，跨黨派合作，從立院台美議員聯誼會開始。

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Cutting a birthday cake with the number “20” kicks off the 20th Taiwan International Orchid Show. President-elect Lai Ching-te was in attendance and in his opening speech he emphasized he hoped Taiwan’s orchids could be just like Dutch tulips, providing income for even more people and creating an even greater economic output value.

Lai Ching-te
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I hope that Tainan’s orchids can be the same as tulips in the Netherlands, providing for even more Taiwanese people, and becoming an identification symbol of Taiwan internationally.

In addition to the Taiwan International Orchid Show in the government-run Taiwan Orchid Technology Park, the World Orchid Conference will be held in Tainan’s International Convention Center. Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che voiced hope that the orchid events and the Taiwan Lantern Festival would attract visitors to the city in its 400th anniversary.

Huang Wei-che
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All these events happening together can make Tainan even better and more fun.

Owing to the joint showing of these two major orchid events, this year visitor numbers are expected to exceed 200,000.

Huang Wei-che
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This year, Tainan turns 400, and our orchid show during the day, and Taiwan Lantern Festival at night, along with the Yuejin Lantern Festival, all complement each other, so I believe it is a reasonable estimate to see upward of 200,000 people this year.

The Orchid show, with the theme of “Orchid Together” covers Taiwanese orchids from many angles: conservation, history, culture, academic research and daily life applications. Together with the lantern shows, Tainan is a must-visit for flower lovers.

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Prashant Kalra relocated from Delhi to the western coastal city Goa five years ago because the city’s dirty air was making his then three-year-old daughter sick.

Prashant Kalra
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Our daughter could not breathe in Delhi NCR… because she needed a nebulizer every night just to go to sleep.

NCR refers to Delhi and surrounding districts. Kalra is among a small but growing number of people quitting that urban sprawl as two-decade long efforts fail to clean up the toxic smog that shrouds it every winter.

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For this couple, the trigger for moving two years ago was their daughter’s persistent cough.

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She got put on an inhaler and also the nebulizer. That is when I realized it is the air.

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When I moved to Goa, I did not know anybody else. Now in a span of two years, I know probably 20 people who moved here for the same reason.

Moving out of Delhi is a choice available only to a few. But the trend underscores that cleaning up India’s mega cities will be one of the country’s biggest challenges as the government sets an ambitious goal of making India a developed nation by 2047.

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Cheng Po-hui
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It’s being called the biggest exhibition of Western art in Taiwan. From Raphael to Van Gogh, “Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London” is coming to Chimei Museum. The show only opens on May 2, but the countdown has already begun for many art lovers.

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They’re all some of the most famous artists in history, and they’re all original works. So there are 50 artists in total and 52 works of art.

Unlike past exhibitions which have focused on a single great master, “Masterpieces from the National Gallery” will lead visitors on a journey from the Renaissance all the way to the Impressionists, laying out the essential developments of Western art over more than 400 years.

Tsai Hai-kuang
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The exhibition will cover 400 years, from the Renaissance all the way to the Impressionists in the 19th century. So visitors will be able to see an overview of Western painting across 400 years.

High Renaissance artist Raphael. Rembrandt, the Dutch “master of light.” Impressionist superstar Van Gogh. Fifty-two masterpieces will go on show at Chimei, which has been chosen by the National Gallery as its sole partner museum in Taiwan. It’s also the last stop in the exhibition’s tour of Asia.

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After they are shown here in Taiwan, all the work will return to the National Gallery, because it needs to go back there for the gallery’s bicentenary.

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A Formosan black bear stands on some boulders by the side of this river, guzzling on a fresh catch. When it’s full, it bounds nimbly away across the water.

The footage was taken at Nanzihsian River by an employee of the Chiayi Branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency. Colleagues are still cooing over it.

Hsu Yu-ching
Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, Chiayi Branch
We’ve never had such close-up footage before. Normally, we just see traces of the bears, or excrement, nothing so close-up, or eating food like this. Black bears are extremely wary of humans.

The branch has installed automatic infrared cameras in the mountains of Chiayi and Tainan, to monitor the movements of wild animal populations and collect footage. They’ve captured: wild boar hunting for food, two small bears, yellow-throated martens gathering to drink from a pond, a sambar deer wallowing in mud, and a curious Reeve’s muntjac staring into the lens.

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If you meet a black bear in the wild, you must stay calm. Don’t raise your voice. Keep facing the bear, and slowly back away, out of its line of sight. And then escape from the area.

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Northeasterly winds are picking up strength, bringing big waves to coastal areas and outlying islands. The cold will linger until Wednesday, so remember to wrap up warm if you’re heading out.

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