SOCIETY
Birders flock to Taiwan
Southern Taiwan is gearing up to receive a migration of birdwatchers from all over the world as they converge on Greater Tainan and Yunlin and Chiayi counties for the Birdathon contest, an event that goes hand-in-hand with the seasonal movement of bird populations. The three areas are hosting the second edition of the marathon-like birding competition to raise awareness of the nation’s environment and to boost ecotourism. Birders will have 30 hours to spot as many species as they can find in a 5,400km2 area that includes a range of terrains, according to the Administration of Southwest Coast National Scenic Area. Planning will be essential as teams scramble to get from the mountains of Alishan to the coastal Budai Salt Pan Wetlands, said the Taiwan Ecotourism Association, the event’s co-organizer. Fourteen teams have signed up so far for the contest, which will begin at 8:30am on Oct. 19. Registration information can be found at http://en.taiwanbirdathon.org.
DIPLOMACY
MOFA hopes Berlin ties hold
Taiwan hopes to maintain close relations with Germany, following the re-election of German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Relations between the two countries have been warm, given that Germany is Taiwan’s largest trade partner in Europe, Department of European Affairs head Zhang Ming-zhong (張銘忠) said at a press briefing. The nation hopes Germany’s new government will maintain those close ties, Zhang said. The Merkel-led conservative Christian Democratic Union and Bavarian Christian Social Union bloc won 41.5 percent of the vote, while the Social Democrats came second with 26 percent in Sunday’s general election.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
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