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Virus Outbreak: Foreign travelers must pa*** PCR test The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that after border controls are eased, it would screen all foreign visitors to Taiwan for COVID-19 upon arrival and permit them entry only if they test negative in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Visitors would also be required to receive follow-up testing and perform self-health management, based on their activities in the nation, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen s***h-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. A ma*** screening of all foreign visitors at the airport would not be sufficient, as some confirmed cases did not test positive until they were already under home quarantine, he added. The center would not implement ma*** screening on all returning Taiwanese because the government is obligated to treat infected citizens, but it is not obliged to treat foreign visitors, and carelessly allowing infected people to enter might cause a local outbreak, he said. In related news, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it is considering allowing Taiwan’s international airlines to offer cargo services to and from six cities in China — Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Qingdao, Ningbo and Changsha — as part of an effort to aid the airline industry, which has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To contain the coronavirus outbreak, the government had limited cross-strait flights to four Chinese cities — Beijing, Xiamen, Chengdu and Shanghai, home to Hongqiao International Airport, which is closed to international flights. Ministry officials said that many Chinese cities have ended lockdowns, which have consequently increased demand for goods, but they chose these six cities as they have higher cargo demands than others. As the nation’s pa***enger flight service is expected to recover slowly and the government still needs to control the spread of the virus, ministry officials said it hoped that the CECC would allow carriers to offer cargo |
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Virus Outbreak: Lin unveils plans for third tourism bailout package The government is preparing to roll out a third bailout package for the travel and hotel industries, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect business, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. The package would be used to help service providers that are expected to experience financial difficulties between next month and September, despite switching their focus to the domestic tourism market, he added. The ministry has already provided two bailout packages to tour operators and hoteliers, with the second one scheduled to expire at the end of this month. “We hope that a new bailout package can be used to sustain some of the travel service providers that are still unable to generate revenue, despite branching out into domestic tourism,” Lin told a news conference in Taipei. “We hope that all industry representatives can understand that the government also has limited ammunition, and the package should be given to specific service operators,” he said. The ministry might consider using it to help travel agencies that mainly serve inbound or outbound tourists, whose businesses continue to suffer as the nation’s borders remain closed, he said. The package might also be used to help duty-free shops and restaurants at airports, he said. The ministry has yet to finalize the details of the proposed package, Lin said, adding that when it would be announced would depend on the how the pandemic develops in other countries and on the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC). The nation has about 3,100 travel agencies, including 260 that provide domestic tours, Tourism Bureau data showed. The bureau said that it would set a series of standards by which their applications would be evaluated. It is a***essing whether it should extend the outbound and inbound group tour ban, which expires at the end of this month, as the CECC has said that if |
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Virus Outbreak: Virus cases hit 7 million, as LatAm crisis deepens The number of COVID-19 infections globally topped 7 million yesterday, as deaths mounted in Latin America, but New Zealand’s declaration of victory against the pandemic offered some hope for the rest of the world. Europe also continued to emerge from its lockdown, with Pope Francis proclaiming that the worst was over in Italy, although he expressed sympathy for Latin America. “Your presence in the square is a sign that in Italy the acute phase of the epidemic is over,” Francis said on Sunday, while addressing Catholics in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the first time since the COVID-19 crisis began. “Unfortunately in other countries — I am thinking of some of them — the virus continues to claim many victims,” he said. Rising numbers of deaths were recorded from Brazil to Mexico to Peru, driving the confirmed global death toll above 400,000 and the number of declared infections to more than 7 million, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. Brazil’s crisis is escalating and it has the world’s third-highest death toll at more than 36,000, but Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro continues to play down the impact of the virus. In Chile the confirmed death toll reached 2,290 after miscalculations from March and April were corrected, adding 1,541 to the figure, Chilean Minister of Health Jaime Manalich said on Sunday. Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region there was progress, with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern telling reporters she danced around her living room on hearing her country had reached the milestone of zero active infections. The South Pacific nation yesterday lifted all domestic restrictions after it went 17 days with no new infections. This allowed New Zealand Rugby to announce a restart to a top-flight domestic compet**ion this week, with fans allowed to pack into the stadiums. “We’re incredibly proud, and grateful, to be the first professional |
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Minneapolis council vows to dismantle police Minneapolis city councilors on Sunday pledged to dismantle and rebuild the police department, after the death in custody of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests about racism in law enforcement, pus***ng the issue onto the national political agenda. Floyd died on May 25 when white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on the unarmed black man’s neck for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and was to appear in court yesterday. The prospect that Minneapolis could abolish its police force altogether would have seemed unthinkable just two weeks ago. Nine members of the 13-person city council pledged to do away with the police department in favor of a community-led safety model, though they provided few details. “A veto-proof majority of the MPLS City Council just publicly agreed that the Minneapolis Police Department is not reformable and that we’re going to end the current policing system,” Minneapolis Councilor Alondra Cano said on Twitter. “We committed to dismantling policing as we know it in the city of Minneapolis and to rebuild with our community a new model of public safety that actually keeps our community safe,” Minneapolis Council President Lisa Bender told CNN, after a majority of councilors committed to the effort. However, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is against getting rid of the department, and Bob Kroll, head of the city’s police union, appeared on stage last year with US President Donald Trump. The vow by the majority of councilors came a day after Frey was booed at and asked to leave a “Defund the Police” rally. He later told reporters he supported “ma***ive structural reform to revise this structurally racist system,” but not “abolis***ng the entire police department.” On Sunday, protesters in cities — including Was***ngton, New York and Winter Park, Florida — began focusing their outrage over the death of Floyd onto |
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Taiwan and Canada sign organic equivalence pact Taiwan and Canada have signed letters for an organic equivalence arrangement that took effect on May 30, the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei said on Facebook yesterday. The letters were signed and exchanged between Lyzette Lamondin, executive director of food safety and consumer protection for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and Agriculture and Food Agency Director-General Hu Jong-i (胡忠一) on May 27, it said. According to an overview posted on the official Web site of the Government of Canada, “the recognitions apply to agricultural products of plant origin, and processed foods of plant origin, livestock and livestock products, as well as aquaculture products grown or produced in each jurisdiction or whose final processing or packaging occurs within each jurisdiction.” The accord allows organic products certified in Taiwan or Canada to be sold as organic in either market. Information from the Agriculture and Food Agency shows that Canada is Taiwan’s second-largest source of imports for organic products, after the US. On Thursday last week, Taiwan and the US also signed an organic equivalence arrangement, which according to the Agriculture and Food Agency, was the fifth such deal reached, after j***an, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. |
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Virus Outbreak: CECC urges vigilance as curbs eased NEW LIFESTYLE: The nation has only pa***ed the ‘midterm exam’ by controlling the virus and people must remain alert if it is to pa*** the ‘finals,’ Chen s***h-chung said While the government yesterday largely relaxed restrictions on large gatherings, as well as social distancing and mask-wearing rules, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reiterated the importance of wearing masks and practicing personal protective measures against COVID-19. The nation has had no new domestic COVID-19 cases for eight straight weeks, and as of yesterday, 430 infected patients had been released from isolation, while only six patients were in isolation waiting for three consecutive negative test results, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen s***h-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. “There have been no domestic cases in eight weeks, so we [decided] to ease domestic restrictions,” he said. “However, strict border controls will remain,” he added. Taiwan has only pa***ed the “midterm exam” with good scores, but people would have to maintain good personal hygiene and practice the “new disease prevention lifestyle” to pa*** the “final exam” before effective vaccines are developed, Chen said. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is also CECC spokesman, reported the findings of a simulation study conducted by Academia Sinica and CDC researchers using a scenario in which the “new disease prevention lifestyle” was applied, as well as the responding mitigation plan. The study used a simulation model for influenza virus transmission as its basis, categorized the pop****tion into five age groups based on a previous study suggesting different interpersonal contact patterns among the groups and referred to parameters used this year in a British study on COVID-19 to set a possible scenario, Chuang said. The scenario a***umed relaxed border controls, resulting in about one new imported case every five days, an incubation period of 5.1 days and a basic reproduction number of 2.4, he said. Under the scenario, if two people close to each other both wear masks, the risk of infection can be reduced by |
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Virus Outbreak: Taiwanese return home from Poland A total of 116 Taiwanese yesterday morning arrived home from Warsaw on board a charter flight operated by LOT Polish Airlines, after being stranded in the European country for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also the first-ever direct pa***enger flight between Taiwan and Poland, said the Polish Office in Taipei, the de facto Polish emba***y in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic relations. The two countries signed an air transport agreement in March 2015. The airplane landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 6:24am after a 13-hour flight. The plane had to make a three-hour detour, as it was not allowed to fly over China. The pa***engers, mostly students and businesspeople, were quarantined upon arrival for 14 days in accordance with the Central Epidemic Command Center’s instructions after undergoing initial health checks. The charter flight was made possible through the efforts of Lin’s International Consulting Co Ltd, an overseas student service, and coordination between Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration and LOT. It took the parties involved three to four weeks to arrange the charter flight, Lin’s International said. There would be three more such flights to evacuate Taiwanese from Poland in the near term, the company said. Without the charter flights, the Taiwanese in Poland would have had to travel to Germany by land for more than 10 hours before they could board a flight home, which could increase the risk of infection, it added. The Taoyuan airport a***igned ground personnel and cleaning staff as early as 2am to prepare for the arrival and arranged six buses to take the pa***engers to designated quarantine centers. |
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Most Pop****r |
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1Chinese dredging vessel detained in CGA operation |
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2Blackface rears its ugly face in Taiwan |
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3Kaohsiung voters recall Han Kuo-yu |
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4Taipei easing mask rules on public transportation |
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5Virus Outbreak: Cabinet shares stimulus coupon details |
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Taiwan News |
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Experts urge antibody testing VISUAL CUE: People with masks tend to keep greater social distance than people without masks, as seeing people in masks might increase alertness, an expert said COVID-19 antibody testing should be conducted, and partic****nts at pilgrimages and other large events should still wear masks and wash their hands frequently, public health experts at National Taiwan University (NTU) said yesterday. After the Central Epidemic Command Center on Sunday eased disease prevention regulations, several temples have announced new dates for postponed pilgrimages, and organizers have rescheduled sports events. NTU College of Public Health dean Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權) said that conducting antibody testing on certain groups of people would help the government understand the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and provide a reference to improve precise disease prevention policies, such as estimating demand for vaccines, drugs and healthcare services. Antibody testing is not like ma*** screening to find infected people, but to help understand how the virus spreads and improve evaluations of infection risks among different groups, Chan said. It is being conducted in countries including the US, the UK, Italy, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Israel and Hong Kong, he said. NTU College of Public Health vice dean Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said that more than 7 million confirmed cases have been reported worldwide, but the global mortality rate is being revised downward and the recovery rate has risen to 49 percent. While the situation remains serious in many countries, others are eager to relax controls, Chen said, adding that with pilgrimages and other major events to resume in Taiwan, people should still wear masks and avoid close contact with others, and stay at home if they have flu symptoms. Several clustered infections reported in South Africa in April were at religious gatherings and funerals, where people would share meals, hug and sing, which greatly increases the risk of virus transmission through respiratory droplets, Chen said. Taiwanese should be aware of the risks at such events, he said. An Italian study using wearable social distancing sensors showed an unexpected result — |
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Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage to start after virus delay The Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage is to run from Thursday to Sat****ay next week after it was delayed by nearly three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers said yesterday. The largest annual religious procession in Taiwan, organized by the Jenn Lann Temple (鎮瀾宮) in Taichung’s Dajia District (大甲), was originally scheduled to take place from March 19 to 28, but was postponed after temple chairman Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) consulted with health professionals about infection risks. As the outbreak in Taiwan has stabilized and some restrictions have been lifted, the temple decided to start the procession late on Thursday, vice chairman Cheng Ming-kun (鄭銘坤) said. Organizers would limit procession workers to 800 people, whose names would be recorded and their temperatures checked daily, Cheng told a news conference. Partic****nts must wear masks at all times, said Cheng, who also called for Matsu followers to watch the procession online rather than in person, and urged those with fevers not to attend. The temple canceled an outdoor banquet that typically marks the beginning of the celebration, which was attended by more than 10,000 people last year, Cheng said. The temple was planning to consult with the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) about the pilgrimage, he added. Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is deputy head of the center, said that the temple’s plans follow CECC regulations. Chen also echoed Cheng’s calls for people to follow the procession online and to maintain proper hygiene if they attend in person. The procession celebrates the birthday of the sea goddess Matsu and features the Matsu statue of the Jenn Lann Temple, which wors***pers carry on a palanquin on their shoulders throughout central Taiwan. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gather along the more than 340km route that extends through Taichung, as well as Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi counties. |
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Travel subsidies to begin next month The government would offer subsidies to domestic travelers from July 1 as part of a stimulus package to boost the economy as the nation’s COVID-19 outbreak eases, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. People traveling in tour groups on Taiwan proper would be offered NT$700 (US$23.48) per person per night at a hotel, while those traveling to the outlying counties of Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu would be offered NT$1,200 per person per night, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. The program is to last until Oct. 31. Independent travelers would be offered a subsidy of NT$1,000 per room per night at a hotel, he said. They can register for the program using their national identification cards, he said, adding that each person is limited to receiving a subsidy for one hotel stay. People who travel to outlying counties, as well as Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球), Green Island (綠島) and Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), would be able to register for the subsidies for two hotel stays, Lin said. Foreign residents of Taiwan are not eligible for the subsidies, but foreign nationals who have Taiwanese ID cards are, the ministry said in a statement. Taiwanese born after July 1, 2001, can enter amus*****t parks free of charge from July 1 and Aug. 31, Lin said. Taiwan Tour Bus pa***engers on half-day or one-day itineraries would be eligible for “buy-one, get-one-free” offers, he added. The promotions would apply on weekdays and weekends, he said. The promotions would cost an estimated NT$3.9 billion and are expected to stimulate 6.38 million hotel and park visits, and tour bus trips, Lin said. Additional reporting by Sh****ey Shan |
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Digital tool helps travelers choose safe destinations The Ministry of Science and Technology has launched a digital tool that allows people to see which countries are safe to visit based on the number of COVID-19 infections reported in them. The tool, called “World Social Distancing Pedometer,” shows the number of “steps” by which Taiwan should keep away from each nation. The steps are calculated using the number of infections reported in each country, so the higher the number of cases, the more “social distance” travelers should keep from that place, said the National Center for High-performance Computing, which developed the tool. The tool uses a five-color system to denote travel safety — green, light green, yellow, orange and red — the center said, adding that the data are updated every five minutes. For example, the pedometer on Thursday last week marked Vietnam green, saying that Taiwan should take one “social distancing” step from it, followed by two steps for New Zealand, while the US was marked red, with a recommended 169,000 steps. The pedometer will hopefully help people choose their next travel destination in a safer way, as countries around the world are gradually lifting their travel bans amid the slowing pandemic, including j***an, New Zealand, Australia, Greece and other European nations, it said. The Central Epidemic Command Center has the final say in deciding whether flights between Taiwan and a certain country can be resumed, it added. The pedometer, which went online last month, can be accessed on the center’s Web site at https://covid-19.nchc.org.tw. |
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Lawmaker urges sugar labeling on tea beverages RISK: Many teenagers on average drink one sweetened beverage per day without knowing that it exceeds their daily recommended added sugar intake, Kao Chia-yu said Beverages sold at tea shops should be labeled to display their sugar and calorie content, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) said yesterday. Tea-based drinks are pop****r in Taiwan, but have led to many “chubby kids” and place a severe burden on the national health system amid an increasing number of people with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome, she said. “It is surprising to find out that teenagers in Taiwan on average drink one sweetened beverage per day, but they are not aware that drinking just one serving exceeds the daily recommended level for added sugars,” Kao told a news conference in Taipei. One 700ml cup of pearl milk tea with a full serving of sugar has a sugar content of 62g, which is equivalent to 248 calories, she said. This exceeds the one-10th level recommended by health authorities, meaning that if a person requires a daily intake of 2,000 calories, the calories obtained from sugar should not exceed 200 calories, Kao said. “Excessive intake of added sugars has been shown to result in obesity, as well as increased rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and cancer,” she said. In 2015, 1.4 million people in Taiwan were treated for diabetes, Kao said, adding that the number rose to 1.65 million last year. Teenagers aged 13 to 15 on average consume 6.7 servings of sweetened beverages per week, with half of them having more than seven servings a week and 12.8 percent having one to two servings, while only 6.1 percent said they do not consume any sweetened beverages, she said, citing Health Promotion Administration data. They were followed by teenagers aged 16 to 18, who on average consumed 6.6 servings of sweetened beverages per week, with 52.8 percent having more than seven servings a week and 10.3 percent having one to two servings, while |
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Call for laws barring PRC investment RENEWED PUSH: The government needs to establish an effective oversight mechanism for all Chinese investments coming into Taiwan, the Economic Democracy Union said Legislative amendments are needed to stop further Chinese capital making its way into Taiwan, the Economic Democracy Union said yesterday in a report. During former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, the Measures Governing Investment Permits to the People of the Mainland Area (大陸地區人民來台投資許可辦法) and other regulations opened up the nation’s economy to Chinese investment, and several loopholes created by those measures have yet to be closed, members of the non-governmental organization told a Taipei news conference. On April 26, 2009, the Straits Exchange Foundation and the a***ociation for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits met in Nanjing, China, to work out details of an agreement on Chinese investment in Taiwan, and Ma’s government activated the pact’s arrangements on June 30, the report said. The Measures Governing Investment Permits to the People of the Mainland Area, and the Regulations Governing Permission for People From the Mainland Area to Invest in Taiwan (大陸地區之營利事業在台設立分公司或辦事處許可辦法) took effect a few days later, on July 3, it said. On July 30, legislators added a clause to the Measures Governing Investment Permits to the People of the Mainland Area to include companies that are headquartered outside of China, but in which Chinese investors held a minimum 30 percent of shares. In light of the 2014 Sunflower movement, the US-China technology dispute, China’s information warfare, the worsening situation in Hong Kong, and the change of power in 2016 from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to the Democratic Progressive Party, the government needs to amend laws to limit Chinese investment in the nation, the report said. The government should also establish an effective oversight mechanism for all Chinese investments, it said. Ma’s effort to encourage Taiwan-China economic integration set the nation on a path toward political integration, which the public does not want, as shown by the election of President Tsai |
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Academic warns about Chinese information war Beijing has intensified its information warfare against Taiwan, as new user accounts originating in China are generating discussions by posting malign messages aimed at stirring up animosity and conflict among Taiwanese, an expert on China’s cyberwarfare efforts told a news conference in Taipei yesterday hosted by the Economic Democracy Union. Chinese businesses have infiltrated Taiwan through companies registered in Hong Kong or other countries, and Beijing has used political propaganda and social media manip****tion after every major election in Taiwan since 2018, including Sat****ay’s recall election in Kaohsiung, said Puma Shen (沈伯洋), an a***istant professor at National Taipei University’s Graduate School of Criminology. “China’s main objective is to subvert and destabilize our society, and it has infiltrated Taiwan’s leading social media sites to spread its disinformation campaign,” Shen said. “It spreads fake news and undermines legitimate public discourse, as Chinese netizens have done during protests in the US and in Taiwan, by inflaming hatred among groups to generate hostility and confrontation.” He and his research team have found many new accounts on Facebook, Dcard (a social network site in Taiwan) and other social media that originated from China, or from Chinese accounts registered in other countries, determined based on their use of simplified Chinese characters and online links to friends and sites in China, he said. “These Chinese accounts take advantage of Internet freedom in Taiwan and most other nations, but they target specific groups in Taiwan by inciting hatred and social division, and urging street protests against the government,” he said. The three main ways China uses information warfare to infiltrate Taiwan are installing surveillance systems, collecting personal data and buying politicians, group leaders, YouTubers and other influencers, he said. China has greatly stepped up surveillance around the world though made-in-China networking equipment and apps, including Taiwan, where several agencies and munic****lities are using Hikvision |
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Johnny Chiang calls on Tsai to restrain DPP PARTY IN MOURNING: The KMT must turn sadness into motivation ahead of elections in Kaohsiung, he said, after criticizing what he said was misinformation about Hsu Kun-yuan Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday accused President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of failing to restrain Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members and online supporters from insulting the late Kaohsiung City Council speaker Hsu Kun-yuan (許崑源), who died on Sat****ay night. Hsu’s body was found after he apparently fell from his 17th-floor apartment, just a few hours after Kaohsiung residents voted to recall Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), whom Hsu had strongly supported. Chiang led attendees at a meeting at the KMT’s headquarters in Taipei in a minute of silence for Hsu before the meeting started. Han’s recall and Hsu’s death were two hard pills to swallow for KMT members during a time filled with sorrows, worries and anger, Chiang said. However, while Hsu’s death saddened his supporters and people close to him, a DPP councilor ridiculed his death with inappropriate remarks, Chiang said, referring to comments made by DPP Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) on Sunday on Facebook. Describing Hsu’s death as “horrifying,” Liang added: “Were the bets that high?” — an apparent reference to rumors that Hsu had engaged in underground gambling on the results of the recall election. The post sparked heated online discussions about whether Hsu was involved in any illicit activities, and Liang quickly deleted the post. He has since repeatedly apologized for making “baseless accusations.” Chiang called on Tsai, who is also DPP chairperson, to hold DPP members accountable, and to stop allowing misinformation and slanderous comments surrounding Hsu to spread on the Internet. “How can anyone continue to blacken a person’s name after he died? Is this the democracy of Taiwan? Is this what we want to teach the next generation?” Chiang said. Tsai should launch an investigation into who had made groundless comments through fake accounts, he said. Chiang pledged to carry the KMT through the difficult time, adding that |
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KMT supporters protest over officials’ Facebook posts More than 200 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters yesterday protested outside the office of Taoyuan City Councilor Wang Hao-yu (王浩宇), a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member, angered by his Facebook post about the late Kaohsiung City Council speaker Hsu Kun-yuan (許崑源). Protesters outside Wang’s office in Jhongli District (中壢) said the post made light of Hsu’s death on Sat****ay night, hours after the recall election of Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜). “Staunchly support Han Kuo-yu! Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Hsu Kun-yuan has died after falling from a building,” Wang wrote. DPP Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) has also come under fire for a Facebook post on Sat****ay asking if Hsu’s death was linked to gambling debts. Liang deleted the post and issued an apology later that night. KMT Taoyuan City Councilor Chan Chiang-tsun (詹江村) and former KMT legislator Wu Yu-jen (吳育仁) yesterday called on supporters to protest in front of Wang’s office. Wang had made similar remarks in the past, which showed he was unfit to hold office, Chan said, citing a post about a protester against pension reforms who fell from a building and died in 2018, and a post after former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) died in March. Wang’s office closed for the day, and at about noon the Jhongli Police Precinct erected barricades in front of the office, restricted traffic on the road in front of it to one direction and deployed a large number of officers at the site as a precautionary measure. More than 200 people showed up to protest. After reading condolences for Hsu, some of them began yelling insults at Wang’s office, calling for his recall and throwing eggs at the building. The crowd became agitated after Wu and two others were taken away by police for contravening the Social Order Maintenance Act |
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Exports drop 2% on cheaper oil prices PANDEMIC’S INFLUENCE: Exports of textile products plummeted 35.1 percent, but s***pments of electronic components rose 13.2 percent to a record US$10.24 billion The nation’s exports last month declined 2 percent year-on-year to US$27 billion, as cheaper crude oil prices dampened sales of products heavily reliant on raw materials, overshadowing s***pments of electronic components, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the third straight month the critical economic gauge remained negative and exports might not improve this month or even for the rest of this year, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a news conference in Taipei. “The COVID-19 pandemic continued to weigh on sales of products using raw materials, as seen in a 57.3 percent plunge in exports of mineral products,” Tsai said. Likewise, s***pments of base metals, plastic and chemical products dropped 15.2 percent, 19.9 percent and 15.6 percent year-on-year respectively, the ministry said in a report. Exports of textile products slumped 35.1 percent, the second-worst fall since records began, as inventory remained high amid lockdowns in ASEAN and other markets, Tsai said. However, s***pments of electronic components continued to gain traction, logging a 13.2 percent increase to a record high of US$10.24 billion on fast-growing 5G deployment, as well as remote working and learning, she said. Exports of semiconductors increased 14.2 percent to US$9.2 billion, while those of information and communications products rose 10.9 percent to US$3.95 billion, she said. Remote learning and working from home might continue at many organizations and companies, boosting demand for data centers, servers and laptops, Tsai said. Meanwhile, international technology giants pressed ahead with the launch of 5G wireless gadgets, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, providing business opportunities for local companies in their supply chains, she said. “If the reopening of the economies in Europe and the US goes well, the electronics industry could perform better than expected in the second half of the year,” Singapore-based Barclays Bank PLC economist Angela Hsieh (謝涵涵) said. “The biggest uncertainty comes from US-China relations, |
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Virus Outbreak: Tablet, smartphone sales might hit nine-year low LACK OF DEMAND: Year-on-year, tablet sales are likely to shrink 24 percent, while smartphone sales should decline by 11.4 percent, International Data Corp said Sales of tablet computers and smartphones in Taiwan are expected to fall to the lowest level in nine years as they bear the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday. Smartphone sales are expected to shrink 11.4 percent year-on-year to 5.72 million units this year, after tumbling 18.6 percent annually to 1.35 million units in the first quarter, as the pandemic disrupted supply of new models and added to economic uncertainty, IDC said in a report. The pandemic continues to affect Taiwan’s smartphone sales as consumers are reducing spending and extending handset replacement cycles to ride out the public health crisis, it said. “As smartphones and tablets are heavily dependent on consumers’ demand for growth, those two devices are taking a hit from the pandemic as consumers spent more on anti-pandemic products,” IDC a***ociate research director Joey Yen (嚴蘭欣) said in a statement. Coupled with uncertainty about economic prospects and escalating trade tensions between the US and China, consumers are likely to curtail spending on nonessential items, which would put a drag on replacement demand for smartphones, Yen said. Sales of tablets are expected to contract 24 percent annually to 760,000 units this year, after tumbling 55.9 percent year-on-year in the first quarter on sagging demand and supply chain constraints, IDC said. However, enterprise demand would be robust, with sales of commercial tablets likely to grow at an annual rate of 22.8 percent this year, the company said. Sales of tablets and smartphones are expected to return to growth next year, it added. Meanwhile, sales of PCs in Taiwan are forecast to slide 3.4 percent annually this year, as the pandemic begins to dampen enterprise and consumer demand in the second half, retreating from growth in the first half, IDC said. PC sales were better than expected, increasing 8.2 percent to 555,000 units in |
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Huawei in state of alarm: sources Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) leafy campus in southern China has been engulfed in a state of emergency since the US Department of Commerce last month banned the sale of any silicon made with US know-how — striking at the heart of its semiconductor apparatus and aspirations in fields from artificial intelligence (AI) to mobile services. People familiar with the matter said that its stockpiles of certain self-designed chips essential to telecom equipment would run out by early next year. Executives scurried between meetings in the days after the latest restrictions, one person who attended the discussions said. However, the company has so far failed to brainstorm a solution to the curbs, they said, asking not to be identified as they were talking about private matters. While Huawei can buy off-the-shelf or commodity mobile chips from a third party, such as Samsung Electronics Co or MediaTek Inc (聯發科), it cannot possibly get enough and might have to make costly compromises on performance in basic products, they added. What Huawei’s bra*** fear is that Was***ngton, after a year of Ent**y List sanctions that have failed to significantly curtail the company’s rapid growth, has finally figured out how to quash its ambitions. The latest curbs are the culmination of a concerted a***ault against China’s largest tech company that began years ago, when the White House tried to cut off the flow of US software and circuitry, lobbied allies from the UK to Australia to banish its network gear and persuaded Canadian police to lock up the founder’s daughter. However, the latest measures are a more surgical strike leveled at HiSilicon Technologies Co (海思半導體), the secretive division created 16 years ago to drive research into cutting-edge fields such as AI inference chips. That unit surged in prominence precisely because it is viewed as a savior in |
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Editorials |
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EDITORIAL: Subsidy plans not sufficient With the government yesterday relaxing restrictions on gatherings and easing mask rules, local hotels, travel agencies and retailers are counting on a post-COVID-19 shopping spree after months of low consumer activity. In addition to the NT$50 billion (US$1.68 billion) of Triple Stimulus Vouchers to be issued, the government unveiled a subsidy program worth NT$3.9 billion aimed at increasing tourism spending to NT$23.5 billion. Independent and tour group travelers from next month would be eligible for subsidies for hotel rooms on Taiwan proper, as well as on outlying islands. Last month, hotel bookings soared 50 percent from the same period last year, while tour bookings rose to their highest this year as hotels and travel agencies have been offering deep discounts during the pandemic, statistics from online travel agency ezTravel showed. As international travel is limited, group bookings to Penghu increased 60 percent year-on-year, said Lion Travel Service Co, the nation’s largest travel agency. The strong growth in domestic travel bookings reflects a craving for outdoor activities and social life after a period during which the government had urged people to remain at home, which has helped Taiwan contain the virus’ spread. The question is whether a reactionary spending boom will materialize and whether the pent-up demand will be strong enough to drive the nation’s economy back to pre-pandemic levels. Some economists have warned that a spending binge might be short-lived, as the pandemic might have prompted profound changes to spending habits. The health crisis has heightened risk control among consumers, meaning that they tend to avoid spending on nonessential goods and save more, behavior that might continue even after the pandemic ends. After a brief period of increased shopping, traveling and dining out, people might tend to become conservative over big-ticket spending as the pandemic’s effect on the global economy, and escalating trade tensions between China and |
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US needs official ties with Taiwan Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have blatantly disregarded the agreement between the UK and China that allows autonomy for Hong Kong. The protests going on today in Hong Kong are a direct result of the CCP’s lack of respect for self-determination and rule of law. The mainland government’s actions have demonstrated that the word and commitments of Xi and the Chinese ruling cla*** cannot be trusted by the global community. This is yet another shameful situation for Xi and a self-inflicted wound by the CCP. In 1997, the UK agreed to cede its claim to Hong Kong and return control of the territory to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Part of the handover agreement requires Hong Kong to be an autonomous administrative district with a free market-based economic system for no less than 50 years. Chinese and British leaders agreed upon those terms in good faith, but now the Chinese leaders***p is ready to tear up that agreement. The protests in Hong Kong over the past year are solely the result of Xi and the CCP’s machinations regarding the special administrative region and a lust for authoritarian power. Their goal is to remove any form of democratic governance from within their territorial boundaries. In essence, Beijing has broadcast to the world that “the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party cannot to be trusted.” What does this say about the future relations***p between Taiwan, the Republic of China, and the mainland PRC? Xi and his communists have made threatening overtures stating that Taiwan is part of China and that the PRC will “reunify” the two nations by “draw[ing] blood if necessary.” The idea that Taiwan is a territory belonging to the PRC is inherently false. This notion comes from a vague meeting in 1992 referred to inappropriately as the |
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China misappropriating top t**le “The time has come,” the walrus said, “to talk of many things: of [Presidents, both true and fake] — of cabbages and kings — and why the sea is boiling hot — and whether pigs have wings.” — Apologies to Lewis Carroll. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo congratulated President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on the occasion of her second inauguration and called her “courage and vision in leading Taiwan’s vibrant democracy an inspiration to the region and the world.” It was the highest expression of support for a Taiwanese president ever made by a sitting US secretary of state. US Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger, in fluent Mandarin, and other US officials also sent congratulatory messages. Pompeo and his colleagues all addressed her as President Tsai. Predictably, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expressed its “strong indignation” and said that Pompeo “seriously violated” the “one China” principle and the Three Joint Communiques. It condemned all of the officials’ references to Tsai as president of a separate political ent**y. However, unlike the occasion of Taiwan’s first direct presidential election in 1996, it did not fire missiles toward the island to protest. Former US vice president Joe Biden, the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee, also tweeted congratulations, but seemed to comply at least partially with China’s demands by referring to Taiwan’s newly re-elected leader as “doctor” rather than as president. By happenstance, on the same day as Tsai’s swearing-in, the Was***ngton Post ran a story on the annual meeting of the WHO’s World Health a***embly, which has excluded Taiwan from partic****tion under Beijing’s pressure. The Post article referred to “President Trump” (no Donald) and to “Chinese leader Xi Jinping” (習近平, no president). Even more interestingly, the caption on the montage of photographs accompanying the Post story listed the national heads of state as follows: “Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga ... Chinese leader Xi Jinping, German Chancellor |
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Sports |
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Werder Bremen on brink after defeat ‘DISAPPOINTING’: With four games left, Florian Kohfeldt’s Werder are second from bottom, six points from safety and facing relegation for the first time since 1979-1980 Werder Bremen on Sunday were staring at relegation from the Bundesliga after a 1-0 home defeat to VfL Wolfsburg, while Union Berlin edged toward safety on a day that featured a renewed show of solidarity with the global protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Wout Weghorst headed home the decisive goal for Wolfsburg eight minutes from time to push his team back up to sixth and into the UEFA Europa League spots. The Netherlands international’s 12th league goal of the season came just seconds after Xaver Schlager crashed a shot off the bar and it leaves Werder, the team with the most seasons in the Bundesliga, facing the drop for the first time since 1979-1980. “It is very disappointing, but everything is still possible. We will give everything until the end,” Werder captain Niklas Moisander told DAZN. With four matches left, Florian Kohfeldt’s side are second from bottom, six points from safety and three from the relegation playoff place following back-to-back home defeats. Werder are the league’s lowest scorers with 30 goals and have won just once at home all season, losing 11 times. They travel to bottom side SC Paderborn 07 at the weekend in a match that could be decisive for their survival. They then face league leaders Bayern Munich the following weekend and relegation rivals FSV Mainz 05, who are just outside the drop zone after they won 2-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Sat****ay, three days later. The match began after both teams gathered round the center circle at the Weser-Stadion before dropping to one knee, echoing a gesture made on Sat****ay by Borussia Dortmund and Hertha BSC players, and Mainz midfielder Pierre Kunde Malong. Union Berlin and Schalke 04 players then did the same before their 1-1 draw in the German capital. Favorites to go down in their first ever Bundesliga |
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Unfamiliar homes a new challenge in race for t**le “I’ve missed this place,” Lionel Messi said after stepping onto the Camp Nou gra*** for the first time in three months, but when Barcelona return to action he knows it will not be the same. Instead, La Liga’s frenzied t**le race is to take another step into the unknown when Barca run out into the biggest and emptiest stadium in Europe, after Real Madrid switch to a different home altogether. Two points separate Spain’s greatest rivals ahead of the return to top-flight games on Thursday, when the derby between Sevilla and Real Betis Balompie ends a 93-day hiatus, and launches a five-week sprint to the finish. When matches were suspended on March 12, Real had handed first place back to Barcelona, just after beating them at the Santiago Bernabeu, a seemingly significant s***ft in momentum that lasted exactly a week. Given the many frailties of the two teams, it is difficult to predict who could emerge the stronger for the final 11 games of the season, but a fresh factor would be who adapts better to strange surroundings. Instead of their 81,000-capacity stadium in the city center, under renovation this summer, Real are to play at the 6,000-capacity Estadio Alfredo di Stefano, usually the home of the club’s reserve and under-18 teams, at their training ground in the northern suburbs of the capital. Barcelona are to trade the advantage of Europe’s largest home crowd for the challenge of its most empty arena, where the absence of fans would, in numerical terms at least, feel starker than anywhere else. “It’s the first time we have to play games without the fans,” Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos said earlier this month. “The team that adjusts best to this situation is the one that will win.” For Barca, it will not be the first time. Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, |
