Saturday, August 25, 2007

西進踩地雷 2千台商蹲黑牢

中時電子報 2007/08/24 04:39 記者 林庭瑤 專題報導
原始新聞連結

廣東省中山市一位姬姓台商,日前(十一日)從台灣到香港出境之時,剛踏出啟德機場大門一步,旋即遭到中共司法人員逮捕,並轉機送往南京關押,家屬獲悉後十分緊張,找當地台辦也使不上力。當地台商認為此事非比尋常。不過這類台商動輒遭司法關押案件,在中國大陸已見怪不怪。

台商林勝俊十多年前在河北省投資麵包車(台灣稱廂型車),在二○○一年十一月從台北轉經香港飛到河北石家莊時,一下飛機就遭公安扣押,被關的罪名是「虛假投資」,外加一條「行賄罪」。

得罪地方權貴 坐冤獄吊點滴

但家屬也搞不清楚原因,推測應是有位人大系統的高官買車不付錢,林勝俊告到法院逼他還錢,結果得罪了地方權貴。「坐了四年冤獄,在獄中已被整得不成人形,會見親友時還要吊著點滴!」林勝俊太太含淚說道。

台灣投資中國受害者協會理事長高為邦指出,據一份不完全的統計,近十多年來至少二千名台商被中國政府拘押,但這只是個保守數字。他拿出香港《鳳凰週刊》前(二○○五)年第十四期的報導說,港商已有一萬多名被中國政府拘押,「難道台商會更少嗎?」

去(二○○六)年,高為邦就接獲東莞台商投訴。他轉述,這位台商說在東莞被判刑八年,關了七年八個月後,提前四個月獲釋,當時東莞監獄關了一百八十名台商,但典獄長告訴這名台商,福州還有兩個監獄關了四百名台商。這位東莞台商聽了瞠目結舌。

台商被拘留羈押理由形形色色,包括偷漏稅、非法經營、集資詐騙、走私、偽禁品,公安對涉案人可拘留一個月,如還要繼續羈押再報請檢察官,可再羈押二到三個月。如檢察官不同意,公安可監視居住長達六個月。

不諳大陸法規 投資血本無歸

海基會官員不諱言,也有部分台商是因不諳大陸法規,或者被當地人設局誆騙而誤觸法網,致使投資血本無歸。他說,台商常有一些案件被公安拘留七、八個月,甚至一年都有。公安先押起來後,可能是債權債務糾紛,但卻告成詐騙;即使證據力薄弱,先押起來,再慢慢找證據。未確定判決之前,容易被拘留、被關押,台商所受到的保障相對甚為微薄。

又如,深圳某台商在一九九九年經深圳蛇口海關過境香港時,因被海關搜到九十萬港幣,結果拘留調查一個多禮拜。家人與友人都不知該台商去向,直到透過深圳台商協會才了解,但這位台商仍因違反規定被判處一年徒刑。「表面上,中國大陸看來經濟飛速發展,讓台商平時感覺不出來,直到親身遇到刑案之後,才真的體認到民主人權的可貴。」一位上海台商語重心長地提醒。
 

Friday, August 24, 2007

Taiwan's worthiness

By Shieh Jhy-wey

Original Link: The Washington Times
August 23, 2007

Proclaiming the determination of Taiwan's 23 million people to take their rightful place in the family of nations, President Chen Shui-bian submitted an application for membership in the United Nations to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on July 19. In response, a U.N. secretariat spokesperson told the press on July 23 that Taiwan's application "could not be received and was, thus, returned" in keeping with "the one-China policy of the United Nations" supposedly enshrined in General Assembly Resolution 2758.

This behavior is shocking, both for its arrogance and its ignorance.

The U.N. Charter and U.N. procedural rules unambiguously stipulate that the secretary-general shall immediately refer membership applications to the Security Council. The Security Council must deliberate the matter and make a recommendation to the General Assembly, whose members are to discuss the matter and vote on it. Therefore, with the aforementioned action, the U.N. secretariat has in effect co-opted the deliberative and decision-making powers of the U.N. member-states.

Equally disturbing is the fact that this action taken by the U.N. chief grossly misconstrues both the nature of Taiwan's membership application and the import of Resolution 2758. Taiwan's application in no way constitutes a challenge to the right of the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to represent China, nor does Resolution 2758 state that Taiwan is a part of China.

After suffering under martial law over the course of 38 years until 1987, the people of Taiwan have since then created a vibrant democracy. Taiwan was rated Asia's most free country by Freedom House in its "Freedom in the World" 2006 report.

Perhaps U.N. officials have been misled by the past actions of the now-defunct, authoritarian party-state government of the Republic of China (ROC). The old regime, led by Chiang Kai-shek, claimed that it was the sole legitimate government of China. Unwilling to coexist with the PRC in the U.N., it withdrew from the world body in 1971 just before Resolution 2758 was passed.

The democratic government of today's Taiwan makes no such claim to govern China, and it is quite happy to coexist and cooperate with the PRC government in every way possible. Although our country is still saddled with the official name "Republic of China," the great majority of us identify ourselves as "Taiwanese" and call our country "Taiwan" — as, indeed, virtually everyone else in the world does.

For this reason, and in order to underline the fact that Taiwan makes no pretense of vying for the right to govern China, Mr. Chen's application requests "the admission of Taiwan," not the Republic of China, "as a member of the United Nations." This follows the well-established precedent set by current U.N. member-states of participating in the U.N. and other international organizations under names that differ from domestically used or constitutional names.

Irrespective of the status of Taiwan, the Taiwan Strait is indisputably one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints. Given that China continuously threatens to launch a war of annexation, has deployed a thousand missiles targeted at Taiwan and refuses to talk directly with the democratically elected government in Taipei, it devolves to the United Nations to fulfill its role of international peacekeeper in the region. At the very least, the United Nations should facilitate communications between all parties who have a stake in preserving peace in East Asia before a crisis situation develops.

U.N. organizations and officials must therefore cease allowing themselves to be intimidated by the totalitarian PRC government into making unwise decisions. In particular, they must stop kowtowing to Beijing's claims concerning the status of Taiwan. Taiwan is not a province of the People's Republic of China, nor is Taiwan part of a "divided China" comprised of PRC and ROC segments.

The U.N. Charter mandates membership for all states. Taiwan is indisputably a sovereign state, having for nearly six decades fulfilled all of the criteria for statehood stipulated in the 1933 Montevideo Convention. Unlike the PRC, Taiwan is also a state in which sovereignty rests in the hands of the people, as prescribed by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Therefore, all nations that champion the rule of law, freedom and human rights are morally bound to support the cause of U.N. membership for Taiwan. We will never trade freedom for tyranny.

Shieh Jhy-wey is minister of Taiwan's Government Information Office.

誣人侵權 「鳥」攝影師恐入牢籠

(聯合報 2007/08/23 04:08 記者蘇位榮 台北報導)
原始新聞連結

本則新聞因為個資法 2012/10/01 實施上路後, 不確定轉載此新聞是否有違反個資法, 因此於 2013/1/8 先自行撤下。

Sunday, August 19, 2007

文化與語言

語言其實是文化的表示方式之一,
因此, 學習語言其實就是在學習一種文化, 也就是學習一種生活方式。

Phishing in Merriam-Webster Online

Merriam-Webster Online 是我個人較常使用的線上英英字典網站, 喜歡的原因有二: 1 較新的單字也可以找到; 2. 發音檔可以下載。

前天 (August 17) 透過 email 寄來的 The Word of the Day 剛好在介紹 phishing 這個字。真的很巧, 前幾天我在開車時聽到空中英語教室的 ken 也在 chat room 中介紹這個字, 剛剛特地查了一下, 是屬於 August 20 的每日講解內容, 文章標題是 "Gone Fishing"。

Merriam-Webster OnlineThe Word of the Day 的內容如下:

phishing \FISH-ing\ noun
: a scam by which an e-mail user is duped into revealing personal or confidential information which the scammer can use illicitly

Example Sentence:
The widespread use of electronic banking and financial transactions has prompted the FTC to crack down on cyber crimes, such as phishing.

Did you know?

"Phishing" is one of the many new computer-related terms that have found their way into the general lexicon over the past decade or so. Its "ph" spelling is influenced by an earlier word for an illicit act: "phreaking." Phreaking involves fraudulently using an electronic device to avoid paying for telephone calls, and its name is suspected of being a shortening of "phone freak." A common phishing scam involves sending e-mails that appear to come from banks requesting recipients to verify their accounts by typing personal details, such as credit card information, into a Web site that has been disguised to look like the real thing. Such scams can be thought of as "fishing" for naive recipients.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

壯實的聖帕(SEPAT)


希望天佑台灣 !!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

鐵嘴鴴繫放的大消息

昨天晚上收到來自鳥會阿達的email, 是關於一則水鳥繫放的新發現, 原始訊息來源是自然攝影中心的論壇, 分類在特色典藏 - 水鳥研究, 由版主 dec 所發表 "鐵嘴鴴年齡新紀錄...台灣最老的水鳥" 一文, 揭露這則大消息!!



這是一隻 18 年前在大肚溪口繫放的鐵嘴鴴(Greater Sand Plover), 在昨天被回收。
18 年是何等漫長的歲月啊 !!
 

