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Taiwan Quick Take

■Charity
Jordan to receive donations
The Taiwan government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Jordan's semi-official Hashemite Charity Organization (HCO) Thursday on cooperation in delivering Taiwan-donated cash and relief goods to Iraqi charities. The agreement was signed by Republic of China. Representative to Jordan Chang Tien-neng (張添能) and HCO Secretary-General Abdul Salam Abbadi.

■ Education
Teachers plan protest
The National Teachers' Association announced yesterday that it will stage a demonstration in Taipei on Teacher's Day, Sept 28. The association said some 10,000 teachers will attend a rally at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and then march to the plaza in front of the Presidential Office to highlight the teachers' opinions. An organizer said the teachers want the government to, to reduce the financial burden on students' parents, to eliminate the chaotic conditions caused by unsuccessful educational reform measures and to fulfill the educational promises given by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) during his 2000 campaign.

■ Diplomacy
Ma invited to design show
The Israeli representative to Taiwan called on Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday to invite him to attend an Israeli contemporary design show that will open at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in December. Ruth Kahanoff, representative of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, assumed her post this May when Taiwan was in the grips of a SARS outbreak. She said that her husband, a clinical psychologist, had wanted to help the Taiwanese people at the time but did not know through which channels to offer his assistance.

■ Immigration
PFP blasts spouse policy
A legislator of the opposition People First Party (PFP) said Friday that it is "against human nature" for the Chinese spouses of Taiwan residents to have to wait for 11 years to obtain citizenship. Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) was referring to a revised draft statute governing the relations between the people of Taiwan and China that stipulates spouses born in China have to accumulate 11 years of residency in Taiwan before they are eligible for citizenship. Compared with women from other countries, who only have to wait for four years to get citizenship, Feng said the government's approach is not fair or just and is against the principles of humanity.

■ Labor
Railway union cuts strike
A seven-day walkout planned by the Taiwan Railway Labor Union during the Lunar New Year may be shortened to a half-day strike in order to serve travelers during the busiest travel season of the year, according to the railway union chairman. More than half of the union members voted in a walkout on the Mid-Autumn Festival in favor of launching a seven-day strike on the Lunar New Year. Chang Wen-cheng (張文正), chairman of the union, said that after the walkout experienced on the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is confident that the New Year strike will paralyze the rail service and make the government look bad, despite its latest decision to shorten the strike from seven days to half a day.

Agencies
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