President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) teamed up yesterday with Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), head of Taiwan's top research institute, to attract overseas researchers to help achieve the nation's goal of developing a world-class biotechnology sector.
Calling biotechnology "the most important industry to Taiwan's future economic development," Chen told delegates attending the ninth Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America International Symposium to come to Taiwan and help build the country's biotech industry.
"So many great scholars have come to Taiwan for this event, this shows Taiwan's ability to attract people," Chen said during the opening ceremony yesterday at Academia Sinica.
The last time officials in Taiwan zeroed in so closely on an industry was in the 1980s, to build Taiwan's semiconductor prowess. Through tax incentives, government cash and the establishment of science parks, officials drew to Taiwan overseas Chinese such as Morris Chang (
In biotechnology, officials say Taiwan is hindered by its lack of human resources. The president pointed out that only around 4,000 researchers are currently working in biotechnology-related fields in Taiwan.
"For a developed nation, this is not very good, because in some countries, one big university or pharmaceutical firm might employ 3,000 or 4,000 or more researchers," he said.
The president of the National Health Research Institute, Wu Cheng-wen (
Wu said drawing researchers from abroad is necessary, as is the need to get more young Taiwanese students to study abroad in biotech-related fields.
"If we don't get more young people to go overseas to study, Taiwan will run into great difficulties [in the future]," Wu said.
Chen said that since Taiwan is such a small place, building better ties with overseas groups like the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America is imperative.
The five-day symposium attempts to do just that. Working groups of scholars will attend lectures and panel discussions on a number of health issues affecting ethnic Chinese people throughout Asia, including hepatitis, cancers common among ethnic Chinese and a number of biotechnology issues.
One delegate to the symposium, Yale University professor Cheng Yung-chi (鄭永齊), said Taiwan needs to draw people from all over the world into the local industry, not just ethnic Chinese.
"Taiwan must build a global vision," he said.
Lee, the head of Academia Sinica and winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, backed the president's biotech drive.
"There's nothing too difficult to overcome so long as you are willing to take the challenge," Lee said, citing an old Chinese proverb. "For those of you that want to take this challenge, Taiwan is the place."
Academia Sinica has been a key force behind moves to draw biotech researchers to Taiwan over the past five years.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the