President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen's signature was followed by that of Premier Yu Shyi-kun, Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), Buddhist master Sheng Yen (聖嚴法師) and agriculturalist Chung Wen-fang (鍾文芳).
Last October, while meeting with Taiwan's representatives to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, Chen designated 2003 as the First Year of Sustainable Development in Taiwan.
"There's an urgency for us to promote sustainable development, because Taiwan is a densely populated, disaster-prone country with limited natural resources and is in a unique political situation," Chen said.
Chen stressed that he would push the Cabinet to back the sustainability plan in order to balance conservation and economic development and make Taiwan a "Green Silicon Island."
To highlight the importance of leaving future generations a liveable environment, Chen and other leading figures gave seedlings of endemic species to children's representatives.
Yu, also convener of the Cabinet's National Council for Sustainable Development, said that the council's status had been upgraded last year in order to make it more effective.
Taiwan is one of only a few countries whose premier convenes such a council.
Lee said that the First Year of Sustainable Development in Taiwan was the beginning of a sustainable development dynasty, whose rulers are the Taiwanese people.
Lee said that it was a pity that the Western model of economic development has been mimicked by most developing Asian countries for decades.
"Taiwan has to wake up and search for its own roads leading to sustainable development rather than following the steps of Western countries," Lee said.
According to Minister without Portfolio Yeh Jiunn-rong (
Juju Wang (
Wang said that the public still sees many construction projects lacking the spirit of sustainable development.
"We haven't found any place to dump radioactive waste but the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is still under construction," Wang said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)