SOCIETY
Most foreigners SE Asians
Migrant workers make up nearly three-quarters of all foreign residents in Taiwan, with a population of 517,000 as of the end of June, statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior this week show. The total number of foreign residents in Taiwan as of that date was 713,000, of which 85 percent come from Southeast Asia. The numbers exclude Chinese nationals, who the government does not consider foreign. Taoyuan County had the highest population of foreign workers, followed by New Taipei City and Greater Taichung. Across Taiwan, Indonesian nationals made up 43 percent of all foreign laborers, followed by Vietnamese nationals at 26 percent and Philippine nationals at 19.4 percent.
COMMUNITY
Ma visits disaster area
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) thanked the armed forces yesterday for sending more than 12,000 soldiers to help Greater Kaohsiung residents affected by deadly gas explosions that rocked the city on July 31 and Aug. 1, killing at least 30 people and leaving more than 300 injured. Ma said the military personnel who “stood up to lend badly needed helping hands to the residents of Kaohsiung and didn’t receive any extra payment” have become the “salvation army” of the victims. The soldiers have become protectors of Taiwanese citizens on the home front, Ma said, adding that he hoped that the National Fire Agency Taining Center in Nantou County — which also provides disaster relief training for the military — can be turned into a training center serving all of Southeast Asia.
SOCIETY
Chan ‘did not betray friends’
Action movie star Jackie Chan’s (成龍) son, Jaycee Chan (房祖名), did not and would not sell out his friends, even after being detained in China for using marijuana, his agent said yesterday. Chinese media reported that after Jaycee Chan was arrested by public security officers in Beijing on Aug. 14 for smoking marijuana, which is illegal in both China and Taiwan, he admitted his guilt and provided a list of 120 entertainers from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China who also use drugs. “I feel terribly hurt on learning that the media has portrayed you as someone who would betray his friends,” Jaycee Chan’s agent said in a statement. “Indeed, your action should be punished ... but everyone blamed you for things you haven’t done,” the statement said. In a post on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, earlier yesterday, the Beijing public security bureau described the media reports as simply rumors.
EDUCATION
Admissions program to stay
Taiwan’s controversial senior-high school admissions program would not be changed next year “to avoid worrying students and parents,” Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) said this week. He said that the high-school admission exam system would stay in its current form because it would be stressful for students to see even more changes after the major differences introduced this year. The new 12-year education system, implemented in June, features a national examination to assess students’ academic proficiency, followed by a special entrance exam for specific senior-high schools. Wu said that the Ministry of Education would also keep conducting special exams. Even though these exams are to stay in place, New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) has announced that his city is to scrap that part of the admissions system beginning next year because of the “great misery” it has caused students and parents.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
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