President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday reaffirmed her administration’s pledge to ensure stable power supply and phase out nuclear energy.
During a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Central Standing Committee meeting, Tsai said the government is determined to abandon nuclear power on the condition of ensuring steady energy supplies and reducing air pollution, in addition to economic growth and quality of life.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) made a report at the meeting of the government’s industrial power supply plan.
Tsai instructed the Cabinet to complete the construction of new power generators on schedule and improve risk management for existing generators.
New power management measures have to be introduced to meet the short-term goals of keeping the power reserve margin at more than 10 percent and the operating reserve at more than 6 percent, Tsai said.
She also ordered the Cabinet to expedite the development of renewable energy sources to diversify power supply, which would be to the advantage of local renewable energy developers.
The efforts of Cabinet and local governments to develop renewable energy over the past two years have yielded tangible results, including about 100 percent growth in the number of registered solar power generation facilities, Tsai said, adding that the Ministry of Economic Affairs has unveiled its review criteria for offshore wind farm construction.
To improve energy consumption efficiency, the ministry has proposed a new energy conservation program and a schedule to install “smart” meters in households, Tsai said, adding that she has asked the Cabinet to enforce energy measures proposed by the ministry and maintain close communication with local governments and businesses to encourage participation in renewable energy development.
The government-sponsored energy transition has multiple purposes, such as creating investment opportunities, the president said, adding that the Cabinet has begun a nationwide tour to introduce a package to remove investment obstacles.
The tour and seminars are important occasions to communicate with the public and inform them of the government’s goals and progress on boosting the nation’s renewable energy capacity, she added.
The government has to speed up industrial transformation to meet the challenges facing the nation’s economy, DPP spokesman Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) quoted the president as saying.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS