Five hundred academics have signed a petition urging continued government support for multidisciplinary research on sustainable development after rumors suggested the National Science and Technology Council would shift gears on scientific funding.
Rumors have suggested that the council is considering cutting funding for multidisciplinary research in sustainable development, disaster management and spatial information technology, the petition said.
Officials who supported the move purportedly believed the state-funded research programs in these fields lacked focus and did not achieve the desired results, it said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
That assertion would be surprising, as these fields are key to President William Lai’s (賴清德) digital transformation, resilient Taiwan and sustainable environment initiatives, it said.
The council’s proposed strategy to re-entrench the division between fields of study would contradict modern scientific approaches and would not be fair to those who have worked to develop science in Taiwan in the past 30 years, it said.
The government should take seriously the complex challenges and requirements in Taiwan’s quest for sustainable development, the academics said, adding that the council should have been more transparent and communicative in the policymaking process.
Academia Sinica Biodiversity Research Center fellow Li Wen-hsiung (李文雄), Academia Sinica Institute of Earth Sciences Research fellow Chang Wen-yen (張文彥) and University of Taipei president Elton Chiu (邱英浩) are among the academics who signed the petition.
The council said that the scientific research budget has been increased every year and that further discussion is required to adjust the government’s strategy.
The council said it understands that Taiwan’s societal problems require dialogue between different fields and complex solutions, adding that it has invested NT$480 million (US$15 million) this year and would invest another NT$520 million next year to address such problems.
It is committed to discussing the national strategy for sustainability, disaster management and spatial information technology research with the nation’s academics to better respond to challenges, the council said.
It would consult with domestic experts to make the best use of the nation’s resources and broaden academic participation in crucial research goals, the council added.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary