■ CULTURE
Local art shown in Argentina
A Taiwanese photography exhibition opened in Buenos Aires last week, allowing museum-goers in the South American country to get a taste of Taiwan’s culture and art. “Expo Taiwan Sublime” runs through Sept. 12 at the city’s Children’s Museum and features 40 works from Taiwanese photographers. Also displayed are Aboriginal crafts and ceramics provided by Taipei County’s Yingge Ceramics Museum. Mariana Elsztain, president of the museum, said the event would help Argentines better understand Taiwanese culture. She also expressed hope that her museum could hold more exhibitions with Taiwan in the future.
■ SOCIETY
Money wins out over love
Given a choice between love or money, 65 percent of Taiwanese office workers said money is more important, according to an online survey published yesterday, two days ahead of Chinese Lovers’ Day (七夕, or qixi). Qixi falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, which is tomorrow this year. In the survey by online manpower agency 360d that asked about office workers’ attitudes toward love and earning a crust, 44 percent said they often dream about finding a rich lover so they would not need to work for a living. The survey found that 26 percent of office workers said they had experienced an office romance. When selecting a spouse, 39 percent of respondents said they care most about whether the person is considerate enough, while 28 percent said they were most concerned about the person’s finances and sense of responsibility. The job bank carried out the survey from Aug. 1 to Aug. 10 and collected 1,245 valid responses.
■ AGRICULTURE
Goat sales to resume soon
The auctioning of goats at markets in Changhua and Yunlin counties is likely to resume before Aug. 31 after a successful nationwide inoculation against goat pox virus (GPV), according to Council of Agriculture officials. The massive GPV outbreak, which began with a case reported in Yunlin on April 9, has been effectively controlled by the inoculations launched on June 22, said Huang Kuo-ching (黃國青), deputy director of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine. The bureau said 225,159 goats in the country, or 99 percent of the goat population, had been vaccinated as of Thursday. The number of affected goat farms declined from 98 early last month to 32 this month, it added.
■ AGRICULTURE
Farmers angry at macaques
Fruit farmers from Chaishan (柴山) said they have suffered massive losses from macaques raiding their orchards. The monkeys often destroy crops such as lychees, longans and bamboo shoots just before the beginning of the harvest season, farmer Lee Kuo-hsiung (李國雄) said. However, farmers aren’t allowed to catch the monkeys, Lee said. The monkeys are protected under the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法). Lin Ying-pin (林英斌), an official at the Kaohsiung City Economic Development Bureau, said the city could not compensate the farmers since the damage caused by the monkeys did not take place within a wildlife conservation area. Lee’s application for national compensation in 2004 was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2007 because the farms were not located in a wildlife conservation area. Lee and other farmers have been seeking the government’s help since 2001.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
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