■ IMMIGRATION
Ministry not adopting quota
A Ministry of the Interior "white paper" outlining key demographic and immigration policies next year will not call for yearly quotas on immigrants from China despite a task force's recommendation to implement such quotas, the ministry said yesterday. A task force composed of National Chengchi University academics and commissioned by the Cabinet last year to research solutions to problems posed by the nation's aging population and influx of immigrants suggested setting quotas last month. Specifically, the academics called for a reduction in the quota for Chinese immigrant spouses seeking "permanent residency" from 6,000 to 4,700 annually. They also recommended that the number of Chinese immigrant spouses given "long-term residency" be limited to 7,000 annually. The task force cited a high divorce rate between local men and Chinese brides here and Chinese immigrant spouses' alleged inability to identify with local culture. However, the ministry has decided to scrap the quota proposal after soliciting opinions from the public, a ministry press release stated. The white paper is to be released at the end of the year, it added.
■ CRIME
Illegal immigrant escapes
An illegal immigrant awaiting deportation to China in an Ilan County detention center escaped yesterday, immigration authorities said. The detainee, a woman, simply walked out the front door after asking to use the bathroom, center officials said. They added that law-enforcement authorities were still searching for the woman.
■ DEFENSE
PRC subs confirmed
The Ministry of National Defense confirmed yesterday that China has developed second-generation 094-type strategic nuclear-powered submarines each capable of carrying 16 long-range "Great Wave-2" ballistic missiles. The 094 model is equivalent to the US' Ohio-class in terms of mobility, flexibility, defenses and combat capabilities, a report on the ministry's Web site said yesterday. The ministry said the low-noise 094 nuclear submarine is similar in size and appearance to the 092 Summer-class submarine developed by China in the early 1980s, but each of the missiles on the new model can contain three nuclear warheads and the submarine can fire ballistic missiles at targets more than 8,000km away. The ministry also quoted a Washington Times report from last December as indicating that since 2002, China has been buying or developing scores of new submarines, including 093 Shang-class nuclear-powered attack submarines and Song-class conventional submarines. Military observers said that China's latest addition to its nuclear submarine fleet jeopardized global security.
■ CRIME
Taichung honors civilians
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) presented citations and cash awards to 16 city residents yesterday for helping police fight crime. Hu handed the 16 residents cash awards ranging from NT$6,000 to NT$20,000. He said he was glad to see two women among the recipients for the first time since the award program was initiated three years ago. The two women were Chen Hsiang-lan (陳香蘭), of Hua Nan Commercial Bank, and Tsai Shu-feng (蔡淑芬), of Taichung Commercial Bank. They received NT$7,000 each in recognition of their vigilance in helping to crack fraud rings. The mayor said that thanks to the award program, public security in Taichung had improved.
■ HEALTH
Cancer top risk for Kinmen
Cancer remained the most common cause of death on Kinmen last year, statistics from the Kinmen County Health Bureau showed. The statistics showed that 443 Kinmen residents died last year, representing an increase of 39 deaths from 2005. The total comprised 257 men and 186 women. Cancer accounted for 36.6 percent of the 10 leading causes of death, followed by 9.3 percent for heart disease and nearly 9.3 percent for cerebrovascular disease. The fourth to 10th causes of death were diabetes, accidents, pneumonia, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, kidney disease, hypertension and suicide. A total of 162 people died of cancer last year -- up 30 from 2005. According to the statistics, Kinmen recorded a cancer death rate of 220.8 deaths per 100,000 population last year, much higher than the 166.5 per 100,000 for Taiwan proper.
■ TRANSPORTATION
Local airport may see profit
Chingchuangkang Airport in Taichung County may soon turn a profit thanks to its international charter flight service, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said. On Wednesday, officials said Chingchuangkang Airport was likely to become the fourth airport after Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Songshan Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport to earn a profit. While domestic flight routes have been hit hard by the launch of the high-speed rail in January this year, international charter flights departing from Chingchuangkang Airport have been in strong demand. There are seven outbound charter flights from the airport each day, with four allocated to carriers with overseas destinations.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching