GENDER EQUALITY
ATWEN focuses on women
Taiwan and Australia on Thursday launched a network to connect female entrepreneurs in the two countries as part of an effort to create more business opportunities for women and boost bilateral ties. Tuan Ching-mei (段菁梅), project director of the Australia-Taiwan Women Entrepreneur Network (ATWEN), said the initiative is aimed at helping women do business in Asia, starting with Taiwan. The project, supported by the Australian government’s Asian Business Engagement program, provides mentoring and internship opportunities to allow young women from both nations to share their experiences, Tuan said. Australian Office in Taipei Director Cathy Raper, also one of ATWEN’s patrons, said she hopes the project would help empower women across international boundaries.
ECONOMY
Wages to rise by 4%: poll
Wages in Taiwan might increase this year by an average of 4 percent, as many corporations are upbeat about their profits and the nation’s economy, a job bank said yesterday, citing its latest survey. A poll by 1111 Job Bank indicated that 71.78 percent of corporations operating in Taiwan are willing to raise their employees’ salaries, and that the hike might average 4.07 percent. Among the companies that are considering a pay hike, 48.53 percent said the increase might range from 3 percent to 5 percent, 39.05 percent estimated a 2 percent raise and 7.69 percent were mulling a 6 percent to 10 percent hike, according to the survey. Businesses in the trade, distribution and services sectors were among those most willing to raise salaries, the poll showed. The poll was conducted between Jan. 30 and March 1, and collected a total of 511 valid samples.
OBITUARIES
Ex-Hualon head found dead
Wong Da-ming (翁大銘), the controversial former chairman of the Hualon Group, was found dead in his Taipei home yesterday at noon. He was 64. The cause of death would have to be investigated, police said. Initial indications suggested that the tycoon died in his home’s sauna. Wong was a big player in the stock market in the 1990s and was convicted during the decade for insider trading and manipulation of stock prices. He was also a legislator from 1993 to 1996. Wong was sentenced to two years in prison by the Supreme Court in 2010 for violating the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) in trades made in 1994. He was given parole in 2011 after serving more than a year in prison.
AGRICULTURE
Mission to Bali celebrated
An agricultural technical mission sent by Taiwan to the Indonesian island of Bali has helped farmers there grow vegetables and improve their standard of living, earning the farmers’ appreciation, mission leader Wu Chiung-feng (吳炯鋒) said. He said the mission has helped farmers in Bali grow asparagus year round under the International Cooperation and Development Fund’s “one village one product” program. Through the program, Balinese farmers have sold US$523,850 worth of vegetables, with US$306,024 in sales of asparagus alone, helping to improve their lives, Wu said. Ketut Suriani, a member of the asparagus cooperative in Pelaga village, expressed her gratitude for Taiwan’s assistance, saying that her asparagus harvest has improved her economic situation.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all