Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (
During a session of the legislature's Economics and Energy Committee, Chen declined to discuss the ministry's stance on the administration's policy of freezing oil prices, saying he was unable to speculate on the issue.
Chen was answering questions by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Shu-po (
Hsu accused the ministry of making the policy change solely for political purposes, saying if the ministry had any gumption, it would stick to its mechanism and allow local oil prices to reflect prices on international oil markets.
Meanwhile, Chen defended the decision by the Executive Yuan's price stabilization task force a day earlier to lower the ceiling on gasoline price adjustments under the floating mechanism to 12 percent from 15 percent starting next month.
He said, however, that the freeze -- as well as the floating pricing mechanism as a whole -- would come under review again next month before the task force makes any new decision.
Chen said he had no knowledge of a media report saying the 12 percent ceiling on gasoline price adjustments would only be effective until the presidential election.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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