■EMPLOYMENT
Job openings set to soar
The nation’s manpower demand is expected to increase by about 48,000 from the end of October until the end of next month, a survey published yesterday by the Council of Labor Affairs showed. The results of the fourth manpower survey of the year, conducted from Oct. 16 until Nov. 5 and with 3,025 valid samples, said that 21.3 percent of the companies that responded would hire more people next month, representing an increase of about 65,200 workers. About 8 percent of the companies surveyed plan to cut jobs, representing a reduction of about 17,300 workers. That would result in a net increase of 47,900 workers. It would be the highest net increase for a single season since the survey was launched in the third quarter of 2007, council officials said. Around 65 percent of the companies said they would keep their manpower unchanged next month.
■HEALTH
Most herbal cures imported
A big chunk of the nation’s imports of herbal and traditional medicines last year came from China, the non-profit Development Center for Biotechnology reported. Quoting a Chinese government customs report, the center said Taiwan imported traditional herbal medicine worth US$29.66 million from China last year, making Taiwan China’s fifth-largest market for this type of export. Local customs statistics show traditional medicine imports from China amounted to between 60 percent and 70 percent of total imports of these products. China is the world’s major exporter of raw materials used in herbal medicines, with a huge number of suppliers and processors, the center said. However, the center said the quality of these medicines was unpredictable and hard to control.
■HEALTH
Flu shots for everyone
The government is planning to make Dec. 12 a national day of immunization against A(H1N1) influenza, with the entire population expected to get a shot against the disease starting on that day, Department of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said. It is hoped that everyone in the country, regardless of age or immunization priority order, will go to designated hospitals, clinics and injection stops for a vaccination shot from next Saturday, Yaung said. “The greater the number of people who get immunized, the better the efficiency of collective immunization will be,” Yaung said at the Legislative Yuan. As of Monday, about 8.75 percent of the population, or about 2 million people, had been vaccinated based on an order of priority prescribed by the government, statistics from the Central Epidemics Command Center show.
■SPORTS
Kaohsiung to run stadium
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday welcomed an announcement by Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) that the city government could take over the World Games Main Stadium from the Sports Affairs Council in three years’ time. Chen said she had urged city government officials to establish a cross-departmental task force to discuss the details with the Sports Affairs Council. She said the city government hoped to turn the stadium into an important venue for major events in the south. Chen said the city government was willing to shoulder responsibility for managing the stadium because Kaohsiung residents had developed a special bond with the venue since the World Games were held there in July.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
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