Native education for democracyBy Lee Chuan-hsin 李川信The Ministry of Education in 2002 established the Native Education Committee to draw up a blueprint and propose the development of a policy to implement native cultural education. Founded last year, the Center for Native Education integrates educational resources across Taiwan and publishes journals such as Newsletter of Taiwan Studies (台灣學通訊), Research in Taiwan Studies (台灣學研究) and ChaiTe Homeland Education (在地). To consolidate the foundations of native cultural education formed by the Taiwanese Cultural Association a century ago with the support of Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水), the ministry invited experts and academics to attend a conference intended to be a retrospective of 30 years of native cultural education and to look to the future. Taiwan went through a linguistic dark age when native languages — such as Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), Hakka and indigenous languages — of different ethnicities were suppressed. The government aspires to cultivate modern citizens with a humanistic spirit through the implementation and promotion of native cultural education.

A stack of floating Disney characters stars at Tainan eventBy Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff writer, with CNAA 15m stack of inflatable Disney characters floating in a harbor is the centerpiece as the Mickey and Friends Chill in Tainan event began yesterday. The stack of characters from the Tsum Tsum range — a name derived from the Japanese verb tsumu meaning “to stack” — is illuminated at night. Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei TimesThere are other themed exhibits and Disney pop-up shops at the wharf and its surrounding plaza. People are welcome to visit Anping during the Mid-Autumn Festival long weekend to enjoy the beautiful scenery and spend quality time with family, he said. For more information on the event, visit the Travel Tainan Web site or its Facebook page, and Disney Taiwan’s Facebook page and its Instagram account @disney_taiwan.

The Liberty Times Editorial: Taiwan’s cuisine hits world stageThe Michelin Guide, a benchmark in gastronomy, last month released its Bib Gourmand list featuring 141 inexpensive eateries in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. With promotion by international media, the quality and status of Taiwanese cuisine are likely to rise again. Taiwanese cuisine has officially arrived on the world stage. Taiwanese cuisine received perhaps its most significant boost when former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was elected in 2000. The inclusion of so many Taiwanese eateries in the latest edition of the Bib Gourmand list should help to foster mass appeal for Taiwanese cuisine.

Sit-ups urged to be ceased at schools on injury fearsBy Yang Cheng-yu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Sports Administration should abolish sit-ups at schools, citing concerns that the exercise can cause spinal injuries in some, New Power Party Taoyuan City councilor candidate Lu Yu-chen (呂宇晟) said yesterday. Taiwanese are taught since childhood the misconception that sit-ups can train core strength, Lu said at a news conference. New Power Party member and personal trainer Lu Yu-chen, left, assists a person who is doing sit-ups. New Power Party lawmaker and city councilor candidate Lu Yu-chen, left, speaks during a news conference in the city yesterday. An amendment on regulations governing physical education at schools is being drafted specifically to address concerns about sit-ups and to make other changes, Pan said.

Taiwan Statebuilding Party secretary-general Wang Hsing-huan, center, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. “The sovereignty of Taiwan belongs to all of us here, all the families and inhabitants of Taiwan,” Wang said. The pledge was launched on Monday by World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI) and other sovereignty support groups. This shows our strong resolve to act on our conviction, Wang Hsing-huan said. Wang Hsing-huan and Peter Wang criticized Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and possible presidential candidate for refusing to sign the pledge.

Nvidia gets partial easing on export rules to ChinaNvidia Corp said it has been given licenses to provide support to US customers in China and to allow it to complete development work there on its artificial-intelligence chips, a small concession in Washington’s latest push to shut off that country’s access to advanced technology. The US government has authorized the company to “perform exports needed to provide support for US customers of A100 through March 1, 2023,” a company filing on Thursday said. Nvidia has also been granted permission to transfer necessary technology to China for the development of its upcoming H100 products. These exports are authorized to be conducted

The France-based gourmet publication began evaluating restaurants in Taipei in 2018, with eateries in Taichung included in 2020. Michelin Guide inspectors expanded their culinary search this year by also evaluating restaurants in Tainan and Kaohsiung. Michelin yesterday morning unveiled its list for this year of 38 starred restaurants in Taiwan at the Mandarin Hotel in Taipei. Tainan was the only one of the four cities that did not have a restaurant with a star rating. Instead of expressing disappointment, peopleBy Shelley Shan

華語簡易通 EASY CHINESE FOR YOU! (II)對話 Dialogues玉玲：我打算做宮保雞丁。有沒有人不敢吃辣的？大雄：我最愛吃宮保雞丁，越辣越好吃。玉玲：靜香，妳能不能做一個湯？靜香：當然可以，你們想喝什麼湯？酸辣湯，怎麼樣？玉玲：呣！酸辣湯不錯。大雄：那，我帶一瓶紹興酒和水果。Yuling: I’d like to make Gongbao chicken. Daxiong: I love Gongbao chicken most. How about Sour and Hot Soup? Yuling: Hmm, Sour and Hot Soup sounds good.

Radar extension aims to maintain performance: expertsStaff writer, with CNAA proposal by the US government to extend a contract for an early warning facility in Hsinchu County aims to ensure that the system performs well, a military source said. The proposal involves Leshan Radar Station in Wufeng Township (五峰), the source said, but declined to comment on whether the package would involve upgrades to the system. It is worth watching whether the contract extension will involve upgrades, Lin said. The Leshan station sits at an altitude of 2,620m and can detect missiles fired within a range of 5,000km. It can also track cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, drones and ships within a 2,000km range.

Gasoline, diesel prices to fall as oil price declinesBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterState-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it would lower gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.1 and NT$0.2 per liter respectively, after a drop in global crude oil prices reduced the cost of oil imports. It is the third price reduction that CPC has announced in the past three weeks. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC stations are to fall to NT$29.1, NT$30.6 and NT$32.6 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while the price of premium diesel is to be NT$26.8 per liter, CPC said. Reports that OPEC has yet to discuss a potential output cut, and that oil exports from Iran and Iraq remain normal despite domestic difficulties, also weighed on oil prices last week, Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said. Formosa’s prices for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline are to drop to NT$29.1, NT$30.6 and NT$32.6 per liter respectively, while the price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$26.6 per liter.

Chinese air force incursions spike dramaticallyESCALATION: Last month’s 446 incursions were more than the number recorded in 2020, with Bonnie Glaser saying China is trying to wear down Taiwan’s pilotsBy William Hetherington / Staff writer with CNAThe Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force last month made 446 incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the Defense Post reported on Thursday. Last month’s incursions far surpassed the number recorded during the whole of 2020, the report said. A Taiwanese F-16 jet, left, flies alongside a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force H-6K bomber on May 11, 2018. The army’s Combined Arms Battalion, snipers, tanks, armored vehicles and mortars would be tested during the four-day live-fire exercises, the source said. It is the armed forces’ second-largest drill, following the annual Han Kuang exercises that involve all branches of the military.

Combat China through India tiesBy P.R. Beijing knows that India is emerging as the global alternative to China if it is allowed to grow unimpeded. That many countries, including India, do not formally recognize Taiwan is a political hindrance to forming a united front against China. At the outset, political exchanges between India and Taiwan must be increased so that the latter is not politically isolated. Innovative ways to enhance political, economic, diplomatic and military cooperation with Taiwan must be found to tackle a common threat: China.

Google’s immersive Street View offers glimpse of ‘metaverse’By Glenn CHAPMAN / AFP, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CaliforniaFifteen years after its launch, a Google Maps feature that lets people explore faraway places as though standing right there is providing a glimpse of the “metaverse” being heralded as the future of the Internet. Google global communications associate Sofia Abdirizak, left, measures a Street View camera for a journalist during a press event at the Google Street View Garage in Mountain View, California, on Monday. “He was talking to some of his colleagues at the time, saying: ‘I bet we can do something with this.’ That was the start of Street View,” Silverman said. Street View lets people click on locations in Google Maps to see what it might look like were they at that spot, and even look around. Now, the Internet behemoth is introducing an “immersive view” that fuses Street View images with artificial intelligence to create “a rich, digital model of the world,” Google Maps experiences vice president Miriam Daniel wrote online.

Textile designer is bringing back Mughal patternsBy Laurence Thomann / AFP, AMBER, IndiaTextiles designer Brigitte Singh lovingly lays out a piece of cloth embossed with a red poppy plant she said was probably designed for Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal, four centuries ago. A worker uses a hand block printing technique on a cotton fabric at the workshop of textile designer Brigitte Singh in Amber, India, on June 2. Photo: AFP“I was the first to give a renaissance to this kind of Mughal design,” Singh said in her traditional printing workshop in Rajasthan. Textile designer Brigitte Singh, right, watches as a worker uses a hand block printing technique on a cotton fabric at her workshop in Amber, India, on June 2. A worker carves a design on wood to make a block used in hand block printing at the workshop of textile designer Brigitte Singh in Amber, India, on June 2.

India commissions second aircraft carrierAP, NEW DELHIIndia yesterday commissioned its first home-built aircraft carrier as it seeks to counter regional rival China’s much larger and growing fleet, and expand its own indigenous shipbuilding capabilities. The INS Vikrant, whose name is a Sanskrit word for “powerful” or “courageous,” is India’s second operational aircraft carrier, joining the Soviet-era INS Vikramaditya, which it purchased from Russia in 2004. People gather on the deck of the INS Vikrant during the aircraft carrier’s commissioning in Kochi, India, yesterday. Until then, it would rely on the Russian aircraft borrowed from India’s other carrier, said Rahul Bedi, a defense expert. Modi yesterday said security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean have been ignored for too long.