TRANSPORT
Electric buses in September
Greater Kaohsiung is to see 11 electric buses taking to the streets as soon as September, once all the recharging stations have been installed. The buses will run between the Zuoying high-speed railway station in Zuoying District (左營) and Cishan District (旗山), said Huang Jung-hui (黃榮輝), an official with the city’s transportation bureau. The first eight vehicles, completed last month, were not put into service because the recharging stations had not been fully installed, Huang said. He added that the 11 recharging stations, all in Cishan, are scheduled to be in place by the end of next month. When fully charged, the buses, built with government funding of NT$57 million (US$1.9 million), can cover 200km, or approximately two round-trips, Huang said.
LABOR
Teenagers get less pay
More than 90 percent of employers in Greater Taichung pay their teenage part-time workers less than the minimum wage and do not provide health and labor insurance coverage for them, according to a recent poll. The survey showed that while 69.7 percent of teenagers in Taichung are interested in working part time during the summer vacation, only 49.9 percent are aware that their employers are required by law to provide them with labor and health insurance coverage. Among the 33.7 percent of teens who said they had part-time work experience, 72.8 percent reported the pay they had received was below the minimum hourly wage of NT$103, while 89.8 percent said they had not been offered health and labor insurance coverage, according to the survey conducted by the Taichung-based Chionyuan Social Welfare Foundation. The survey was conducted from June 7 to June 20 among 1,178 students in junior and senior-high schools.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Council denies it is ‘tool’
The National Security Council on Tuesday denied a report that accused it of having been a political tool for the Chinese Nationlist Party (KMT) by monitoring opposition parties in the run-up to the January elections. The council said in a statement that the Hong Kong magazine Yazhou Zhoukan’s report about a flawed mechanism in the agency “is false.” The magazine reported that the mechanism to integrate the country’s security system and intelligence resources has become a tool for political wrestling between a ruling party and opposition parties. The reported also said the council gave an order to the Investigation Bureau to monitor the activities of opposition parties ahead of the elections. The council said had already explained that it did not conduct any intelligence gathering targeting opposition parties when a similar report emerged in December last year.
HEALTH
Missions are ‘valuable’
Taiwan’s overseas medical missions are a projection of the nation’s soft power, Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) said yesterday at a meeting held to encourage hospitals to take part in international humanitarian projects. Describing medical missions as “valuable assets,” Yang said Taiwan’s success in conducting such missions since 1962 has gained the acclaim of its allies. Taiwan’s initiatives have also enabled the country to establish connections with other major international organizations, he told an audience of representatives from more than a dozen hospitals nationwide, citing a recent health program launched with Taiwan’s help in the Gambia that has greatly benefited pregnant mothers and babies.
MUSIC
Taichung hosts horn contest
Taichung will host its first international saxophone competition in mid-October as part of the city government’s efforts to promote the instrument. The contest will be held from Oct. 17 to Oct. 19 as a precursor of the city’s annual Oct. 20 to Oct. 28 jazz festival, Greater Taichung Deputy Mayor Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家淇) said. To attract competitors from home and aboard, a top prize of US$30,000 will be offered, he said. Taiwanese ballads, including The Moon Represents My Heart (月亮代表我的心), Waiting for Spring Wind (望春風) and Flower in the Rainy Night (雨夜花), will be required tunes for all entries, he added. He said Greater Taichung’s Houli Township (后里) is known to saxophone players around the world as “the home of the horn,” thanks to its many, mostly family-owned, instrument manufacturing operations. More than 60 percent of the world’s saxophones come from Houli, he added.
HEALTH
Fish fail drugs tests
As much as 50 percent of East Asian fourfinger threadfin failed recent checks for drug residues, with some found to contain the antibiotic sulfonamide, according to the Department of Health’s Food and Drug Administration. The agency said it examined 67 products last month and nine of them failed the standards set for veterinary drug residue. Of the 67, 16 were threadfin products and eight failed the tests, it said, adding that five of the eight substandard threadfin products contained sulfonamides, while the other three contained leucomalachite green, a synthetic dye. Lin Chieh-liang (林杰樑), director of the toxicology department at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, said excessive consumption of leucomalachite green can lead to liver damage and deformities in children.
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
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
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard