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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
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