Real wages fall in 2023 for first time in seven years

Real wages fall in 2023 for first time in seven years

2024-02-19

Taiwan’s real total wages have fallen for the first time in seven years. The real wage is how much a person earns after accounting for inflation. According to government data for last year, the average real wage fell for the first time since 2017, dipping to NT$53,000 a month. Regular wages, which don’t include bonus or overtime pay, also decreased to NT$41,000 a month.

Which sectors paid the most in 2023? According to the government, maritime transport was the top employer, paying a monthly average of NT$142,000. Financial services and banking also paid well, with salaries around NT$110,000. The electronics sector followed closely, offering a monthly average of NT$90,000.

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主計處公布去年實質總薪資5.3萬 7年來首度負成長

2024-02-19

主計總處公布2023年受雇員工薪資調查，實質經常性薪資4.1萬，連三年負成長，實質總薪資5.3萬元，是七年來首次負成長。

至於去年哪些行業每月薪水最高?海洋水運業平均月薪高達14.2萬元、其他金融服務業和銀行業也以11萬元拿下前三，電子零組件也有9萬元。

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China denies ‘restricted,’ ‘prohibited’ areas near Kinmen, launches regular patrols

China has launched regular patrols in the waters near Kinmen and Xiamen. It’s also denied the existence of “restricted” or “prohibited” areas in the area. The moves come after two Chinese fishermen drowned while being chased by Taiwanese Coast Guard, which said the men had trespassed into prohibited waters. Responding to China’s denial, Taiwan’s government said that restricted and prohibited waters were legally established in 1992. A scholar says China’s denial is an attempt to erode Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Reporter
CCTV
The Taiwan Affairs Office has stated that fishermen from both sides of the strait have long fished in the waters around Xiamen and Kinmen, asserting that there is no such thing as prohibited or restricted areas there.

According to Chinese state media, the Taiwan Affairs Office has denied the existence of “prohibited” or “restricted” areas near Xiamen and Kinmen. The country’s Coast Guard has initiated regular patrols in the area.

Reporter
CCTV
The Fujian coast guard will ramp up its maritime law enforcement and conduct regular patrols in the waters near Xiamen and Kinmen.

The waters around Kinmen were designated as “restricted” and “prohibited” by Taiwan’s defense ministry on Oct. 7, 1992, in line with the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area. Taiwan’s government said that, based on a shared understanding of these “restricted” and “prohibited” waters, China and Taiwan had previously cooperated on maritime law enforcement and rescue operations in the area. An expert says that China’s denial today is politically motivated.

Chen Shih-min
NTU Political Science Department
The Chinese Communist Party wants to use this as an opportunity to stir up trouble and provoke Taiwan by denying the sovereignty of the R.O.C. Its actions aim to show the international community and the general public in Taiwan that the R.O.C. doesn’t have sovereignty over the area, and to turn the Taiwan Strait into its domestic waters. The Taiwan government must keep a close watch on whether China’s coast guard will enforce maritime law, or create trouble and conflict in the area.

China’s coast guard says it will conduct regular patrols. According to a Chinese ship-tracking website, four Chinese coast guard vessels sailed in waters to the north, south and southeast of Kinmen Monday morning.

Wang Ting-yu
DPP lawmaker
So far, the Chinese coast guard has not said its vessels will enter Kinmen waters, that is to say, restricted areas controlled by the R.O.C. government. It hasn’t said it will do that, so we don’t need to react to such a thing.

Taiwan has adopted a cautious stance to China’s potential moves. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council says it will continue to enforce maritime law without change.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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2024-02-19

Taiwanese fishermen weigh in on Chinese patrols, fishing boats

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Legislative Yuan forms friendship groups for France, Poland

The Legislative Yuan has formed two friendship groups to deepen ties with parliaments in France and Poland. The new groups will be chaired by DPP lawmaker Michelle Lin, with former lawmaker Lin Ching-yi as honorary chair. The French and Polish representatives to Taiwan attended the groups’ inauguration ceremony.

Lawmakers smile broadly for a photo op. One day before the start of the new legislative session, DPP lawmaker Michelle Lin formed two parliamentary groups, for France and Poland.

Michelle Lin
DPP lawmaker
Over the past four years, we have seen the power of conducting exchanges at the parliamentary level, at the civic level. Through both the executive branch and the legislative branch, we have seen countries around the world show their friendship and support for Taiwan.

Lin will chair both parliamentary groups. The inauguration event was attended by lawmakers new and old. In recent years, France has been vocal in its support of Taiwan on various issues, including freedom of navigation and participation in global organizations. Taiwan’s Representative to France, Francois Wu, gave a prerecorded message at the event, thanking parliament for its role in the Taiwan-France friendship.

Francois Wu
Representative to France
Taiwan and France’s friendship has continued to grow. Two years ago, the French Senate passed a pro-Taiwan resolution 304 to 0. Last year, both chambers of the French parliament passed a defense bill that defended freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait.

Representatives from Poland and France were present as well. They emphasized Taiwan’s importance on the global stage.

Cyryl Jacek Kozaczewski
Polish Office in Taipei director
So important to create further institutions, further bodies, which allow smooth and great cooperation between parliaments, between democracies. Especially in these very difficult times.

Franck Paris
French Office in Taipei
… here in Taiwan is to help you expand this positive image of Taiwan and of the Taiwanese democracy.

Amid difficult times, Taiwan is joining hands with global democracies, in hopes of creating new opportunities for cooperation.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

2024-02-19

Hematologist Wang Cheng-hsu sworn in as lawmaker-at-large

With You Si-kun resigning as legislator, a new DPP lawmaker-at-large has been sworn in. It’s Wang Cheng-hsu , a renowned physician who was ranked No. 13 on the DPP’s party list. Wang is the chair of the Hope Foundation for Cancer Care. He says that in the Legislative Yuan, he will focus on health care and cancer prevention.

Arm held high, renowned physician Wang Cheng-hsu is sworn in as lawmaker-at-large.

Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu extends his blessing. Also at the ceremony were DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming and DPP lawmakers Chuang Jui-hsiung and Wu Szu-yao.

Wang, who specializes in hematology and oncology, is the chair of the Hope Foundation for Cancer Care. He was ranked 13th on the DPP’s party list. After You Si-kun’s resignation, Wang has become the party’s only lawmaker-at-large with a medical background.

Wang Cheng-hsu
DPP lawmaker
President-elect Lai Ching-te has very high expectations for building a healthy Taiwan. My efforts will be directed toward improving the people’s health and providing support on this front.

Wang endorsed Lai’s plan to create a NT$10 billion fund for advanced cancer drugs and treatments, with the goal of reducing cancer deaths by a third by 2030. Wang says he hopes to join the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee and run for committee convener.

Wang Cheng-hsu
DPP lawmaker
That’s one of my goals. I’ve only just come into this new environment, so I need to take some time to learn. My model is former lawmaker Chiu Tai-yuan 邱泰源, who is here today. He has high expectations for me.

Chiu Tai-yuan
Former DPP lawmaker
I am certain that, with his medical expertise and kindheartedness, he will take good care of the people’s health. He will have the full support of the medical community and from our medical resources.

Wang says he will use his expertise to reform Taiwan’s health care system and make progress in cancer prevention.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

2024-02-19

Students learn Zhuyin, traditional characters in Czech classroom

The Czech Republic might be 9,000 kilometers away, but many Taiwanese have made the trekin recent years. One such expat founded her own Chinese-language school, where she uses Zhuyin to teach traditional characters. The school has attracted not only overseas Taiwanese, but also many Czech students. Our reporter recently went to check outone of her classes in the Czech capital of Prague.

An instructor is using a computer to teach her young students Chinese pronunciation. But this familiar classroom isn’t in Taiwan. It’s in Prague.

Mia
Czech Taiwanese Association founder
The Czech Republic had never had a school for expats. We wanted to give all kids a chance to study their mother tongue and encounter culture from Taiwan. Since I have two kids myself, we wanted to bring everyone’s strengths together and more easily consolidate our resources.

Wanting to provide a Chinese-language environment for her kids, Mia founded a language school that teaches traditional characters with Zhuyin phonetics.

Hu Hsiao-ling
Instructor
We do so much to teach them while they’re young. Once they start school, no one will be speaking Chinese around them, so they’ll stop learning. When Mia approached me, I thought it would be good to teach other children as though they were my own.

Taiwanese expat
Our kids can gather with other Chinese-speaking children every week to develop their sense of Taiwanese identity. We think it’s a wonderful thing.

Many expats are thrilled to have a language school in the Czech Republic. But it’s not just Taiwanese. Many Czech students also enroll.

Mia
Czech Taiwanese Association founder
Czech people are very interested in Taiwanese culture, so we also have local students whose parents are both Czech who start taking classes from 3 years old.

The association has now developed many fascinating courses in the hopes of introducing more Czech people to Chinese language and Taiwan.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

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British immigrant contributes to Taiwan’s vibrant design field

Today we meet a new immigrant from Britain, who, along with his wife, is serving Taiwan’s vibrant design field. Gideon Lowy is a designer and architect who has lived in Taiwan for over 20 years. After a successful career in Europe, he and his wife decided to make their home in Taiwan, because of its unique and powerful social opportunities. Lowy works with government, business and academia to design life afresh.

Born in Britain and raised in Denmark, with a double masters in design and architecture, Gideon Lowy came to Taiwan for the first time in 1995, to attend a symposium of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. That’s when he met his future wife, Liao Chia-ling, and embarked on a collaboration with Taiwan that convinced him of the country’s development. In 2002, he decided to settle here.

Gideon Lowy
Designer and British immigrant
Really, what attracted me to Taiwan was this incredible curiosity and openness to learn, to invite people to develop, to move forward, and to open up. Experience in the world. There’s no other country like Taiwan, which has had such an amazing development, so peacefully, so harmoniously, and with such amazing results.

The couple originally worked in Denmark. But eventually, Lowy encouraged his wife to return to Taiwan and contribute to her field here.

Liao Chia-ling
Wife of Gideon Lowy
He said to me, “You’re a talent, like it or not. But as a talent, you’re abroad, contributing to other countries. It’s like you’re watering other people’s fields. Your country is changing, and it needs lots of international talent right now, as well as professional skills. Come back to your country to contribute.”

While working in Denmark, Lowy won many international design prizes. He helped design a telephone set for a historic Danish audio company, incorporating super-thin speakers for interior design purposes. He also designed a pyramid-shaped tea bag for a Taiwanese brand. Lowy often says, “Design is about making life better.”

Gideon Lowy
Designer and British immigrant
We love to design for them because they give us a lot of opportunity, just as Taiwan has given us a lot of opportunity. So we’ve been able to help small companies, big companies, the government, university, industry, business, help to upgrade to the next level. This is really what we do.

Working with industry, academia and government, Lowy’s observation of historical changes and cultural evolution in Taiwan leads him to choose Taiwan as his home.

This story was provided by the program "We Are Family"
Funded by New Immigrant Development Fund

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

2024-02-19

NE Chinese restaurant in Hsinchu serves up healthy favorites

Tucked away in one of Hsinchu’s military dependents’ villages is a restaurant beloved for its northeastern Chinese food. Originally from China, Yu Ying decided to open the noodle shop over 20 years ago to support her family. She serves favorites from her hometown like giant dumplings, wraps and fried rice, but with a twist. Since it doubled as her family kitchen, she makes everything a little healthier, without too much oil, salt or MSG.

When mealtime arrives, the kitchen is like a well-oiled machine. The side dishes are lined up neatly in the front, all aiming to satisfy hungry diners.

This is the owner of the popular Hsinchu restaurant, Yu Ying from Shandong. She opened the shop to help support her family after marrying into the military dependents’ village. She sells a dizzying array of northeastern Chinese foods, from noodles, dumplings and hot and sour soup, to wraps and even fried rice.

Yu Ying
Chinese immigrant
When I moved here, my mother-in-law lived with us. If I didn’t have time to go back and cook for her, she’d come downstairs to eat. We never use MSG because all my staff and family eat here, so we want to make it healthier, without so much oil and salt.

Their specialty is that northern staple, dumplings. Yu still insists on making them by hand. After stretching the wrapper taut, she places a generous heap of filling and pinches it closed with both hands. It’s a skill she’s been training since she was a child.

Yu Ying
Chinese immigrant
All at once. Just put one hand on top and press, that’s it.

What started as a single-person operation over 20 years ago now employs a dozen employees. To keep things running smoothly, the kitchen layout has been carefully considered.

Yu Ying
Chinese immigrant
We have two boiling stations, one for dumplings and wontons, and the other for noodles. One person is in charge of each. This way we can go fast.

She has developed her own management philosophy that not only ensures consistent quality, but also a dedicated staff with minimal turnover.

Yu Ying
Chinese immigrant
In a small business, everyone helps out. Anyone can do anything, but sometimes the customer gets overlooked. Yet if you do the same thing every day, you’ll get better at it. They’ll eventually get comfortable, and will be proficient at every aspect of their job.

The food she serves her customers is also what her family loves to eat, serving up the real deal that is also healthy. Yu’s belief has never wavered as she keeps the flavors of her home alive and well.

This story was provided by the program "We Are Family"
Funded by New Immigrant Development Fund

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

2024-02-19