SOCIETY
Population shrinks further
Taiwan’s population continued to decline this year, with the number of residents dropping by 96,314 year-on-year as of the end of last month, Ministry of the Interior data showed. The population stood at 23.487 million, down 0.41 percent from June last year, it showed. On average, the population is shrinking by 263.9 people per day, the ministry said. Among the nation’s cities and counties, Taipei registered the biggest decline, at 2.06 percent, followed by Nantou County with 0.892 percent and Chiayi County with 0.889 percent, the data showed. Population statistics showed negative growth for the first time last year, with 165,249 births versus 173,156 deaths. In the first six months of this year, 74,609 births were reported, down 6.5 percent from the 79,760 births in the same period last year, the data showed.
ENERGY
No radioactivity alert: AEC
The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) yesterday said that radiation levels have been normal nationwide over the past month, following a CNN report of a leak at a nuclear power plant in China. Immediately after the report on June 14, the agency activated an enhanced system to monitor environmental radiation levels, it said. Since then, the radiation levels recorded at 51 monitoring stations on Taiwan proper and 12 stations on the nation’s outlying islands have remained normal, it said. Results from 16 stations on Taiwan proper and four on the outlying islands showed that there was no air or drinking water contamination, it said. CNN reported that the US government was assessing a report of a leak at Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in China’s Guangdong Province, after Framatome, a French company that partly owns and operates the facility, warned of an “imminent radiological threat.” However, radiation detection stations in territories near China, such as Hong Kong and Macau, showed no abnormal levels, the agency said.
CRIME
Marijuana dog lady charged
The Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office late last month indicted a woman who allegedly grew marijuana and administered it to about a dozen stary dogs she had taken in. Prosecutors cited the woman, surnamed Ma (馬), as saying that after her neighbors complained about the dogs’ barking, she tried to calm them down by giving them marijuana. She said she began cultivating the plants after she found that the dogs were quieter when intoxicated, prosecutors said, adding that she allegedly bought growing equipment, including lamps, a trellis and four driers, online. Police in March searched her house and retrieved 10 plants, four bags of dried marijuana and paraphernalia, prosecutors said, adding that the woman and her husband tested negative for marijuana, which is defined as a class 2 substance. Ma has been charged with breaching the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), they said.
COMMUNICATION
Growth in 5G users lagging
Only 11.8 percent of smartphone users use 5G services one year after they were launched last year, the National Communications Commission said last week. At the end of May, 2.76 million people used 5G, compared with 6.48 million 4G users on the service’s first anniversary. As telecoms expand their coverage, the commission said it would this year and next year offer a total of NT$15.5 billion (US$551.9 million) to speed up 5G infrastructure projects. The commission aims to make 5G available to 85 percent of Taiwanese within 2.5 years, it said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS