DIPLOMACY
Japan to use ‘Taiwan’ label
The nationality of Taiwanese living in Japan will be listed as “Taiwan” rather than “China” on their residence permit cards and marriage documents starting on July 15 next year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday after a Taiwanese woman protested that the marriage certificate she obtained in Japan specified her nationality as “China.” “Many complaints about this were received over the years and we also filed several protests, which pushed Japan to amend its laws,” said Huang Ming-lung (黃明朗), secretary-general of the Association of East Asian Relations. Japan has designated the nationality of Taiwanese as “China” after Taiwan broke off diplomatic relations with Japan in 1972, Huang said.
ENVIRONMENT
WRA battles land subsidence
The Water Resources Agency (WRA) said it was taking various measures to lessen land subsidence in areas along the west coast and to replenish the underground water table. Agency Deputy Director-General Wu Yueh-hsi (吳約西) said that underground water recharging and flood prevention facilities would help retain floodwater during typhoons and boost the replenishment of underground water. Overuse of underground water for industry and agriculture is a major cause of land subsidence. Wu said the agency has been working on projects in Changhua, Yunlin and Pingtung counties. During the dry season, levees are built along riverbanks to help raise water levels. Meanwhile, as of the end of last month, underground water recharging has increased to about 16.74 million tonnes, with expectations that the figure will increase to 32.7 million tonnes by the end of next month. The agency has also invested about NT$2.5 billion (US$85.5 million) in those counties as well as Greater Tainan to set up 33 flood detention facilities, he said.
SOCIETY
Stability tops mate list: poll
Job stability tops the list of Taiwanese women’s criteria when deciding upon their ideal mate, according to a recent survey conducted by online job bank Yes123. The poll investigated some of the material factors that Taiwanese women prioritize when choosing their life partner. Job stability topped the list at 91.2 percent, followed by home ownership at 71 percent, having a car at 55.2 percent and having more than NT$1 million in the bank at 30 percent. The results also showed that 66.5 percent of respondents said they would choose “bread over love.” Asked if a happy marriage could exist without proper financial support, 69 percent replied in the negative. The online poll, conducted from May 3 to May 11 among women aged 18 to 40, collected 1,223 valid samples with a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
SCIENCE
New edible fungus created
A research group at Asia University in Greater Taichung yesterday unveiled new strains of pink, purple and yellow Tremella, otherwise known as edible white fungus. Lin Chien-Yih (林俊義), dean of the College of Health Science, said he and his team have developed a pesticide-free method for growing Tremella and a new technology for growing colored Tremella following four years of research. The group has developed optimal greenhouse conditions for growing Tremella that do not require the heavy use of pesticides, which until now has been required to achieve good harvests. According to Lin, the darker the Tremella, the more antidioxidants it contains.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai