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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Recycling
Old computers donated
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday presided over an event at which recycled computers were donated to underprivileged groups. He said he hopes Taiwan can become not just an information giant but also "a country with love." To reduce the digital divide between urban and rural areas and to promote the idea of recycling, a campaign organized by the Presidential Office, the Cabinet's Environmental Protection Administration and the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, as well as the Institute for the Information Industry, has been under way for some time. It has received enthusiastic response from the private sector. A total of 571 recycled computers have been collected in the campaign.

■ Cross-Strait Ties
Kinmen police visit Xiamen
Kinmen County Police Bureau Director Chen Jui-tung (陳瑞通) traveled to Xiamen yesterday via the "small three links" route as part of his efforts to promote crime-fighting cooperation across the Taiwan Strait. Chen is among the 13 members of a delegation organized by the Association of Friends of the Kinmen County Police. The mission, headed by Lee Hsi-jung (李錫榮), includes several other senior and middle-ranking Kinmen police officers. "We hope the visit will contribute to the establishment of a Kinmen-Xiamen crime-fighting cooperative mechanism, " Chen said prior to his departure for Xiamen. Chen is the second Kinmen police chief to visit Xiamen since Taiwan legalized direct trade, postal and shipping links between Kinmen and Matsu and Xiamen and Mawei in China.

■ Marriage
Men opt for foreign brides
About a quarter of Taiwanese men who tied the knot last year married women from either China or Southeast Asian countries, the government said yesterday. The latest figures underscore a recent trend showing that many Taiwanese, mostly older men or laborers, have given up chasing better-educated Taiwanese women who tend to reject suitors whom they deem inferior intellectually, financially and socially. Of the 173,343 marriages in Taiwan last year, 16 percent, or 27,626, of the brides came from China. Another 16,747, or 9.6 percent, came from Vietnam, Indonesia or Thailand, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounts and Statistics said in a report. The Chinese brides had an average age of 30.3, while the Southeast Asian brides had an average age of 23, the report said.

■ Employment
Youth program launched
To help youth lacking work experience get a taste of the real world, the Cabinet yesterday offered 2,000 six-month job opportunities at various workplaces, including non-governmental organizations. "It's a win-win-win situation for the industry, the government and young people," Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i (林信義) said in a press conference yesterday. Citizens between 18 and 29 years of age are eligible to apply for the program. In addition to the monthly allowance of NT$8,000, qualified candidates will be covered by national labor insurance. The government will also issue a certificate to employees at the end of the program and encourage the employer to hire them full-time. The government hopes to see at least 50 percent of the program's employees enter the job market one year after finishing the program.

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