One of the nation's most respected high-tech industrial park managers was appointed yesterday to a key post at the National Science Council (國科會).
Huang Wen-hsiung (
The position has been vacant since mid-May, when the council approved the resignation of Steve Hsieh (
The wrangle over the rail line's vibration problems deepened in late February, when Winbond Electronics decided to cancel a 12-inch wafer plant project in the park, saying that their manufacturing process was highly sensitive to the vibration.
NSC Chairman Wei Che-ho (魏哲和) said yesterday that Huang, an experienced high-tech park manager, would supervise Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park and a proposed science park in central Taiwan.
Huang, who holds a PhD in engineering from Tokyo University, held an engineering professorship in the 1980s. In 1988, however, he began work for the Ministry of Economic Affairs as an energy policy expert. In 1992, Huang served as director of the NSC's Precision Instrument Development Center.
Due to his familiarity with engineering management, he was appointed to head Tainan Science-based Industrial Park's Development Office (
Huang said yesterday that the high-tech park in Hsinchu is a well-known, successful example of how to build such a park.
"Even facing new potential competitors, including China, high-tech parks in Taiwan still have advantages, such as our innovative research and development achievements," Huang said.
Huang said that building a new high-tech park in central Taiwan was good for Taiwan's development and that the process of evaluating an appropriate location for the proposed park had been carried out. Huang said that a final decision on the location would be made by the end of this year. "I will supervise the issue from a professional rather than from a political point of view," Huang said.
As the year-end legislative elections approach, local factions are competing for backing from the NSC in order to establish high-tech parks to please local residents by demonstrating a show of support for local economic development.
Wei, however, said that matters relating to the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park would be supervised by Vice Chairman Hsieh Ching-chih (
Wei said that the NSC would meet with officials from the park in Tainan every two weeks, a process which started this month, to discuss possible ways to help firms at the park to improve their ability to counter vibrations from the high-speed rail.
In addition, the NSC is considering carrying out a project this year to reduce the vibrations transmitted from the railway to units at the science park in Tainan. Bids for the project, NSC officials said, will be invited from firms both at home and abroad. Some Japanese and US firms have expressed interest in bidding.
Huang's successor at the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park has not yet been decided.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
RSS