DIPLOMACY
France visa talks under way
Taiwan and France are moving closer to a bilateral agreement that would implement a reciprocal working holiday program for young adults, a source familiar with diplomatic affairs said. The two nations have been discussing the program for many years and it might come to fruition in the near future, the sources said. The two nations view the development as “good news,” the source said. During the discussions, France developed a certain level of trust in Taiwan based on a perception of sincerity, the source said. Four Cabinet officials — including Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Chih-chung (吳志中) — have studied in France, the source said. French Office in Taipei Director Benoit Guidee had said previously that if the two sides signed a working holiday agreement, the initial quota would be about 500 annually.
EDUCATION
Mongolia MOU signed
Taipei National University of the Arts and the Mongolian State University of Arts and Culture on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Ulan Bator to foster bilateral cooperation in cultural and arts education. Taipei university president Yang Chyi-wen (楊其文) and Mongolian university rector Sonintogos Erdenetsogt signed the MOU on behalf of their respective schools at a ceremony that was also attended by Representative to Mongolia Huang Kuo-jung (黃國榮). The two schools are to jointly organize forums on education, carry out programs on experimental education, engage in faculty and student exchanges and host joint exhibitions of the arts, a statement issued by the Taipei Trade and Economic Representative Office in Ulan Bator said.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
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