■IMMIGRATION
Tibetans receive ARCs
Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commissioner Kao Su-po (高思博) yesterday handed temporary Alien Resident Certificates (ARCs) to 109 Tibetans living in exile in Taiwan. The Tibetans had entered the country on forged Nepalese and Indian passports and continued to live illegally in Taiwan after their visas expired. Last month, they staged a sit-in in Taipei’s Liberty Square, asking the government to grant them asylum as refugees. After negotiations with the government in which they received help from human rights and Tibetan support groups in Taiwan, they were granted residency after a decision was made to revise the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法). The Tibetans were granted temporary residency while the revision of the law is in progress.
■EDUCATION
PRC schools not popular
Taiwanese parents have shown little interest in sending their children to China to receive higher education, the results of a survey released on Thursday by the Ministry of Education (MOE) show. The survey was conducted last month among 4,777 parents of students from 97 senior high schools and senior vocational schools nationwide. The results showed that 77.2 percent of the respondents said they would not consider letting their children study in China. On their reasons, 69.5 listed poor public order in China, while 58.9 percent expressed concern about the problems their children might face adapting to life there. More than 70 percent of the respondents expressed support for the restrictions imposed by the government on Chinese students studying in Taiwan, including limiting the number of Chinese students allowed, not offering favorable treatment to Chinese students and banning the students from accepting employment or entering the civil service in Taiwan after graduation.
■AGRICULTURE
Tobacco plantations wane
Since the liberalization of cigarette imports to Taiwan in 1987, the tobacco plantation area in the country has diminished sharply year by year, with areas used for growing tobacco falling by more than 60 percent over the past five years, government figures show. Data made public recently by the Agriculture and Food Agency Council show total tobacco plantation area in the country dropped from 2,196 hectares in 2004 to 703 hectares in 2007, a 67.98 percent drop, a council official said yesterday. The amount of land used for planting tobacco last year is still being calculated, but the trend is expected to continue.
■POLITICS
Official avoids impeachment
James Chen (陳晉源), former director-general of highways under the Ministry of Transportation and Communication, yesterday survived another impeachment motion after the Control Yuan voted it down. The Control Yuan last month impeached Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢), director-general of the Water Resources Agency, over the collapse of Houfeng Bridge (后豐橋) in a typhoon that claimed two lives and left four people missing in September last year. At the time, the Control Yuan incurred criticism for failing to punish any ministry officials responsible for the bridge’s maintenance. The Control Yuan yesterday held a meeting to reconsider the case at the request of the Control Yuan members in charge of the investigation into the incident, but a proposal to impeach James Chen was again voted down. James Chen stepped down one week after the incident.
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
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