Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) yesterday said the ministry was mulling establishing a mechanism to exchange nuclear power safety information with China following the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged parts of Japan last Friday and caused radiation leaks at nuclear power plants in Fukushima Prefecture.
Such a move was discussed internally to form a cross-strait communications platform on disaster prevention that would also include typhoon and weather monitoring, he said.
The minister made the remarks during a meeting at the legislature’s Economics Committee, with legislators questioning him and officials from the Atomic Energy Council and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) about possible shortcomings in the -disaster--preparedness of Taiwan’s four nuclear power plants.
The legislators asked how ready the ministry would be to prevent a Fukushima-style disaster from -happening in Taiwan in the event of similar natural disasters, and how it planned to protect Taiwanese as China plans to build several nuclear plants along its coast.
China has two nuclear plants in Fujian Province and reportedly intends to build 13 more along its southeastern coastline.
In other news, the ministry said yesterday it would trim the taxes on some imports for Taiwanese companies in the face of the quake, which has disrupted the global technology supply chain.
Lien Ching-chang (連錦漳), a deputy director-general at the ministry’s Industrial Development Bureau, told reporters in the Executive Yuan that the quake has impacted Japanese supplies of components, parts and machinery to overseas clients, and Taiwanese auto, chip, panel and solar industries would take a blow.
He said these companies should not face an immediate threat as they have secured component inventories to last up to two months.
However, the mid-term effect has to be closely monitored as Japan has implemented rolling blackouts, which could affect the operation of some production -facilities, Lien added.
The ministry will help Taiwanese firms look out for substitute components in case Japanese suppliers couldn’t meet their demand, he said.
JPMorgan Securities (Taiwan) raised concerns about Taiwanese auto, semiconductor and PC industries after the quake.
“Taiwan automakers [operate] largely on an OEM [original equipment manufacturing] basis and rely heavily on key components, such as engines and transmissions from Japan,” it said in a report on Tuesday.
While raw wafer supply may not be an issue in the near term, a -potential hiccup in the supply of bismaleimide triazine (BT) resin from Japan could impact applications using BT-based substrates, including handsets and communications products, it said.
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical and Hitachi Chemical together account for about 90 percent of global BT resin supply, it added.
In the PC sector, aside from Japan being the third-largest PC market globally with a 5 percent market share, concerns remain about securing stable supplies of components such as rechargeable batteries, optical disk drives and some hard disk drive parts, -JPMorgan said.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
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
‘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)