College student Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) catapulted to the front page of a major Chinese daily this week when he took to a legislative lectern with strong words, calling Education Minister Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) “hypocritical,” “full of lies” and “unrepentant.” Many in the Taiwan public have seen the student's physical gestures.

Are students allowed to accuse the country's highest education official of being a liar and hypocrite? Are they allowed to be impolite to the education minister? And are they allowed to “interrogate” the minister at the Legislature?

Taiwan's Association of East Asian Relations and Japan's Interchange Association finally held their long-delayed preliminary meeting for the 17th round of fishery talks in Tokyo last Friday. At first, the meeting was scheduled for July 12, but because of Beijing's strong opposition, it didn't take place.

Members and friends of the foreign community gathered on Dec. 2 in a special event hosted by the National Immigration Agency (NIA, 內政部入出國及移民署) and the Taipei City Government (台北市政府) at the 228 Peace Memorial Park (二二八和平紀念公園).

As the holiday seasons arrives, it's time for the people to show some care for the soundness of our government ministers. They have been working hard realizing President Ma Ying-jeou's directive of introducing tangible policies, which is arguably the most intangible directive of all. Theirs is a tough job that wins few hearts.

The China Post reported on Friday that China Steel won the 2012 Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Report Awards. It is even more encouraging, though, that there has been a drastic across-the-board improvement in the degree of compliance to international regulations.

Albeit conscious of appearance, the Emperor apparently does not spend much on his wardrobe. Call him a penny pincher if you are honest, or something else if you are polite.

The first ever Asian Baseball Winter League (ABWL) officially kicked of in the central city of Taichung last Saturday, opening a new page in the development of baseball in Taiwan and Asia as a whole.

The Next Media drama has a host of elements and characters that could make a classic episode of the “Theater of the Absurd” where we can't see the purpose of the deal.

Taiwanese actors only claimed two major prizes at this weekend's Golden Horse Awards (金獎), lagging far behind Hong Kong and mainland China, which together swept all the 19 other key trophies up for grabs.