Taiwan Today: Taiwan offers aid to Indonesia quake victims, Majority express concern about higher education in Taiwan

A strong and shallow earthquake early Sunday killed at least 14 people and injured more than 160 on Indonesia's Lombok island, a popular tourist destination next to Bali, officials said. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck at a depth of only about 4.4 miles.

Taiwan offers aid to Indonesia quake victims

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) sent her condolences to the people of Indonesia Sunday in the wake of a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that killed 14 people and injured more than
100, saying Taiwan is willing and able to help provide assistance to people in the disaster-hit area.

Presidential Office Spokesman Sydney Lin (林鶴明) quoted Tsai as expressing her hope that life returns to normal as soon as possible and damaged structures capable of being saved are expeditiously repaired.

Foreign media reports said that in addition to 14 deaths, 162 people were injured as thousands of houses collapsed when the temblor hit Lombok Island, a tourist destination 140 miles east of Bali, at 6:47 a.m.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials and tour agents in Taipei said no Taiwanese were reported injured in the quake.

Majority express concern about higher education in Taiwan: poll

The quality of higher education in Taiwan is increasingly causing concern, with over 80 percent of people believing the high unemployment rate among new college graduates is serious, according to a survey released Sunday by Professor Huang Kun-huei Education Foundation.

The survey identifies several problems in the higher education system that worry respondents, including a lack of international competitiveness among students (78.3 percent), the detachment of universities from the needs of industry (77.7 percent) and the poor quality of universities (76.5 percent).

 

80.6 percent of respondents agreed that the problem of unemployed new university graduates is quite serious, while 67.1 percent pointed to the outflow of excellent university professors and 75.9 percent expressed concern over China offering high salaries to poach high-tech talent.

The poll also found that 58.8 percent of respondents were worried about social stratification caused by education and 78.3 thought the government should provide financial subsidies to economically disadvantaged students.

MAC and Kinmen at odds over water deal ceremony with China

Taiwan’s top agency in charge of China policy reiterated on Saturday that Kinmen should act “in the best interest of the nation” by postponing a dedication ceremony scheduled for August 5 to mark the beginning of water importation from China’s Fujian province into the county.

Kinmen government refused to toe the line and instead asked the MAC to reconsider its position because Kinmen faces severe water sarcity.

Amid China’s increasing efforts to limit Taiwan’s space on the international stage, especially on the heels of its recent push to revoke Taichung City’s right to host East Asian Youth Games, it is inappropriate for Kinmen to hold the ceremony, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in a statement.

The MAC’s statement came after Kinmen government on Friday refused to toe the line and instead asked the MAC to reconsider its position.

China’s bullying ‘act of political aggression’: Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune, one of the leading newspapers in the United States, has called China’s demand that 44 international airlines change the designation of Taiwan on their
websites “an act of political aggression.”

In its editorial dated Thursday and titled “China bullies the friendly skies,” Chicago Tribune used “geopolitical chutzpah” to describe Beijing’s maneuver, while the White House used the term “Orwellian nonsense.”

The newspaper also described China’s demands as having the feel of Cold War era propaganda, but it said the act could not be dismissed as simply playing games with maps.

“China is a rising military power with long-term ambitions to challenge the United States in the Pacific,” the editorial said, reminding its readers that China has built artificial islands and created military installations on the South China Sea, indicating its intention to “bolster claims of sovereignty over an expanse of ocean with crucial shipping lanes.”

TSMC ranked No. 1 Taiwanese patent applicant in first half of year

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, was the No. 1 Taiwanese firm in invention patent applications in the country for the first half of this year, according to the Intellectual Property Office under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Meanwhile, U.S-based smartphone chip designer Qualcomm Inc. took the top spot among foreign firms in invention patent applications in Taiwan, the office said.

 

Data compiled by the office showed TSMC filed 345 invention patent applications in the past six months, up 5 percent from a year earlier.

Under Taiwan’s patent law, patents are categorized into three groups: invention patents, utility model patents and design patents, with invention patents the most important in terms of the creation of technical ideas.