EDUCATION
India seeks Chinese teachers
India plans to recruit up to 10,000 teachers from Taiwan to meet growing demand for Chinese language classes, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Indian Minister of Human Resources Kapil Sibal made the proposal during a meeting with Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) in India last week, an education official said. Sibal said there was a strong demand for Chinese teachers, as about 10,000 Indian high schools currently offer Chinese classes, or plan to do so, the official added. Taipei will set up a taskforce to train India-bound teachers and hold more talks with New Delhi on the teaching program before the end of this year, she said. India’s Education Ministry could not be immediately reached for comment. Taiwan has previously supplied Chinese language teachers to France, the US and Vietnam, the education ministry said.
FOOD
Food security meeting held
A conference aimed at developing solutions to the nation’s “food deficit” and new approaches to food security opened yesterday in Taipei. The two-day “National Food Security Conference” brought together nearly 100 experts and professionals from the private and public sectors and academia, to discuss how to respond to what has become a global challenge. Borrowing a phrase coined by Josette Sheeran from the World Food Programme, Deputy Premier Sean Chen (陳?) opened the conference by comparing the food crisis to a “silent tsunami.” Chen said the government was taking the issue very seriously, promising to study opinions and proposals offered at the conference. Organized by the Council of Agriculture, the conference will focus on five main issues, including increasing domestic production, boosting international investment and cooperation, risk management and providing a safe and stable supply of water for irrigation.
WEATHER
Temperatures reach 35.5oC
The Central Weather Bureau yesterday reported that the temperature in Taipei hit 35.5oC yesterday, the highest temperature recorded so far this year, and follows Monday’s high of 35.1oC. Meanwhile, the circumfluence of Tropical Storm Aere mainly affected Hualien, Taitung and the Hengchun Peninsula, increasing the chances of rain in those areas, the bureau said. Conditions on the west coast were relatively stable because of descending air currents. The bureau also lifted its sea warning at 5:30pm as the storm moved away from Taiwan. Temperatures on the west coast were expected to drop as well, it said.
SOCIETY
Sand theft sentence upheld
The High Court’s Greater Tainan branch office overturned a not-guilty verdict in a sand-stealing case against city councilor Wu Chien-pao (吳健保) yesterday, ruling that he must serve a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Wu and former city councilor Lee Chuan-fu (李全富) were charged with the illegal removal of sand from the Tsengwen River (曾文溪) after using questionable methods to win a contract to dredge the river in 2004. Wu and 25 others were indicted in August 2004 on charges of bribing officials, breaking government procurement laws and colluding to steal public assets. In August 2008, the Tainan District Court found Wu not guilty of the charges, but sentenced Lee to two years, a sentence that was later commuted to one year.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to