This Week in Taiwan 0521-0527
May 22: The Department of Statistics, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), announced that value of export orders in April was US$42.4 billion, a decrease of 18.1 percent compared with the figure during the same period last year and a decrease of 8.8 percent compared with that in March. With eight consecutive months of negative export growth and a prediction by the MOEA that a double-digit percentage decline in exports will be observed in May, negative economic growth in the first half of the year is almost certain. Minister Kung Ming-hsin of the National Development Council stated that recovery and rebound should be observed in the fourth quarter at the latest.
May 22: The British Journal of Contemporary China recently published a paper on a rare opinion poll in mainland China. The results showed that only 55 percent of mainland Chinese respondents supported launching an all-out war against Taiwan for reunification, and 33 percent disagreed with military reunification. The research was conducted by Adam Liu from the National University of Singapore and Li Xiaojun from the Shanghai campus of New York University. The survey was conducted through an online questionnaire from the end of 2020 to the beginning of 2021.
May 23: The presidential candidates of all three parties stated that if elected president, they would report to the Legislative Yuan on the national state of affairs. Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT) and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) first made the promise, followed by William Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party.
May 23: In order to solve the labor shortage crisis, the Ministry of Labor announced the adjustment of qualifications for hiring migrant workers, relaxing the restrictions on migrant workers in manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and institutional care. Among them, private construction projects and forestry will for the first time open up to migrant workers, with an estimated increase of 28,000 migrant workers. The new measures will take effect in the middle of June.
May 25: The Ministry of National Defense (MND) confirmed that the US$500 million in military aid offered by the United States in response to the delay in arms sales to Taiwan will be implemented soon. A batch of FIM-92 shoulder-launched stinger anti-aircraft missiles provided by the United States arrived at Taoyuan Airport and has been received by the military.
May 25: When people import consumer electronics with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other features from abroad, they will need to report this to the National Communications Commission (NCC). However, elected representatives found that they can easily obtain the ID numbers of such people on the NCC website with a set of declaration numbers, effectively making the NCC an accomplice of fraud groups. The NCC apologized to the affected people with a press release. The Executive Yuan launched an investigation mechanism for personal information.
May 25: Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu stated on May 22 that Taiwan and the United States have communicated about the issue of nuclear umbrella, but the discussions should not be made public. However, in the past, the United States discussed the nuclear umbrella with the military and not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Regarding whether Taiwan should be included in the American nuclear umbrella, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng denied related allegations. According to Minister Chiu, no one thus far has approached him to discuss the issue.
May 26: The Legislative Yuan passed the third reading of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act and amendments to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act, barring convicts from politics. Those who have been convicted of corruption, gun violence, and drugs, as well as those who have been sentenced to 10 years or more in prison for violating the Money Laundering Control Act, are not allowed to stand for election. The legal community suspects that such clauses may be unconstitutional.