Employed children often underpaid: NGOBy Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with CNAMany school-aged children in Taiwan take jobs to assist their families, but about 20 percent are being underpaid or work in unsafe conditions, World Vision Taiwan (WVT) said last week. “Of employed children from poorer households, 69.2 percent hold jobs in the service sector and 21.8 percent are in manual labor jobs, cleaning services or other physically intensive work. “The figures show that 71.4 percent of these children severely lack educational support, and one in four quit school after finishing junior-high school. WVT offers educational scholarships for children of underprivileged families, grants for family guidance and assistance, and job training. “We send social workers to find out what services are needed for these families, and provide assistance for children in the workplace,” WVT said.

Manila, Tokyo sign defense pact amid China aggressionAP, MANILAJapan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Theresa Lazaro, left, and Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi sign documents following a bilateral meeting in Pasay, Philippines, yesterday. Photo: EPAJapanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi signed the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement with Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Theresa Lazaro in Manila. “We both recognized the value of promoting the rule of law, including the freedom of navigation and overflight, especially in the South China Sea,” Lazaro said after the signing. Japanese and Philippine officials are still negotiating another agreement that aims to boost the security of highly confidential defense and military information the countries could share.

Cabinet proposes bill to raise older farmers’ subsidiesTHRESHOLD CHANGE: About 7,000 farmers are expected to benefit from the changes, bringing the total people eligible for the subsidies to 530,000By Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNAThe Executive Yuan yesterday proposed a bill to raise the monthly subsidy for older farmers to NT$10,000 (US$317) from NT$8,110, requiring a budget increase of NT$12.9 billion. The bill would be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review. About 14,505 people are ineligible for farmers’ subsidies, the Executive Yuan said. About 7,000 farmers are expected to benefit from the amendment and become eligible for the older farmer subsidy, bringing the total number of people eligible for the subsidies nationwide to 530,000, it said. Farmers aged 65 or older who have been enrolled in farmers’ insurance for at least 15 years are eligible for the monthly benefit, which was initially set at NT$3,000 and raised to NT$7,000 in 2011.

The US is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties. China held war games around the nation late last month after the latest deal was announced. The arms sales announced last month cover eight items, including Lockheed Martin High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and Altius loitering munition drones. “It is not that we are unwilling to explain — give us an opportunity to explain, a legal opportunity,” he added. Taiwan has to spend more, given the threat, Hsu said.

Taiwan eases work, residency restrictions for foreign professionalsNew measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company

Trade team heads to US for tariff talksBACK AT IT: In the sixth round of in-person talks, Taipei aims to expand the ‘Taiwan model’ within US supply chains and seek a more favorable investment environmentStaff writer, with CNATaiwan’s trade negotiation team, led by Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and chief trade negotiator Minister Without Portfolio Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮), has departed for the US for a new round of in-person trade talks that officials say are in the final stages, the Cabinet said yesterday. The delegation left Taiwan late on Wednesday after coordinating with its US counterparts, the Cabinet’s Taiwan-US trade working group said. Following the talks, the two sides are expected to announce the substance of any consensus reached, the group said. The meetings, the sixth round of in-person trade negotiations between Taiwan and the US, are to be held amid reports that the two sides are close to reaching a trade agreement. Washington imposed a 25 percent tariff on certain AI chips, such as the Nvidia H200, under a new national security order released by the White House.

Cold weather might not affect typhoon formationBy Esme Yeh / Staff reporterResearch built on hundreds of years of storm activity records showed that typhoons were most frequent in the 17th century during the “little ice age,” challenging the common belief that low temperatures inhibit the formation of typhoons. Researchers pose at a news conference hosted by National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei yesterday. Such a thermal contrast between the land and the sea likely created a more dynamic summer monsoon circulation, which fostered favorable conditions such as increased low-level moisture transport for tropical cyclone formation, the research showed. The database helps promote intercultural, interdisciplinary climate research by enabling non-Mandarin-using international researchers to utilize Chinese historical documents, he said. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America journal last month.

Carney hails Xi’s leadership, as he seeks warmer tiesReuters, BEIJINGCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday hailed his nation’s improving ties with China, as well as the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), declaring that their nations were charting a new course in cooperation amid global division and disorder. The four-day visit to China was the first by a Canadian prime minister since 2017, following up on Carney’s positive meeting with Xi in South Korea in October. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes hands with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the end of a signing ceremony in Beijing yesterday. Carney’s optimism follows months of intense re-engagement by both countries aimed at recalibrating ties that had soured under former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. “Our teams have worked hard, addressing trade irritants and creating platforms for new opportunities,” Carney told Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) in a separate meeting.

