← EDUCATION
Dictionary wins praise
The online Mandarin Chinese dictionary compiled by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education is a powerful tool for foreign students learning Chinese, a senior Belgian journalist said on Thursday. Catherine Vuylsteke, the Asian page editor of the Belgian daily De Morgen, is now studying Chinese at Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University. Vuylsteke expressed her appreciation of the dictionary in an e-mail to the Taipei Representative Office in Belgium. The dictionary contains nearly 170,000 entries and has become the biggest Chinese dictionary data bank in the world, according to ministry officials. The dictionary allows input using the Zhuyin Fuhao (注音符號, commonly known as “bopomofo”) system, and provides definitions in Chinese. The dictionary can be found online at dict.revised.moe.edu.tw.
■ AGRICULTURE
Chinese buy produce
A group of buyers from China agreed yesterday to purchase NT$10 million (US$313,000) worth of agricultural products from the Tsou-Ma-Lai Recreational Farm in Tainan County. The delegation, from Guangdong Province’s agricultural and fishing institutions, signed an agreement with the Tainan County Farmers’ Association to buy pineapples, guavas, sugar apples and other produce grown in the county. The agreement was signed at a trade fair that is being held as part of a Taiwan-Guangdong week of activities and was witnessed by Guangdong Provincial Governor Huang Huahua (黃華華) and Taiwan’s People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜). Soong said he hoped that Guangdong buyers would continue to contribute to bilateral industrial and agricultural cooperation.
■EDUCATION
Students mull legal action
An association of Taiwanese students studying in China threatened yesterday to take legal action against a newly approved package of legal amendments that restrict the recognition of medical diplomas conferred by schools in China. Chen Cheng-teng (陳正騰), deputy head of the Taiwan Student Union said the restrictions would prevent Taiwanese graduates of Chinese medical colleges from working in Taiwan in the future. “Such a restriction seriously infringes upon their legitimate rights as Republic of China citizens to work,” Chen said. “Our association will retain a lawyer to file for a constitutional interpretation of the restriction from the Justices of the Constitutional Court.” He added his group will also file an administrative lawsuit against newly passed regulations that ban retroactive recognition of accreditation by 41 selected Chinese colleges and universities.
■POLITICS
Su starts donation drive
The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), started a donation drive for his election campaign yesterday. “Small donations represent the voters’ support, and we will make sure each donation is used in election campaigns,” Su said. He also pledged to run a different election campaign by not putting campaign flags around the city, not soliciting votes by phone and not writing any rubber checks during the campaign. He said he was confident of grabbing at least 800,000 votes. “There are over two million votes in Taipei City, and my goal is to get 800,000 votes in the election,” he said. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who is seeking re-election, shrugged off Su’s comments. “I am confident about winning the election and receiving more votes than Su. That’s my estimation,” he said.
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
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,
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
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
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