Labor law reforms fair
I am surprised to find that Huang Jui-ming's
Huang alleges that under the new law, labor unions will have to inform employers of strikes in advance and will also have to report them to the government.
First of all, the Labor Union Law contains no such requirements. In the new draft of the Settlement of Labor Disputes Law
I feel honored to have participated in the drawing up of drafts of labor-related laws. The spirit behind the amendments is to decrease government interference in labor unions, forbid the oppression of labor unions and encourage labor-capital reconciliation.
The new draft of the Labor Union Law stipulates that unions can freely form alliances and allows people to organize national industrial unions. The new draft of the Collective Agreement Law (
The scholars involved in the drafting of these amendments all regard them as an improvement. If they can be passed, they will be conducive to the strengthening of labor unions and will establish a system for labor-capital mediation.
I welcome all readers who are concerned about the development of unions to put forth positive criticism. But I hope they will aim at real, not made-up, articles of the labor laws.
Liu Jin-hsing
National Taipei University of Technology and CLA adviser
Women in academia
The feedback on my article ("Cultivating Women in Academia," March13, page 8) from Kevin Larson (Letters, March 23, page 12) is interesting. Women in academic fields have faced a lot of problems not only at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but also in Taiwan. Although there are cultural difference involved in the cultivation of women as academic leaders in Taiwan and the US, I have found that female scholars in Germany, Japan and Thailand have faced similar problems to those in Taiwan. The purpose of my article was not to say who was right or wrong but, more
importantly, to seek to move in a more "positive and healthy" direction for the appreciation of women's talents.
In fact, many female members of faculty at National Taiwan University have faced tremendous problems and barriers in gaining promotion or acquiring greater research resources under the leadership of certain types of men.
Women have greater opportunities to maximize their potential and make greater contributions when male leaders are more open-minded.
Revelations of unequal treatment of female professors in medicine at Stanford University in recent years exposed similar problems in leadership. It will therefore be of great importance to choose open-minded leaders who respect women in universities, and other places of work. Unfortunately, most members of recruitment committees do not pay attention to this issue until problems arise.
King Chwan-Chuen
College of Public Health, National Taiwan University
The Chinese government on March 29 sent shock waves through the Tibetan Buddhist community by announcing the untimely death of one of its most revered spiritual figures, Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche. His sudden passing in Vietnam raised widespread suspicion and concern among his followers, who demanded an investigation. International human rights organization Human Rights Watch joined their call and urged a thorough investigation into his death, highlighting the potential involvement of the Chinese government. At just 56 years old, Rinpoche was influential not only as a spiritual leader, but also for his steadfast efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan identity and cultural
Former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) has long wielded influence through the power of words. Her articles once served as a moral compass for a society in transition. However, as her April 1 guest article in the New York Times, “The Clock Is Ticking for Taiwan,” makes all too clear, even celebrated prose can mislead when romanticism clouds political judgement. Lung crafts a narrative that is less an analysis of Taiwan’s geopolitical reality than an exercise in wistful nostalgia. As political scientists and international relations academics, we believe it is crucial to correct the misconceptions embedded in her article,
Strategic thinker Carl von Clausewitz has said that “war is politics by other means,” while investment guru Warren Buffett has said that “tariffs are an act of war.” Both aphorisms apply to China, which has long been engaged in a multifront political, economic and informational war against the US and the rest of the West. Kinetically also, China has launched the early stages of actual global conflict with its threats and aggressive moves against Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan, and its support for North Korea’s reckless actions against South Korea that could reignite the Korean War. Former US presidents Barack Obama
The pan-blue camp in the era after the rule of the two Chiangs — former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) — can be roughly divided into two main factions: the “true blue,” who insist on opposing communism to protect the Republic of China (ROC), and the “red-blue,” who completely reject the current government and would rather collude with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to control Taiwan. The families of the former group suffered brutally under the hands of communist thugs in China. They know the CPP well and harbor a deep hatred for it — the two
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