The Sports Administration said it has budgeted NT$72.7 million (US$2.3 million) to enhance sports ties with Southeast Asian nations next year, adding that the nation would organize events for immigrants and migrant workers from the region.
Agency chief secretary Wang Han-chung (王漢忠) said the plan was stipulated in line with the government’s “new southbound policy.”
He said the funds would be used to subsidize sports associations if they have athletes training for or participating at events in Southeast Asia.
The agency also plans to invite athletes from the region to join events hosted by the High School Basketball League, National Intercollegiate Athletic Games, National High School Athletic Games and Citizens Sports Games, as well as other international events in Taiwan.
New immigrants and migrant workers from Southeast Asia would also be able to compete at the Citizens Sports Games, Wang said.
“Immigrants from these countries can form a team and join the Citizens Sports Games next year, which will be hosted by Yilan County. They can compete with us in the categories that are their strengths,” he said. “As for migrant workers, many of them play soccer at sports parks on holidays. We plan to organize games specifically for migrant workers.”
In addition, funding would be used to facilitate further exchange of leaders handling sports affairs in Taiwan and those in Southeast Asian nations, Wang said, adding that the administration would also invite government officials and sports association’s representatives from members of ASEAN to attend the APEC Sports Policy Expert Networking Conference.
Each Southeast Asian nation has its strength, such as badminton in Indonesia, soccer in Thailand and archery in India, the Sports Administration said.
The plan would not only increase exchanges between Taiwanese athletes and those from Southeast Asian nations, but would also ensure that the rights of the new immigrants and migrant workers to play sports is protected, the agency said.
In related news, the agency said that it planned to amend the National Sports Act (國民體育法) in view of the rise in disputes between athletes and sports associations.
Before the amendment to the act is drafted, the agency plans to set up an ad hoc task force to handle athletes’ complaints, which could begin operations next month.
Sports Administration Director General Ho Jow-fei (何卓飛) said the act would undergo substantial changes, including raising the percentage of corporate members in an association, having the board of supervisors added to the organizational structure of sports associations and avoiding conflicts of interest.
The proposed amendment would also authorize the establishment of a sports arbitration agency, with the members of the agency being representatives from different sports association, independent third parties and athletes, he said.
The agency could order the dissolution of an association if it is found to be in “severe” breach of government regulations and compromising the public interest, he said, under Article 58 of the Civil Association Act (人民團體法).
Ho said the amendment would be deliberated upon by the Ministry of Education at a meeting this week and again before it is turned over to the Executive Yuan for final approval.
It could be delivered to the Legislative Yuan for review by Dec. 20, he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching