Newsmakers

November 12 was Dr. Sun Yat-sen's birthday anniversary as well as Cultural Renaissance Day. President Yen Chia-kan presided over a commemorative meeting at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall attended by more than 3,000 representatives from the government, legislative bodies and universities. President Yen told the gathering that the birth of Dr. Sun Yat-sen was the beginning of our cultural renaissance. It is full of historic meaning that we use his birthday as our Cultural Renaissance Day, said President Yen. He added it is a day for increased national confidence and dignity.

Newly appointed Paraguayan Ambassador Timoteo Alvarenga presented his credentials to President Yen Chia-kan at the Presidential Office on November 26. Alvarenga is Paraguay's first resident ambassador to the Republic of China since the two countries established diplomatic ties on the ambassadorial level in 1957. The Paraguayan ambassador to Japan previously was concurrently ambassador to Taipei. The Republic of China and Paraguay have enjoyed friendly relations and expect to have closer ties in the future.

The Senior Advisor to the President, Chang Chun, flew to visit the off shore island of Kinmen on November 22. He was accompanied by Gen. Wang Tonien, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Ministry of National Defense, and Hong Kong journalist Tseng En-po and his wife. They attended a briefing and visited Chukuang Tower for the exhibition of air-lifting material for the victims of earthquakes on the Chinese mainland. They visited soldiers at Kuningtou and Mashan as well as Chung Cheng Park and the Kinmen Pottery Factory. Before departing for Taiwan, the visitors went to Mount Tawu.

The research vessel "Hai Kung" of the Taiwan Fisheries Research Institute left Keelung on December 2 for the Antarctic Ocean. It is due to return in March-April of 1977. The purpose of the trip is to develop fisheries in areas that have no problems of territorial claims and no ocean pollution, and to do research on processing techniques of fisheries in Antarctic waters. Hopefully it will open a new field for expanding our deep-sea fisheries. Crew members of the research vessel all said that they would work hard in completing their mission.