SOCIETY
PET bottles collected
About 2,000 Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation volunteers collected more than 390,000 plastic bottles from the Taipei Summer Universiade Athletes’ Village in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口) for recycling, volunteer leader Liu Chuan-dung (劉傳棟) said yesterday. The recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles can be used to make textiles and other products, which could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 25 tonnes, Liu said. During the Universiade, the about 10,000 athletes and workers at the village used an average of about 17,000 plastic bottles, Liu said. The volunteers collected the discarded bottles every day and took them to recycling facilities in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, Liu said. When the athletes departed on Saturday, about 390,000 plastic bottles had been collected from the village, Liu said.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Delegation to attend APPU
Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) is to lead a delegation of lawmakers to Japan to attend the annual meeting of the Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union (APPU), Legislative Deputy Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said yesterday. Tsai said that favorable and improved relations with Japan were evidenced by Su last year heading the largest-ever Taiwanese legislative delegation to visit Japan. More than 100 of the legislature’s 113 members have participated in the Taiwan-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Association, he said. Taiwan is keen to work with Japan to preserve peace and stability in East Asia, Tsai said, thanking the Japanese government for its continued benevolence toward Taiwan. Su’s team is to leave on Sept. 17 for the annual meeting, which is to be held from Sept. 18 to Sept. 20 in Oita Prefecture.
RESEARCH
TIER inks MOU in India
The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) and India’s Observer Research Foundation (ORF) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote research and academic exchanges. The agreement was signed by ORF director Sunjoy Joshi and TIER president Jeff Lin (林建甫), who is on a visit to New Delhi until Sunday. The two think tanks have agreed to collaborate on projects such as exchanges of resources and faculty for research purposes, and to come up with joint research projects. Lin said the aim is to promote academic cooperation between the two institutions and to help push for investments and trade between the two nations. Joshi said that this was the first time the ORF has signed an MOU with a Taiwanese think tank and that he looked forward to strengthening the academic ties between the two institutions. The ORF is the largest independent think tank in India.
DIPLOMACY
Envoy visits Bath, England
Representative to the UK David Lin (林永樂) visited Bath, England, on Tuesday last week to promote “smart” city, urban development and tourism exchanges between Taiwan and the UK. Lin met with Bath Mayor Ian Gilchrist, UK House of Lords member Peter Turscott and city councilors Andrew Furse and Mark Shelford, the representative office said. Noting that developing smart cities is a mutually beneficial for bilateral cooperation, Lin welcomed Bath to collaborate with Taiwan in the development of smart cities. Gilchrist expressed his support for promoting smart city development and said he was looking forward to working with Taiwan.
AGRICULTURE
Delegation to visit Japan
The Council of Agriculture is to send a delegation to Japan next month on a fact-finding mission to learn more about the nation’s fruit distribution and marketing system, as part of an effort to modernize the export of Taiwanese fruit, Council of Agriculture Minister Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) said. With a comprehensive market-oriented model already in place for the export of green soybeans, with a 47 percent share of the Japanese market, the council is planning to develop a similar model for bananas, pineapples and mangoes, Lin said. For example, Taiwanese bananas need to adopt a high-price strategy to differentiate them from bananas grown in the Philippines, as well as central and south America, he said. This means that Taiwan needs to formulate a standardized system to ensure the quality of bananas, including transporting the fruit directly from farms to ports for export, he said.
CULTURE
Chen inks Busan agreement
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) on Monday signed a letter of intent with Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo to promote artistic and cultural exchange between the two cities. Chen greeted Suh and 17 officials from the South Korean city, which has been Kaoshiung’s sister city for 51 years, at Kaohsiung City Hall with a dance performance by kindergarteners. The two mayors signed a letter of intent to promote exchanges between artists, cultural centers and libraries to enhance the artistic development of both cities. In a speech to welcome Suh, Chen commented on the long relationship Kaohsiung and Busan share, which has included exchanges in culture, education and tourism. Chen visited Busan last year and praised the urban development of the city.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
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