Taiwan’s new legislature is on Monday to swear in lawmakers with a lower average age, while a record number of female lawmakers are to be appointed, statistics released yesterday by the Central Election Commission (CEC) showed.
The legislature is to have 43 female lawmakers, five more than the present legislature, while the average age of the legislators is to drop from 52 to 50, the CEC’s figures showed.
The number of newly elected male lawmakers in the new legislature would fall to 70 from 75, the statistics showed.
While the number of newly elected lawmakers aged between 30 and 39 rose to 11 from 8, and the number of legislators aged between 40 and 44 increased to 24 from 16, the number of newcomers aged 60 or above fell to 18 from 25, the commission said.
The legislature is set to contain one lawmaker aged below 29, while the previous parliament had no legislators that young, the figures showed.
The new legislature has 54 members who challenged incumbents and won, up five from four years ago.
The number of newly elected lawmakers who hold a doctorate is to fall from 27 to 20, while the number of lawmakers-elect who hold a master’s degree will rise to 58 from 55, the statistics showed.
The legislature is to be the first time that the KMT would be the minority party, and it is likely be the first time that the legislative speaker and deputy speaker are served by non-KMT lawmakers, the figures showed.
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
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
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