The government should consider signing an agreement on education with China before opening up the nation to Chinese students, a university president said yesterday.
I-Shou University president Fu Shen-li (傅勝利) told a forum in Taipei that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should sign a pact so that Taiwanese universities would have procedures to follow when helping Chinese students adapt to the life in this country.
The forum was organized by the think tank Taipei Society, Citizen Congress Watch and other organizations to discuss the government’s policy to allow Chinese students to enroll in local universities.
Fu said that although he believed the idea was positive and feasible, he did wonder if colleges and universities in Taiwan were ready to face the challenges needed to take care of and educate Chinese students.
It is part of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration’s policy to allow local universities to accept Chinese students.
The Ministry of Education has promised to impose restrictions on Chinese students enrolling in local universities, including working restrictions, but the issue remains controversial.
Chang Chung-ren (張宗仁), former president of the National Sun Yat-sen University, said he would rather see President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) fulfill his “6-3-3” campaign pledge before the government relaxes rules for Chinese students.
The “6-3-3” policy refers to Ma’s campaign pledge to achieve an annual economic growth of 6 percent, to lower the unemployment rate to 3 percent, and to bring annual average income to US$30,000.
“The unemployment rate should be reduced to 3 percent at least,” Chang said, adding that he was in favor of opening up Taiwan to Chinese students, within limits.
“[It is wrong to assume] that Taiwan will not be able to achieve full internationalization if we don’t open up to China,” he said.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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