The New Taipei City (新北市) Government yesterday hosted a forum on intelligent community development to draw on the experience of experts and improve its chances of being named one of the top intelligent cities next year.
“Through this forum, we can come up with better solutions and learn more approaches to make the community better and more intelligent,” New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) told the forum.
New Taipei City was named one of the “Smart21 Intelligent Communities of 2012” late last month, the first stage in the Intelligent Community Forum’s (ICF’s) annual award cycle, to be followed by the naming of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year.
”We are very happy and honored to be elected one of the Smart21 and we’re confident about getting into the top seven,” Chu said.
Although the rates of Internet access and broadband penetration in New Taipei City are relatively high — at 88 percent and 63 percent respectively — the city still needs to narrow the information gap between rural and urban areas and provide better wireless Internet services, Chu said.
The ICF official Web site says the Top Seven will be announced on Jan. 15 at the annual Pacific Telecommunications Council conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The cycle will then conclude in New York City on June 8 during the ICF’s annual Building the Broadband Economy Summit, where one of the Top Seven will succeed Eindhoven, Netherlands, as Intelligent Community of the Year 2012. The top 21 include four communities from Europe, 10 from North America, three from Latin America and four from Asia. New Taipei City is one of 11 communities appearing on the list for the first time.
The New York-based ICF is a think tank that studies the economic and social development of the 21st century community and seeks to share the best practices of the world’s intelligent communities in adapting to the demands of a broadband economy.
The daylong forum attracted more than 200 city government officials, professionals and experts from home and abroad. Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran of Canada and Steve Reneker, chief information officer of City of Riverside, also attended the event to share their experience.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
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