Monday, August 13, 2007

國中數學 要補習才會好?

原始新聞連結
聯合新聞網 2007/08/13 07:10 記者:記者薛荷玉/台北報導

補習到底是愈補分愈高?還是愈補愈大洞?學者研究顯示,有沒有參加課後補習,與國中生的數學成就關連並不高,影響最大的是學生的特質,包括學生的抱負、對數學的信心及重視程度等,才是影響數學成就關鍵。

國立台北教育大學國教系助理教授張芳全利用「國際教育成就調查委員會」,於2003年針對國二學生進行的「國際數學與科學教育成就趨勢調查」(TIMSS),共4636份樣本加以分析,打破「數學要好就要補」的迷思。

這樣的研究結果,也與台師大心測中心針對國中基測考生的調查結果不謀而合。心測中心題庫發展組組長曾芬蘭表示,每年網路問卷調查 7 千名以上考生,也顯示補全科的學生基測成績,與全體學生平均相比,並無差異。

「如果學生覺得某一科不好,有需要單科補習,這我們不反對;但全科補習常補到晚上 9、10點,占去學生太多時間,學生沒有辦法自己掌握課業,學習表現也不會好。」曾芬蘭指出。

張芳全的研究則將家庭文化資本、在校學習、課後補習及學生特質等18個變數,與國二生的TIMSS數學成績加以分析,結果發現,如果家中有電腦、圖書量多、讀書環境好、學校討論數學頻率高、與生活結合程度高、學生複習功課時間愈多,對學生的數學成績都有正向助益。

影響數學成績最大變數,還是學生的特質,包括父母的期許、學生自己對數學的信心;而影響最小的則是課後補習時間長短。

每4年測驗一次的TIMSS抽樣程序嚴謹,在各國施測時,可代表該國全體學生的表現;台灣國二生參與2003年測驗的數學成績,居全球第三,比美國、比利時及芬蘭等先進國家還好;台灣學生在5個數學領域中,以幾何分數最高,其次為算術及代數。

Friday, August 03, 2007

淘汰機制明年啟動 至少 10 大學要關門

原始新聞連結
(記者李文儀 邱燕玲 台北報導)

繼今年首次要求辦學績效不彰或財務不佳的大學必須「降低學雜費一%」後,教育部昨天更宣示,將透過修法及從嚴評鑑,明年起將要求評鑑不良大學「減招」,加速大學退場機制,預計至少有十所大專校院可能因而關閉或整併。此外,教育部對五年五百億頂尖大學、教學卓越計畫等專案性補助措施,也將從嚴考評,緊縮核准數量,確保學校品質。

大學已百所 將從嚴把關

四年制大學今年正式突破一百所、大學分發錄取率更突破九成五,屢創新高是不是好事?陳水扁總統昨在「阿扁總統電子報」指出,關鍵不在大學數量多寡,而是提升辦學品質,政府要建立良好的評鑑制度與退場機制,對辦學優良的學校予以獎勵,辦學不如預期的學校,也應以適當的機制淘汰。陳總統憂心大學辦學品質與學生素質,促使教育部加速汰弱與提升品質。

逾兩成系所 評鑑不合格

台灣現有大專校院高達一百六十四所,其中專科大量升格,四年制大學的數量更在今年增達一百所,是十年前的二點六倍。大學招生容量大增,帶動分發錄取率逐年攀升,今年突破九成五,預估明年達到百分之百,幾乎報名就錄取。不僅學生品質堪憂,學校水準也參差不齊,去年首度辦理的大學系所評鑑,就有超過兩成的系所未過關。

有數所私大 缺額達八成

教育部高教司坦言,確有必要落實大學退場機制,將以修法鼓勵主動退場、加強評鑑以淘汰素質不佳學校及專案補助緊縮等三大方向,強化大學品質。

高教司指出,事實上已有兩、三所南部新辦的私立學校,每年招生缺額率高達七、八成,主動表示希望關門退場或轉型,還有慈濟、長庚、亞東及元智等校院,提出「整併」以善用資源的需求,但受制於私校法尚未完成修法,無法全面推行。

修法加評鑑 不良就逼退

高教司強調,目前正和各大學研擬加強學生入學及畢業把關的機制,並將列入系所及校務評鑑從嚴考核,希望以被動式的外部壓力,要求品質不佳的大學減招或停招,讓學校在財務壓力下自動退場,相關策略最快明年實施。

初步研擬加強評鑑的措施,包括入學門檻、退學標準等,例如招收英文系學生卻未考量英文能力,畢業生流向調查發現考取研究所、就業率低落,企業對學校聲望調查的反映不佳等,都列入評鑑指標。