The US government fully supports the President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration’s New Southbound Policy, describing it as in line with the US’ own policy direction in the region, a US Department of State source said.
The source said that the US is happy to see Taiwan treating the policy as a long-term project, adding that it anticipates the two nations working together on such regional issues as the digital divide, medical training and fostering of a community mindset in the Asia-Pacific region.
The US is interested in learning more about Taiwan’s specific plans for the region, the source said, adding that it has so far been unable to obtain adequate information related to the policy.
The US has also been concerned that so many negative opinions and so much misunderstanding about the policy exist among Taiwanese, the source said.
Premier Lin Chuan (林全) has reviewed the policy’s key projects and the Executive Yuan has said it would produce a list of policy items later this month.
The source said the US expects the New Southbound Policy to complement the aims laid out in the Global Cooperation and Training Framework signed between the two nations in 2015.
The framework lays out plans for cooperation in such areas as international humanitarian assistance, public health, environmental protection, energy, technology, education and regional development.
The policy would allow Taiwan to improve its ties with Southeast Asian nations through its contributions to those nations, the source said, adding that the US acknowledges that the policy is not intended to engage China in competition.
“Taiwan should continue to promote positive cooperation. It must avoid drawing lines in the sand,” the source said.
“The policies are intended to further the aims of regional peace, stability and safe development in the Asia-Pacific region,” the source said.
The US-Taiwan Business Council has also expressed support for the New Southbound Policy.
The council said that it hoped for large-scale trade in the region that involves cooperation between the two nations and integrates the business interests of both.
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
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS