Politics

Politics

According to the Constitution, Taiwan is a democratic republic of the people, to be governed by the people and for the people. The president, county governors, congressmen, and people's representatives of all levels are directly elected by the people. Among the many political parties, the Kuomintang (KMT), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), People First Party (PFP) and New Party (NP) are the predominant. On March 18, 2000, the new president of Taiwan was elected.The DPP won the presidential election. After fifty years of KMT ruling, this is the first time that DPP won the presidential election.
Although Taiwan has the world's second densest population but only one-quarter of its land is arable. Due to the continuous growth of exports, Taiwan has more than enough foreign exchange to import everything it needs. Basically, local transportation and communication services are very good, even in small villages. Most people live in modern housing with all the standard conveniences. Currently, most people are wealthy and able to afford to travel abroad.

Education

A majority of the Taiwanese receives post-secondary education. At present, the national literacy rate is nearly 100%. The educational options range from preschools (3 years), primary schools (6 years), junior high schools (3 years), senior high schools and vocational schools (3 years), and colleges and universities (4 years), among which primary school and junior high school education are compulsory. Schools of various levels totaled 7,731 in 1998, with 5.21 million students, more than 20% of he populace. About half million students were registered in Taiwan¡¦s 100 plus universities. Because Taiwanese has traditionally placed a high priority on education, competition for higher learning is stressful. Progress through the senior high school and college systems requires passing strict entrance examinations

Dear members and friends of the World Association of Copepodologists (WAC):
It is our pleasure and honor to welcome you to the National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU), Keelung, Taiwan, for the 8th International Conference On Copepoda (ICOC), which will be held here during the period of 21-26 July 2002.
After the 7th ICOC, in order to facilitate organization of the 8th ICOC, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and International Organizing Committee (IOC) were established. The LOC members are Drs. Tin-Yam Chan, Wen-Been Chang, Shin-Hong Cheng, Jiang-Shiou Hwang (LOC Chairman and Local Secretary of IOC), Ching-Long Lin, Wen-Tseng Lo, Chang-tai Shih, J. Rudi Strickler, and Shu-Shen Young. The IOC members include Drs. Ruth Böttger-Schnack, Ju-shey Ho (IOC coordinator), Rony Huys, Rubens Lopes and Shin-ichi Uye. Five LOC meetings have been held to discuss matters related to the preparation of the 8th ICOC. Four symposia have been organized, which are the following: Symposium I : The Role of Copepods in Aquaculture, organized by Ju-shey Ho; Symposium II: Copepods and Pollution, organized by Shin-ichi Uye; Symposium III: The Significance of Small Copepods in Estuaries, Neritic Waters, and the Open Sea, organized by J. Rudi Strickler and Gus Paffenhöfer; and Symposium IV: Copepoda in Deep-sea Habitats, organized by, H. Kurt Schminke. As usual, all symposia will be held in the morning and contributions from participants will be held in the afternoon. We invite contributions from all conference participants, by oral or poster presentation, in all areas of copepodology, including ecology, behavior, systematics, physiology, biochemistry, fisheries etc. The 8th ICOC has arranged two optional evening symposia. They are evening symposium I : The importance of phylogenic reconstructions and a natural system of the Copepoda, organized by Hans-Uwe Dahms; evening symposium II : Molecular vs Morphology:Sorting out the actual and the artefactual, organized by Rony Huys.