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One of the top stories from this past week was that the leaders of Taiwan’s ruling party – the Kuomintang (KMT) -- and the Communist Party of China (CPC) -- met on Monday in Beijing. It was the first such meeting in six years.
During the meeting, KMT Chairman Eric Chu called on CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping – who is also the Chinese president -- to deepen cross-strait exchanges based on the 1992 Consensus.
The consensus refers to a tacit agreement that the two sides reached in 1992. Under that agreement, there is only one China, although each side may have its own interpretation of what that means.
Chu said the 1992 Consensus, which was included in the KMT’s party platform after 2005, is of vital importance.
Chinese President Xi Jinping also called for strengthening cooperation, saying that cross-strait ties are at a “new crucial” point.
Xi said that over the past decade, cross-strait ties have moved from conflicts and antagonism to peaceful development and friendly interaction. Xi also said that the resumption of cross-strait talks and two-way exchanges have benefited people across the Taiwan Strait and have won recognition from the international community.
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Also this past week, one of the top stories reported by the local media was that the labor ministry has begun an investigation into illegal recruiting agencies believed to be bringing Taiwanese workers into Australia.
The move followed an investigative report by an Australian television program, “Four Corners”, which revealed workers laboring under slave-like conditions on Australian farms. Taiwanese citizens were among those workers.
On Thursday, Labor Minister Chen Hsiung-wen said that many Taiwanese work in Australia through a working-holiday visa scheme. He said that an alternative method of finding work in Australia is to use recruiting agencies. However, he said that unscrupulous agencies may place workers in illegal working arrangements.
Chen said that the labor ministry has begun collecting information and within three months it will issue a report on the recruitment of Taiwanese workers.
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And finally, this past week, a Taiwanese scientist has discovered that onion cells plated with gold can be used to make artificial muscles. The breakthrough was reported on Wednesday by the American scientific journal Applied Physics Letters.
An article in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday said that researchers had been trying to make artificial muscles using different types of polymers that could contract or expand. However, they had not been able to find one that could also bend at the same time.
A National Taiwan University professor of mechanical engineering, Shih Wen-pin, who led the study, said that gold-plated onion cells can contract, expand, and bend just like human muscles.
Shih said that the current methods for making artificial muscles are costly and ineffective, he said the new solution offers a cheaper and more convenient way of making them.