Despite improved relations between Taiwan and China over the past year, China remains at the top of a list of countries that young people consider unfriendly toward Taiwan, a survey by the King Car Education Foundation found.
In the poll, conducted last month among senior high school and university students, 82.9 percent of respondents cited China as a country unfriendly toward Taiwan.
Second on the list was South Korea, which was named by 33.3 percent of respondents.
Among the countries viewed as friendly toward Taiwan, Japan topped the list, named by 44.4 percent of respondents.
While 41.6 percent of the students said they thought the US was friendly toward Taiwan, 29.7 percent said it was unfriendly.
The US, China and Japan were most often named as the countries most important to Taiwan’s economic and trade development. The US was cited by 84 percent of respondents, China by 78.7 percent and Japan by 75.7 percent.
Sixty-eight percent of respondents said they considered it important to enhance their English skills, while 60.8 percent said they thought having a global perspective would help them boost their international competitiveness.
However, only 22 percent of students said they kept up with current events abroad on a daily basis. Most students said they only paid attention to a single topic of interest when it came to foreign news, such as sports or entertainment.
Most of those polled agreed that access to information from abroad, proficiency in a foreign language and knowledge of etiquette in other cultures were essential to having a global perspective.
Inability to communicate in foreign languages, lack of knowledge about other countries and lack of experience hosting foreign guests contribute the most to difficulties in dealing with foreigners, most students said.
The survey was conducted among 1,738 students in seven urban areas and had a margin of error of 3 percent.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
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