LABOR:
Taichung canceling foreign workers’ contracts
Over the past two months, an average of 20 foreign workers per day have had their work contracts in Taichung County terminated, the county’s Department of Labor Affairs said on Saturday. Since October, a growing number of foreign workers have been let go because of the economic downturn, department director Chang Ta-chun (張大春) said. The department will offer assistance to those workers if necessary, he said. Council of Labor Affairs statistics show that the nation has about 370,000 foreign workers. With the nation’s unemployment rate rising to 5.03 percent in December, some labor groups have called for a reduction in the quote on foreign workers to give more employment opportunities to local workers, council officials recently said.
SCHOOL:
Taiwan scholarship program accepting applications
The Scholarship Program of Taiwan is accepting applications from now until March 31, the Ministry of Education, the National Science Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced on Sunday. Citizens of selected countries who are interested in obtaining a degree or studying Mandarin in Taiwan are welcome to apply. Interested applicants can inquire local Republic of China embassies or representative offices or go to www.edu.tw/bicer or MOFA’s Web site at www.mofa.gov.tw for further information. E-mail inquiries can be sent to tsp@deps.ntnu.edu.tw. A total of 427 scholarships will be awarded.
POLICE:
Hsinchu police rewarded with Wang Chien-ming baseball
During the Lunar New Year holidays, the Hsinchu office of the National Immigration Agency (NIA) received a baseball signed by New York Yankees pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) as a sign of gratitude for helping an American woman retrieve a lost passport. On Monday last week around 10.30pm, an American woman reported the loss of her mother’s passport to the NIA’s Hsinchu office. The woman said she, her husband and her mother had been out shopping, and that her mother had lost her wallet in a taxi on their way home. Among other important items things, the wallet contained her passport. The mother was frantic because she had to return to South Korea, where she is working as a teacher, on a flight that she had already booked for last Wednesday. Upon receiving the report, the NIA accompanied the woman to the Nanmen police station in Hsinchu to file a missing passport report. The officer in charge asked staff that were off duty to contact taxi companies to look for the lost wallet. Some officers even asked friends to assist in the search. As a result, the wallet was found intact with all its contents by 6am the next day. As a sign of gratitude, the woman’s husband presented the Hsinchu police station with a baseball that had been signed by Wang.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
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