How can they be trusted?
A hue and cry has broken out following last week’s arrest of a National Security Bureau (NSB) agent for attempting to smuggle more than 10,000 cartons of cigarettes via the courtesy customs channel used by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as she returned from an overseas tour (“NSB official accused of smuggling,” July 23, 2019, page 1).
NSB director-general Peng Sheng-chu (彭勝竹) resigned immediately, while chief aide-de-camp to the president Chang Chieh (張捷), who was the officer in charge of presidential bodyguards, asked to be disciplined and is to be transferred to another post.
Nonetheless, the incident is probably only the tip of the iceberg. It is easy to imagine and very worrying to think how much more corruption or other illegal activities might have been going on unseen within the bureau.
If the culprits could not even resist the measly profit to be made by avoiding the tobacco tax, how can they be trusted to be incorruptible in the way they handle their day-to-day security duties? How would they respond to much bigger incentives offered by communist China?
The overriding principle of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) military strategy in preparing for possible military action against Taiwan is to preempt intervention by other nations by achieving quick victory in a short war and striking a decisive blow in the first battle.
Many of the PLA’s scenarios, including a decapitation strike, are based on this principle.
Tsai, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and having repeatedly stated her opposition to the “one country, two systems” formula and her determination to uphold Taiwan’s sovereignty, is certainly the PLA’s prime target.
NSB agents are supposed to stand by Tsai, ensuring her security and acting as her last line of defense, but it appears as if their military discipline and personal integrity are full of holes.
If the government fails to grasp this opportunity to clean house, Tsai’s personal safety would be precarious indeed.
Huang Wei-bing
Kaohsiung
Elderly employment
On Thursday last week, the Executive Yuan passed the draft middle-aged and elderly people employment act, which allows employers to hire workers older than 65 using a time-limited labor contract. It also bans discrimination based on age and differential treatment, stipulating penalties of up to NT$1.5 million (US$48,105).
The law is designed to encourage middle-aged and older workers who want to pursue a second career to make the move, creating more job opportunities for seniors and reducing their dependence and burden on social welfare.
The law is well-intended, but it has no power to stop workplace discrimination and bullying against older workers by colleagues.
I have seen many such cases in the workplace. Although the employer was willing to hire older workers, those workers were unreasonably discriminated against, excluded and isolated. Even worse, colleagues might order them around as if senior workers are inferior people.
A friend of mine, who is almost 70 and still goes to work, told me that he often gets bullied by his supervisor, who is younger than my friend and deliberately picks on him at work.
Outside of work, no colleague wants to make friends with him.
One year at the company’s year-end banquet, there was a table with only five or six middle-aged and older colleagues, while a dozen young colleagues squeezed in at another table.
The two groups ate and talked between themselves, making this supposedly social event awkward.
Discrimination is ubiquitous throughout society, and age discrimination in the workplace is common. The draft law might encourage employers to open their doors to middle-aged and senior people, thus creating a win-win situation.
However, social conventions must keep up and the workplace culture of discrimination and prejudice against senior people must be changed to promote a senior-friendly work environment.
Lee Yue-chih
Taipei
The government and local industries breathed a sigh of relief after Shin Kong Life Insurance Co last week said it would relinquish surface rights for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) to Nvidia Corp. The US chip-design giant’s plan to expand its local presence will be crucial for Taiwan to safeguard its core role in the global artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem and to advance the nation’s AI development. The land in dispute is owned by the Taipei City Government, which in 2021 sold the rights to develop and use the two plots of land, codenamed T17 and T18, to the
Taiwan’s first case of African swine fever (ASF) was confirmed on Tuesday evening at a hog farm in Taichung’s Wuci District (梧棲), trigging nationwide emergency measures and stripping Taiwan of its status as the only Asian country free of classical swine fever, ASF and foot-and-mouth disease, a certification it received on May 29. The government on Wednesday set up a Central Emergency Operations Center in Taichung and instituted an immediate five-day ban on transporting and slaughtering hogs, and on feeding pigs kitchen waste. The ban was later extended to 15 days, to account for the incubation period of the virus
The ceasefire in the Middle East is a rare cause for celebration in that war-torn region. Hamas has released all of the living hostages it captured on Oct. 7, 2023, regular combat operations have ceased, and Israel has drawn closer to its Arab neighbors. Israel, with crucial support from the United States, has achieved all of this despite concerted efforts from the forces of darkness to prevent it. Hamas, of course, is a longtime client of Iran, which in turn is a client of China. Two years ago, when Hamas invaded Israel — killing 1,200, kidnapping 251, and brutalizing countless others
Art and cultural events are key for a city’s cultivation of soft power and international image, and how politicians engage with them often defines their success. Representative to Austria Liu Suan-yung’s (劉玄詠) conducting performance and Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen’s (盧秀燕) show of drumming and the Tainan Jazz Festival demonstrate different outcomes when politics meet culture. While a thoughtful and professional engagement can heighten an event’s status and cultural value, indulging in political theater runs the risk of undermining trust and its reception. During a National Day reception celebration in Austria on Oct. 8, Liu, who was formerly director of the
RSS