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The top story from this past week involved the US Republican National Committee, which passed a resolution supporting Taiwan’s Peace Initiative in the East China Sea. The initiative calls on parties to put aside conflicts and settle disputes peacefully. The committee passed the resolution unanimously this month.
The resolution affirmed the party’s friendship and support of Taiwan and its commitment to safeguarding Taiwan’s freedom and democracy. It also called on the Obama administration to sell submarines, modern fighter jets, and other weapons to Taiwan.
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Also this past week, the Cabinet has rejected a referendum proposal on the fourth nuclear power plant.
The proposed question reads "Do you support the installation of fuel rods in the fourth nuclear power plant in New Taipei?" The question had passed the initial threshold in July with more than 120,000 endorsements. But the 14 members in the referendum review committee voted unanimously against the proposal on Friday.
The committee believes the question, proposed by National Taiwan University Professor Kao Cheng-yan is too confusing. The committee’s Chairman Chu Hsin-min explains:
“The statement may mislead people into believing that this proposal is in favor of the operation of the power plant," Chu said.
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And finally this past week, French director Luc Besson held a press conference in Taipei on Tuesday to promote his film Lucy which premieres in Taipei on Wednesday. He was accompanied by his wife Virginie Silla who produced the film.
Lucy has been a US box office hit and has already made over US$160 million in the US alone. It cost US$40 million to make the science fiction action film. In the film, Scarlett Johansson plays a woman who gains the full potential of her brain when drugs are planted in her body. Besson said he wanted to make a thriller that looked at the philosophical question of what people do when they have power. Over half of the film was shot in Taiwan.
Besson said that Taipei is a great city for filming. He said it was extremely efficient to film here. What usually takes eight weeks in other cities only took two weeks in Taipei.