■IMMIGRATION
Tibetans receive ARCs
Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commissioner Kao Su-po (高思博) yesterday handed temporary Alien Resident Certificates (ARCs) to 109 Tibetans living in exile in Taiwan. The Tibetans had entered the country on forged Nepalese and Indian passports and continued to live illegally in Taiwan after their visas expired. Last month, they staged a sit-in in Taipei’s Liberty Square, asking the government to grant them asylum as refugees. After negotiations with the government in which they received help from human rights and Tibetan support groups in Taiwan, they were granted residency after a decision was made to revise the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法). The Tibetans were granted temporary residency while the revision of the law is in progress.
■EDUCATION
PRC schools not popular
Taiwanese parents have shown little interest in sending their children to China to receive higher education, the results of a survey released on Thursday by the Ministry of Education (MOE) show. The survey was conducted last month among 4,777 parents of students from 97 senior high schools and senior vocational schools nationwide. The results showed that 77.2 percent of the respondents said they would not consider letting their children study in China. On their reasons, 69.5 listed poor public order in China, while 58.9 percent expressed concern about the problems their children might face adapting to life there. More than 70 percent of the respondents expressed support for the restrictions imposed by the government on Chinese students studying in Taiwan, including limiting the number of Chinese students allowed, not offering favorable treatment to Chinese students and banning the students from accepting employment or entering the civil service in Taiwan after graduation.
■AGRICULTURE
Tobacco plantations wane
Since the liberalization of cigarette imports to Taiwan in 1987, the tobacco plantation area in the country has diminished sharply year by year, with areas used for growing tobacco falling by more than 60 percent over the past five years, government figures show. Data made public recently by the Agriculture and Food Agency Council show total tobacco plantation area in the country dropped from 2,196 hectares in 2004 to 703 hectares in 2007, a 67.98 percent drop, a council official said yesterday. The amount of land used for planting tobacco last year is still being calculated, but the trend is expected to continue.
■POLITICS
Official avoids impeachment
James Chen (陳晉源), former director-general of highways under the Ministry of Transportation and Communication, yesterday survived another impeachment motion after the Control Yuan voted it down. The Control Yuan last month impeached Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢), director-general of the Water Resources Agency, over the collapse of Houfeng Bridge (后豐橋) in a typhoon that claimed two lives and left four people missing in September last year. At the time, the Control Yuan incurred criticism for failing to punish any ministry officials responsible for the bridge’s maintenance. The Control Yuan yesterday held a meeting to reconsider the case at the request of the Control Yuan members in charge of the investigation into the incident, but a proposal to impeach James Chen was again voted down. James Chen stepped down one week after the incident.
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
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