SOCIETY
Foreign worker numbers up
The number of foreign workers in Taiwan in June increased by 9.73 percent year-on-year to a total of 403,492, according to the latest government statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior. As of the end of June, Indonesian workers accounted for 41.32 percent of the total, followed by Vietnamese (21.57 percent), Filipinos (19.59 percent) and Thais (17.52 percent), the ministry’s figures showed. The ministry attributed the increase of migrant workers to higher demand for manpower as a result of Taiwan’s recovering economy. Over the past five years, Indonesia has replaced Thailand as the largest source of foreign workers in Taiwan, the ministry said. According to ministry statistics, migrant workers accounted for about 70 percent of the 588,339 foreign nationals in the country as of the end of June. A total of 46,537 of these foreign nationals are spouses, about 50 percent of whom are from Vietnam, the ministry said. The number of foreign spouses dropped 5.76 percent from a year earlier, mainly because those who obtained Republic of China nationality are no longer classified as foreign nationals, the ministry said.
EDUCATION
Salvadorans get scholarships
A total of 26 young people from El Salvador have received Taiwan-sponsored scholarships and will arrive in Taiwan later this month to pursue their studies, Ambassador to El Salvador Jaime Chen (陳新東) said yesterday. Chen made the remarks at an award ceremony in the Central American country that was co-hosted by Salvadoran Deputy Minister for Development Cooperation Jaime Miranda and Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Castaneda. Among the 26 awards, 10 were provided by the Taiwan Scholarship Program, which is funded by the Ministry of Education. Chen encouraged more international students to make use of the scholarship programs on offer and to come to Taiwan to pursue further education. The other scholarships included seven under the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship program and nine offered by the International Higher Education Scholarship Program.
SOCIETY
Victims’ families in China
Family members of four Taiwanese killed in a deadly traffic accident in Jilin Province on Monday were on their way to China to claim the bodies of their relatives, Lion Travel Service said yesterday. A total of 19 people were to visit the traffic department of Jilin City, where the bodies are being kept. The accident, which injured 15 other Taiwanese, occurred on Monday afternoon on the Hunwu Expressway, initially reported to be on the Changji Expressway. A vehicle changing lanes smashed into the side of the bus, sending it careening into a ditch. Some of the victims were thrown out of the bus.
JUDICIARY
Suspended judge retires
The Judicial Yuan said on Monday a senior judge who had applied for reinstatement after being suspended had changed his mind and that his request to take voluntary retirement had been granted. According to the Judicial Yuan, Hsiao Yang-kuei (蕭仰歸) agreed his actions had undermined the image of the judiciary and affected the public perception its integrity. Hsiao, a Supreme Court judge, was impeached in October last year by the Control Yuan for lobbying another judge to rule favorably in a hit-and-run case involving his son. The Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries suspended Hsiao in January for six months and upon its expiration at the end of last month, Hsiao filed an application with the Supreme Court.
SOCIETY
Dog owner charged in crash
The owner of a dalmatian weighing 30kg has been charged with negligence after her dog caused a scooter driver to fall to the ground and suffer a ruptured spleen, prosecutors said on Monday. The Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said the dog’s owner, a woman surnamed Wang (王), was leaving to take her son to a bus stop on a scooter on Dec. 1, when the dog broke loose from its chains and chased after them. During the chase, the dalmatian grazed the back of another scooter, causing that driver to lose control and fall to the ground. The female driver suffered a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding, while the dog apparently emerged from the accident unscathed. The indictment described the dalmatian as a sturdy dog that needed to be kept on a tight leash and said Wang’s failure to do so made it possible for the dog to run free and endanger others.
CRIME
Rape case concerns Seoul
A case of attempted rape against a female Taiwanese backpacker in South Korea has drawn the attention of Seoul, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang (章計平) said on Monday. The victim was allegedly attacked by the owner of a homestay in Andong on July 22. After escaping from the grasp of her assailant, the woman left the homestay and called Taiwan’s representative office in Busan for help, Chang said. The office assisted her in reporting the case to the local police. The case also drew the attention of the Korea Tourism Organization, which called Andong police to express its concern. The tourism agency has removed the homestay from its Web site at Taipei’s request, Chang said. The suspect, who failed a lie detector test, has been released on bail, Chang said, adding that the ministry would closely follow
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
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