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Mayer beats rivals in ‘Garden Clash’ World record holder Kevin Mayer came out on top on Sunday as three of the world’s top decathletes resumed international compet**ion without leaving their training facilities. Mayer, Germany’s Niklas Kaul and Estonia’s Maicel Uibo followed the lead of pole vaulters by taking part in another innovative live-streamed event under the “Ultimate Garden Clash” banner. After winning, Mayer said that it was good to return to compet**ion. “I was stressed all day like I was before a big champions***p. Especially since we’d never done this before, it was a total unknown,” Mayer said by telephone. “I’m the world record holder, so you have to take responsibility for your t**le. I had everything to lose and nothing to gain, so I put a lot of pressure on myself, I didn’t know if I’d be good at it.” Mayer was at a track in Montpellier, France, world champion Kaul indoors in his home town, Mainz, Germany, and Uibo in Clermont, Florida. The constraints ruled out several disciplines, including Kaul’s specialty, the javelin. Instead, the men opened by attempting to clear a pole-vault bar set at 4m as often as possible in 10 minutes. They then put the shot for 10 minutes, scoring for each throw beyond 12m, and finished with a grueling shuttle run, with a point for every lap round two cones placed 20m apart in five minutes. Each man had one helper to keep score and operate the camera, and Mayer missed the start because he was getting a drink. World Athletics denied his request for an extra 25 seconds vaulting, but he still took the lead with 17 clearances, while Uibo managed 15 and Kaul 14. Mayer increased his edge in the shot put, where the compet**ors had to run and retrieve the shot after each effort. He reached at least 12m 28 times, while Kaul scored 22 and |
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Thomas keen to make Test debut in England West Indies paceman Oshane Thomas says that he hopes to make his Test debut in England next month and establish himself in all three cricket formats. Thomas has been named among 11 reserves to accompany the 14-member squad for their three-Test series in England, which is scheduled to take place in Southampton and Manchester, subject to British government approval. “I definitely want to play Test cricket; I want to do well in all three formats,” the 23-year-old right-arm fast bowler told the Jamaican Observer. “Test cricket is really the ultimate that everyone wants to play to be great. You don’t want to just be an average cricketer — you want to be among the greats. I was called up for the England Test tour in the Caribbean [last year] and I didn’t get to make my debut, but hopefully this time around.” Thomas, who has played 20 one-day internationals and 12 Twenty20 internationals, said that he has the backing of West Indies coach Phil Simmons. “He says I can’t be bowling that fast — probably bowling the fastest in the Caribbean — and not play in his Test team,” Thomas said. With international cricket set to come out of its shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Thomas is training at Sabina Park in Jamaica ahead of the tour. “Last week is my first week back bowling on a pitch. I had been doing some little bowling here and there,” Thomas said. “I’m very happy to be back bowling and I’m looking forward to playing Test cricket,” Thomas added. “It’s just up to me as a person. I just need to be fit and ready, and I should be in the Test team.” |
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World News |
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Singapore faces a new, post-COVID future: PM WELL-BEING RISK: Lee Hsien Loong said that countries would fight more over how things are shared, rather than working together to create more to be shared Singapore would not return to the open and connected global economy that existed before the nation went into a partial lockdown two months ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said. Singaporeans will have to prepare for a different, admittedly tougher future with rising unemployment as companies work to cope with slowing demand and movement restrictions from various governments, Lee said in a televised address on Sunday. It was the first in a string of speeches to be delivered by five more ministers in the next two weeks as the nation draws closer to general elections. The city state has benefited from an open global economy, serving as a hub for trade, investment and the financial market, Lee said. “Countries will have less stake in each other’s well-being,” he said. “They will fight more over how the pie is shared, rather than work together to enlarge the pie for all. It will be a less prosperous world and also a more troubled one.” Singapore is spending S$93 billion (US$66.7 billion), or 20 percent of its GDP, as part of its economic response, helping workers stay in their jobs as well as supporting businesses and their employees to cope with the fallout from the virus. Lee said that while the country is able to draw on its reserves and does not have to pay for its support measures by borrowing, this level of spending is hard to sustain “even for us.” The economy is expected to post its biggest contraction since its independence more than 50 years ago. The travel industry, such as airlines and hotels, will likely take a long time to recover from the pandemic as health checks and quarantines will become the norm in the future, Lee said. The disease could remain a problem, as vaccines are unlikely to be widely |
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FEATURE: p****stani efforts to alleviate risk of flooding drag Late last month, residents of the tiny village of Ha***anabad in p****stan’s mountainous Hunza District noticed floodwaters quickly rising in the stream that runs near their homes, carrying water from the towering s***shper Glacier. “The flows became so high that they eroded the land and reached 10 feet [3m] from my family’s home. We evacuated,” said Ghulam Qadir, a resident of the village. The ensuing flood, carrying huge boulders from the melting glacier, demolished the cherry, apricot and walnut orchards many families depend on, and left homes cracked, 16 families in tents and local irrigation and hydropower systems damaged. “The floodwater broke all the retaining walls that were built last year in order to protect the village,” Qadir told reporters by telephone. “Now there is a ravine right next to our houses and we live in dread of another flood.” The area is one of 24 valleys in northern p****stan scheduled to receive warning systems between 2018 and 2022 for glacial lake outburst floods using US$37 million in funding from the Green Climate Fund, but work has been delayed as a result of differences between the partners — the UN Development Programme-p****stan (UNDP) and the p****stani Ministry of Climate Change — as well as by a change of government and now the COVID-19 pandemic, said Ayaz Joudat, national program director for the project. “The delay is partly due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and partly because UNDP-p****stan would not finalize the letter of agreement signed with the Ministry of Climate Change, which would give us oversight over hiring of staff and other matters,” Joudat said. That delay was recently resolved and hiring is to begin at the end of this month with an aim of installing the first early warning systems on glaciers by September, he said. With more than 7,000, p****stan has more glaciers than anywhere |
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