■ ENVIRONMENT
Old compounds to go green
Plans are being drawn up to transform 55 of the nation’s old industrial compounds into eco-friendly facilities in line with the government’s aim of establishing a low-carbon society. Officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Industrial Development Bureau said the bureau was considering installing solar panels in aging industrial compounds — which cover a combined total of more than 10,000m² — as part of its efforts to realize the renovation plan. “All the solar panels and LED equipment will be products manufactured by Taiwanese companies,” the officials said. Juifang Industrial District in northern Taiwan, Chushan Industrial District in central Taiwan and Kuantien Industrial District in the south will serve as “flagship” versions of the planned eco-friendly facilities, which will focus on ecology, culture and health-related concepts, the officials said.
■ EDUCATION
Turkish school seeks home
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsiung (楊秋興) promised yesterday to help the nation’s first Turkish school find a permanent location for its campus. Kivam Junior High School, which has borrowed school buildings from Kaohsiung City’s Kaohsiung Municipal Rueifong Junior High School since its establishment two years ago, recently proposed a plan to the county government to build a permanent school. The school, which accepts both Taiwanese and international students, has 50 students in three classes. Yang said the county government had plenty of plots of land to offer the school and vowed to help it in any way possible.
■ POLITICS
Conference to discuss China
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and National Chengchi University will cosponsor an international conference on China today and tomorrow. Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) will deliver the keynote address on cross-strait relations and the government’s China policies. The conference, titled International Conference On China: Six Decades and After, will feature sessions on cross-strait relations, China’s political, social and regional development, and a variety of other issues, the council said in a press release. The attendees include Brantly Womack of the University of Virginia, Scott Kastner of the University of Maryland, Zhao Ding-xin (趙鼎新) of the University of Chicago and You Ji (由驥) of the University of New South Wales. The council said the opinions and views collected at the conference would help the government understand China’s evolution and serve as a reference for setting China policy and managing cross-strait issues.
■ MEDIA
BTCO hosts Andrew Cahn
The British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO) has invited Andrew Cahn, chief executive of UK Trade and Investment — a UK government organization responsible for marketing the country overseas — to share his experiences in the UK’s creative industry. A BTCO newsletter said Cahn would speak at a workshop in Taipei on Wednesday, titled Going for Gold: London 2012 and UK Creative Industries. Admission to the workshop is free and open to all. The workshop is part of the office’s efforts to showcase the development of the creative industry in the UK over the past 50 years, and is meant to correspond with an exhibition it is hosting at the Taiwan Design Expo, which opened in Taichung City on Friday. The exhibition, titled Love and Money — 50 Years of Creative Britain, will run through Oct. 18.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition