The government yesterday put forward a proposal to recognize Chinese diplomas and allow Chinese students to study in Taiwan.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said in a statement that the approval of proposed amendments to the Statute Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例), the University Act (大學法) and the Junior College Law (專科學校法) during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting signaled “the opening up of a substantial and constructive interaction in cross-trait cultural and education exchanges.”
The proposal, however, marked a departure from one of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign pledges. He had said that he would not recognize Chinese diplomas.
Director of the Ministry of Education’s Department of Higher Education Ho Chuo-fei (何卓飛) told a press conference that the government would impose a series of restrictions and conditions on Chinese students to ensure that Taiwanese students’ right to an education would not be threatened.
Under the amended laws, Taiwan will recognize diplomas issued by reputable Chinese universities and set a quota for the number of Chinese studying in Taiwan. Chinese students will not be awarded scholarships by Taiwanese universities, will not be allowed to work in Taiwan, must leave after the completion of their studies and will not be allowed to take civil service exams.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at