GENDER EQUALITY
ATWEN focuses on women
Taiwan and Australia on Thursday launched a network to connect female entrepreneurs in the two countries as part of an effort to create more business opportunities for women and boost bilateral ties. Tuan Ching-mei (段菁梅), project director of the Australia-Taiwan Women Entrepreneur Network (ATWEN), said the initiative is aimed at helping women do business in Asia, starting with Taiwan. The project, supported by the Australian government’s Asian Business Engagement program, provides mentoring and internship opportunities to allow young women from both nations to share their experiences, Tuan said. Australian Office in Taipei Director Cathy Raper, also one of ATWEN’s patrons, said she hopes the project would help empower women across international boundaries.
ECONOMY
Wages to rise by 4%: poll
Wages in Taiwan might increase this year by an average of 4 percent, as many corporations are upbeat about their profits and the nation’s economy, a job bank said yesterday, citing its latest survey. A poll by 1111 Job Bank indicated that 71.78 percent of corporations operating in Taiwan are willing to raise their employees’ salaries, and that the hike might average 4.07 percent. Among the companies that are considering a pay hike, 48.53 percent said the increase might range from 3 percent to 5 percent, 39.05 percent estimated a 2 percent raise and 7.69 percent were mulling a 6 percent to 10 percent hike, according to the survey. Businesses in the trade, distribution and services sectors were among those most willing to raise salaries, the poll showed. The poll was conducted between Jan. 30 and March 1, and collected a total of 511 valid samples.
OBITUARIES
Ex-Hualon head found dead
Wong Da-ming (翁大銘), the controversial former chairman of the Hualon Group, was found dead in his Taipei home yesterday at noon. He was 64. The cause of death would have to be investigated, police said. Initial indications suggested that the tycoon died in his home’s sauna. Wong was a big player in the stock market in the 1990s and was convicted during the decade for insider trading and manipulation of stock prices. He was also a legislator from 1993 to 1996. Wong was sentenced to two years in prison by the Supreme Court in 2010 for violating the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) in trades made in 1994. He was given parole in 2011 after serving more than a year in prison.
AGRICULTURE
Mission to Bali celebrated
An agricultural technical mission sent by Taiwan to the Indonesian island of Bali has helped farmers there grow vegetables and improve their standard of living, earning the farmers’ appreciation, mission leader Wu Chiung-feng (吳炯鋒) said. He said the mission has helped farmers in Bali grow asparagus year round under the International Cooperation and Development Fund’s “one village one product” program. Through the program, Balinese farmers have sold US$523,850 worth of vegetables, with US$306,024 in sales of asparagus alone, helping to improve their lives, Wu said. Ketut Suriani, a member of the asparagus cooperative in Pelaga village, expressed her gratitude for Taiwan’s assistance, saying that her asparagus harvest has improved her economic situation.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by