Taiwan’s agriculture mission in Guatemala has won acclaim for helping the country improve farming technology and develop small farm projects, diplomatic sources said over the weekend.
The achievements have also attracted the attention of major agricultural research institutions worldwide, the sources said.
Representatives of agricultural research institutes in 12 Latin American countries and Spain visited Taiwan-Guatemala cooperative ventures on Wednesday, including a food processing factory, a dragon fruit orchard and an organic compost site.
Both Max Gonzalez, head of the Guatemalan Institute of Agricultural Science, and Chimaltenango Governor Hector Lopez expressed gratitude for the Taiwanese mission’s outstanding contribution to their country’s agricultural development.
The agricultural mission has two technicians and three diplomatic conscripts in Chimaltenango to teach local farmers about planting crops and food processing.
Meanwhile, Guatamalan Vice Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Gonzalo Ochaeta led a group of senior Guatemalan officials and government advisers on a recent visit to a bamboo arts and crafts teaching center in Cuyuta City, which is also operated by Taiwan’s agriculture mission.
Ochaeta said he was impressed by the accomplishments of agricultural cooperation projects, adding that his department would send staff to the Cuyuta center to learn how to become seed instructors to help spread bamboo arts and crafts to every corner of the country.
The mission promotes bamboo cultivation and crafts and the Cuyuta center has become the best-equipped bamboo arts and crafts teaching center in Central America.
It offers courses on growing bamboo, handicrafts and bamboo-furniture-making technologies as well as bamboo architecture.
Taiwan’s agricultural mission has been using bamboo as the key building material for school classrooms and low-cost housing units in remote regions and for hurricane victims. It has also provided 100,000 bamboo seedlings under a rural development project in cooperation with the Guatemalan Presidential Office.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
RSS