DIPLOMACY
Ma aims for Slovakia treaty
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said the nation hoped to negotiate a treaty with Slovakia to avoid double taxation and enhance business collaboration. Taiwan also hopes to sign a working holiday visa agreement and a driver’s license reciprocity agreement with Slovakia, Ma said during a meeting with Ivan Stefanec, chairman of the Slovak-Taiwanese Parliamentary Friendship Group, along with a delegation of Slovakian members of parliament and government officials, at the Presidential Office. It is the first time that high-ranking officials from Slovakia have visited Taiwan, the Presidential Office said. Ma said several leading Taiwanese technology companies, such as electronics contract maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co and flat panel maker AU Optronics Corp, have invested in Slovakia.
EDUCATION
Education forum to begin
Academics, university leaders and policymakers from the Asia-Pacific region will gather at a conference in Taipei from tomorrow through Sunday. The Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE) meeting will focus on the theme “Asia-Pacific Education: Impacting the World,” the organizers said yesterday. Founded in 2004 by Lee Doo-hee, vice president and professor at Korea University, the APAIE is recognized as one of the three most influential associations in the world, said Lee Si-chen (李嗣涔), president of National Taiwan University, which is hosting the event. Lee said more than 600 people working at institutions of higher education in 40 countries would participate in the conference, which he said would provide a good opportunity for local universities to forge ties with neighbors in the region.
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
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
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
‘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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