Environmentalists concerned LNG port damaging reefBy Esme Yeh / Staff reporterEnvironmental advocates yesterday called for action to reverse alleged breakdown of the algal reef near the third liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Guantang Industrial Port (觀塘工業港), saying it was likely caused by the construction of the terminal over the past few years. Construction of the third liquefied natural gas terminal at Guantang Industrial Port in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District is pictured in an undated photograph. The algal reef ecosystem along the coast of the district was divided into G1, G2 and G3 zones when the construction project was delineated, with G1 zone being the nearest to the construction site. He urged government authorities to establish a response unit to reverse the algal reef decline. CPC would cooperate in conducting on-site investigations along with representatives from environmental groups to examine algal reef conditions, as well as provide research data for review, he said.

TPP announces 13 budget items it wants to fundBy Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNATaiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers yesterday said the party would propose a motion to partially fund the government, prioritizing spending for the economy, livelihood and infrastructure. TPP deputy caucus whip Chang Chi-kai (張?楷) told a news conference that the party is facilitating the legislature’s review of 13 spending items in the annual budget, totaling NT$200 billion (US$6.33 billion). Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang, left, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Improving bridges, upgrading water purification and distribution facilities, and spending on museums and an office building for the Central Election Commission’s Lienchiang County branch are among the budget items the party supports, Chang said. Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) slammed the TPP’s announcement, saying that the proposed budget deal overlooked crucial spending items after 140 days of delays.

Danjiang Bridge opening events set for April and MaySINGLE-TOWER SENSATION: The bridge, which would be the longest of its type in the world when opened, will be open to the public before vehicular traffic startsBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporter, NEW TAIPEI CITYThe Highway Bureau and New Taipei City are hosting events between April 25 and May 9 allowing people to experience the Danjiang Bridge (淡江大橋) before it officially opens on May 12. Reporters take pictures of the Danjiang Bridge spanning New Taipei City’s Tamsui and Bali districts yesterday. Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai, center, shows reporters newly laid pavement on the Danjiang Bridge spanning New Taipei City’s Tamsui and Bali districts yesterday. Organizers are hosting photography and painting contests for the bridge opening, accepting submissions until March 31. To ensure durability of the steel bridge, the construction team first applied GUSS asphalt concrete, which was created by blending petroleum asphalt and processed Trinidad lake asphalt, before applying regular asphalt, Chen said.

About NT$900bn to go to foreign arms, official saysACCUSATIONS: The official refuted insinuations that the special budget was a ‘blank check,’ citing examples where ceilings were approved before items were consideredBy Chen Yu-fu and Jason Pan / Staff reporters, with CNAMost of the NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.57 billion) special defense budget is for arms procurement from other countries, while NT$300 billion would go toward domestic defense production, Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) said yesterday. Hsu was responding to a comment by Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) on Wednesday that only NT$300 billion of the budget is for arms procurement from the US. Huang, who returned from a visit to the US on Wednesday, said he made the discovery after meeting unnamed officials in Washington. Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien, second right, speaks to reporters at a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei yesterday. The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) reiterated that it welcomes the NT$1.25 billion special defense budget, as AIT Director Raymond Greene wrote on social media on Nov. 26 last year.

Anger in Minneapolis after second shootingAP, MINNEAPOLIS, MinnesotaA federal officer shot a man in the leg in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle, further heightening the sense of fear and anger radiating across the city a week after an immigration agent fatally shot a woman in the head. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told a news conference that the gathering was an unlawful assembly and “people need to leave.”A protester attempts to protect themselves as federal agents fire munitions and pepper balls during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday, after federal law enforcement agents were involved in a shooting incident. Photo: ReutersThings later began to quiet down at the scene, and by early yesterday fewer demonstrators and law enforcement officers were there. In a statement describing the events that led to Wednesday’s shooting, DHS said federal law enforcement officers stopped a person from Venezuela who was in the US illegally. Local leaders say the government is violating free speech and other constitutional rights with the surge of law enforcement.

Can Japan’s Sanae Takaichi beat the heat with a snap election? By Gearoid Reidy / Bloomberg OpinionJapanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reportedly hates the summer. A win could restore the LDP’s majority in the lower house, lost in 2024 under former Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba. It all risks being seen as self-serving — at a time voters would prefer to hold her to her promise to “work, work, work, work, work” on issues such as inflation. Remember the lesson of former Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga, who enjoyed Takaichi-like polling numbers when he replaced Abe in 2020.

Mother tongues are a vanguardBy Liou Uie-liang 劉威良At the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) New Generation National Strategic Talent Empowerment Workshop in Taipei from Thursday to Sunday last week, DPP Secretary-General Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said that Taiwanese society often uses terms originating from China in everyday life. Much like other multilingual countries like Canada, Taiwan should — in addition to using a commonly shared language — also release accurate information in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese, or Tai-gi) or other local mother tongues as tools for verification and clarification. In other words, mother tongues are not merely a matter of culture, nor solely an issue of revitalization. In the face of a hostile China, whose native language is also Mandarin, the government and military should regard mother tongues as the most effective defensive language for winning the cognitive war. This would significantly raise the cost for China to disseminate disinformation, and mother tongues that were previously suppressed would serve as the vanguard in Taiwan’s modern cognitive defense.