A high-energy synchrotron radiation beamline jointly created by Taiwan and Japan was inaugurated in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, yesterday, to facilitate cutting-edge life-science and materials research.
The facility marks the first time that Taiwan has managed to break China's diplomatic embargo to forge a joint venture with Japan in the high-technology field.
The new beamline, believed to be the world's strongest and most powerful synchrotron radiation light source, was co-produced by Taiwan's Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (SRRC) and the SPring-8 Light Source under the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JSRRI).
Taiwan's National Science Council Chairman Weng Cheng-i (
"This ceremony signifies a great step in Taiwan-Japanese scientific collaboration," Weng said.
Speaking on the occasion, Chen said the new beamline will allow Taiwan scientists to perform exclusive research into biological structure and state-of-the-art materials science from next year.
"I firmly believe that this exciting moment will serve as an important milestone in continuing the collaboration between Japan's and Taiwan's scientific communities for decades to come," Chen said.
Chen said the inauguration of the new facility is expected to lead Taiwan into brand new research frontiers in life science and cutting-edge materials development.
Taiwan installed a synchrotron radiation accelerator in October 1993. It can produce third-generation beamlines for soft X-ray-related scientific research. The accelerator, however, cannot provide beamlines for hard X-ray-related scientific experiments.
Taiwan then proposed at the 1996 ministerial-level meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that all APEC member economies open their synchrotron radiation research facilities for joint research.
On this international project, Taiwan is devoted to completing two hard X-ray beamlines by offering both technical and financial assistance, amounting to about NT$350 million, within five years.
SRRC director Chen told the Taipei Times that several research teams in Taiwan had expressed their interest in using beamlines established at SPring-8, including Academia Sinica, the Industrial Technology Research Institute and Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology under the Ministry of National Defense.
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
A Control Yuan member yesterday said he would initiate an investigation into why the number of foreign nationals injured or killed in traffic incidents has nearly doubled in the past few years, and whether government agencies’ mechanisms were ineffective in ensuring road safety. Control Yuan member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said in a news release that Taiwan has been described as a “living hell for pedestrians” and traffic safety has become an important national security issue. According to a National Audit Office report released last year, more than 780,000 foreign nationals were legally residing in Taiwan in 2019, which grew to more than
RSS