■ Government
China not keen on links: VP
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday that China is not keen on setting up direct transport links with Taiwan and that the approach only forms a part of Beijing's psychological war against Taiwan. The government must take into account national security and social stability while assessing the issue, Lu commented while attending a ground-breaking ceremony for a special innovation and development zone located in the compound of a Tainan technological industrial park in southern Taiwan. Lu also encouraged Taiwan businesses to commit to research and development in the face of the challenges that lie ahead. Meanwhile, completion of the special zone's first construction is slated for the end of next year, by which time 60 hi-tech firms will open up shop there.
■ Charity
YWCA to help children
The YWCA Taipei chapter and the World Peace Prayer Society launched a campaign yesterday to help impoverished children in Malawi, calling for the public's assistance for educational development in the southeastern African country. Wang Kuei-jung (王圭容), wife of Foreign Affairs Minister Eugene Chien, is serving as the honorary chairwoman of the activity, in which the public has been asked to donate stationary and clothes for school children in Malawi, which is a diplomatic ally of Taiwan. Stressing that now is the time for Taiwan to give back to the international community for the assistance it has received in the past, Wang said it is more important to give lasting care to people in poorer countries. Malawian Ambassador to Taiwan Eunice Kazembe expressed her appreciation for the enthusiastic response from the Taiwan public and expressed the hope that school children in her country will be able to enjoy the same level of education as children in Taiwan do.
■ Crime
Former publisher detained
The former publisher of a defunct Kinmen newspaper was detained on the offshore island on Friday night on charges of spying for Beijing. The Kinmen High Court agreed to the prosecutor's request to take into custody Peng Chuei-ping (彭垂濱), who was publisher of the private Kinmen Evening News which was closed in September after running into heavy debt. Peng's wife Chen Hsiou-hsia (陳秀霞) who worked as the newspaper's president and general manager was also questioned by the prosecutor but was released on bail Friday night. According to the prosecutor's investigation, the Pengs are suspected of having over the past four or five years used their press credentials to wander freely around the fortified island to take photos and collect military information for Beijing in exchange for money which they put toward their cash-strapped newspaper.
■ Education
King Car to sponsor teachers
The King Car Education Foundation said yesterday that it will pay the travel costs and visa fees of 12 young American volunteers who will come to Taiwan to teach English for six months next January. The teachers will be selected by the Institute in Basic Life Principles, an US Christian organization. Minister of Education Huang Jung-tsun (黃榮村) said earlier this year that he looked forward to hiring more foreign English teachers for primary schools in remote areas, after restrictions on their recruitment and supervision were lifted. Agencies
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
TAIWANESE INNOVATION: The ‘Seawool’ fabric generates about NT$200m a year, with the bulk of it sourced by clothing brands operating in Europe and the US Growing up on Taiwan’s west coast where mollusk farming is popular, Eddie Wang saw discarded oyster shells transformed from waste to function — a memory that inspired him to create a unique and environmentally friendly fabric called “Seawool.” Wang remembered that residents of his seaside hometown of Yunlin County used discarded oyster shells that littered the streets during the harvest as insulation for their homes. “They burned the shells and painted the residue on the walls. The houses then became warm in the winter and cool in the summer,” the 42-year-old said at his factory in Tainan. “So I was
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
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