This Week in Taiwan 1023-1030
October 26: After the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, what is the state of national defense under the current cross-strait relationship? On October 24 at the Legislative Yuan, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng stated that the situation is very daunting and that negligent handling can lead to serious ramifications.
Regarding the repeated trespass of the median line of the Taiwan Strait by People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and ships, Secretary-General Wellington Koo of the National Security Council stressed that the military will maintain the median line through combat readiness and reconnaissance patrols. It will also make use of small, mobile, lethal, and high-survivability weapons such that in the case of a first strike, Taiwan will still be able to weaken China's ability to invade Taiwan.
October 27: The National Development Council (NDC) announced that a September economic prosperity indicator score of 17 points, down six points from last month. The green light representing "stable" last month has changed to a yellow-blue light, one point above the "sluggish" category. The NDC stated that this is the first yellow-blue light signal since August 2020, indicating that the economy has slowed down. It will pay close attention to subsequent developments.
October 27: In response to lower fertility, the Executive Yuan approved a policy adjustment. Starting next year, the high-income threshold for child care allowances and subsidies will be canceled, and the salaries of child care and pre-school educators will be raised. Children aged 0 to 6 can receive NT$5,000 (about US$155) per month, benefiting more than 1 million children. The required budget is about NT$5.5 billion (about US$171 million).
October 28: Legislator Charles Chen of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) stated in the Legislative Yuan that multiple antiques of the National Palace Museum were broken, but top officials tried to conceal the facts, causing controversy. Director Wu Mi-cha of the National Palace Museum stated that the three damaged pieces of porcelain were all general antiques, and one of them was damaged due to human negligence. The discipline progress is in process, and additional budget will be proposed to improve packaging for china.
According to the National Palace Museum, on February 3, 2021, and April 7, 2022, after opening the artifacts, a Hongzi-era small bowl from the Ming Dynasty and a Kangxi-era small yellow porcelain bowl from the Qing Dynasty were found broken. On May 19, 2022 when sorting out artifacts, a Qianlong-era blue and white flower plate from the Qing Dynasty was dropped and damaged.
October 28: In 2008, the giant panda Tuantuan, which was sent by mainland China to encourage exchanges, recently suffered from brain lesions, and veterinarians believe that it may not survive past six months. The Taipei Zoo announced palliative treatment for Tuantuan.
The Taipei Zoo has also applied for mainland Chinese experts to visit Taiwan, which has been approved by the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan. Two people from the mainland scheduled to visit Taiwan for seven days arrived in Taipei on November 1.
The 18-year-old Tuantuan and Yuanyuan have been star animals of the Taipei Zoo since they came to Taiwan. They gave birth to two daughters, Yuanzai and Yuanbao in 2013 and 2020, respectively. The family of four is very popular with the public.
October 28: The lawsuit related to corruption charges surrounding the Taipei Dome constructed by the Farglory Group has taken five years. The Taipei District Court ruled in the first instance, sentencing founder Chao Teng-hsiung to seven years in prison for bribery, former Minister of Finance Lee Shu-te sentenced to nine years for enriching Farglory, and New Taipei Councilor Chou Sheng-kao to 10 years for taking bribes. Farglory Group stated that it would appeal.
October 30: The Kinmen Bridge, which took 30 years and cost NT$9.6 billion (about US$297 million), finally opened to traffic. The commute between greater and little Kinmen originally took more than one hour by boat but now only takes five to 10 minutes by car. Some 5.41 kilometers long, of which 4.77 kilometers are at sea, this is Taiwan's largest cross-sea bridge. The Kinmen County Government will plan bus routes to benefit more than 12,000 residents of Lieyu Township. The public construction will drive future business opportunities in tourism.
October 30: Taiwan's household registration system was reported to have been hacked. According to media reports, some Internet users sold 200,000 pieces of Taiwan household registration information on a foreign forum, claiming that they possess the information of 23 million people in Taiwan. After receiving reports on October 25, the Investigation Bureau, Ministry of Justice, launched its investigation. Preliminary investigation confirmed that the 200,000 pieces of information leaked so far were concentrated in the Yilan area and found to be consistent with the records. County Executive Lin Chi-miao and Legislator Chen Ou-po are among the victims.