Taiwan’s Lin and Liao win men’s doubles titleStaff writer, with CNATaiwanese paddlers Lin Yun-ju and Liao Cheng-ting on Sunday clinched the men’s doubles title at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Almaty tournament in Kazakhstan after a spectacular 3-2 turnaround win against Swedish pairing Mattias Falck and Anton Kallberg. 24 men’s doubles duo from Taiwan were down two games 7-11, 9-11 to the world No. Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju serves to Ruwen Filus of Germany in the men’s singles final at the World Table Tennis Contender Almaty tournament in Kazakhstan on Sunday. Photo: screen grab from the World Table Tennis Web siteThe left-handed Lin went into the men’s singles as the top seed and world ranked No. 33 Falck 11-7, 7-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-9 in the quarter-finals.

Official says Thailand trip rumors ‘cognitive warfare’CHINESE TACTIC: Rumors that Chen Ming-tong had visited Thailand were intended to cast doubt on the abilities of Taiwan’s security apparatus, an official saidBy Su Yung-yao and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerAn online rumor that National Security Bureau Director-General Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) visited Thailand at taxpayers’ expense in July is “classic cognitive warfare” intended to signal to foreign officials that their whereabouts in Thailand are known to China, a national security official said on Saturday. National Security Bureau Director-General Chen Ming-tong speaks at a legislative hearing in Taipei on May 16. The bureau the same day said details of the post were incorrect, although it did not specify whether Chen visited Thailand. The Twitter account was created only last month and posted six messages before being taken down, a national security official said on condition of anonymity. As for the purpose of Chen’s alleged visit, the official said that Thailand has always been an important international center for intelligence.

Police raid Nantou site, arrest five in drugs investigationBy Chang Juei-chen and Jason Pan / Staff reportersFollowing weeks of careful undercover work, police raided an isolated shack in the mountains of Nantou County, targeting an operation that was allegedly producing illegal drugs, Taichung police official Chen Pu-ching (陳布青) told a news briefing on Thursday. Materials to make drugs were seized, including plastic drums containing more than 200kg of liquid that tests showed was mephedrone and derivative chemicals, Chen said. “Bath salts” are crystals that are mixed with other drugs and packaged in sealed pouches known as “narcotic coffee mix,” Chen said. In April, two men were arrested in possession of such pouches, which were traced to a man surnamed Chou (周), Chen said. Police officials warned that producing and trafficking narcotics and recreational drugs are serious crimes.

Start-up seeks to move shrimp farming inlandBy Aaron Clark / BloombergShrimp are one of the most popular seafoods globally, but farmed production of the crustaceans can have a devastating effect on local habitats — and in some cases the climate. The start-up says its algorithms enable shrimp production in autonomous tanks, which it plans to stack near onshore demand centers such as Las Vegas or Tokyo, eliminating ocean discharge. Vertical Oceans is the latest company aiming to develop more sustainable onshore aquaculture models for core food sources. Venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and SOSV invested a combined US$4 million during Vertical Oceans’ seed round in the middle of last year. Vertical Oceans’ tanks are about the size of a school bus.

The name recalls the way the native Taino people referred to the rolled tobacco leaves they smoked. Expertly handling curved blades and a sticky substance, dozens of workers put the finishing touches on the ends of newly rolled cigars. Another founder, Norma Fernandez, who died during the pandemic, rolled the cigars for the leader of the revolution. Cohiba cigars, which include a wide range of styles, can cost US$30 to US$200 each, in Cuba and abroad. “Cuban tobacco is distinguished from all other kinds by the flavor of the land of Pinar del Rio,” Gonzalez said.

Remembering Soviet imperialismBy Andrzej DudaThe outbreak of World War II, which began on Sept. 1, 1939, with the invasion of Poland by the Nazi Third Reich, is one of the events annually commemorated throughout Europe. However, Sept. 17, 1939, the date of the Soviet Union’s aggression against Poland, is not as widely known. The German sphere of influence was to include western Poland, Lithuania and Romania, while the Soviet control was to extend over eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. As were other nations that fell within the Soviet sphere of influence after Russia’s victory over the Third Reich. Some of them were annexed directly to the Soviet Union as federal states — such was the fate of the Balts, Belarusians and Ukrainians.

Hon Hai, Vedanta to invest US$19.5bn in Gujarat‘USHER IN A NEW ERA’: The venture aims to start manufacturing display and chip products within two years, and would create 100,000 new jobs in the Indian state Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Vedanta Ltd are to invest US$19.5 billion under pacts signed yesterday to set up semiconductor and display production plants in Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Reuters was first to report on Monday that the joint venture obtained subsidies, including on capital expenditure and electricity, from Gujarat to set up units near the western state’s largest city, Ahmedabad. The showpiece investment of 1.54 trillion rupees (US$19.5 billion), which Gujarat said was the largest ever by any group in an Indian state, comes ahead of key local elections in the state where

FSC to tighten rules for local investment firmsBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) plans to tighten its oversight over local investment brokerages to hold company board members accountable if fund managers are found to be involved in fraud or malpractice, the commission said on Thursday. The FSC would stipulate in the Regulations Governing Responsible Persons and Associated Persons of Securities Investment Trust Enterprises (證券投資信託事業負責人與業務人員管理規則) that board members are responsible for supervising fund managers, it told a news videoconference. Given the rise in malpractice cases among fund managers, the FSC increased the maximum fine for such activity to NT$15 million from NT$3 million. The commission would bar people from serving on the boards of two or more securities investment companies to prevent conflicts of interests, Chang said. Although the FSC is generally tightening rules for fund managers, it would relax one rule, allowing them to manage the wealth of their dependent children, it said.

Yuan investors weaken currencyBloombergThe yuan extended declines after breaching the 7 per US dollar level as concerns that the US Federal Reserve might deliver an outsized rate hike next week eclipsed a string of attempts from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to support the currency. People walk past the People’s Bank of China headquarters in Beijing on April 4, 2020. The gap between onshore yuan and the fixing stayed near 800 pips, which was the most since 2020. The yuan is at a 13-year high versus the South Korean won and 29-year high versus the Japanese yen. Moreover, the trade-weighted yuan has remained little changed since last month, a Bloomberg tracker of the CFETS Index showed.

Taiwan Power Co acting chairman Tseng Wen-sheng, center, and president Wang Yao-ting, right, hold a news conference to announce the company’s 10-year plan to enhance its power grids’ resilience. To prevent such ripple effects, Taipower plans to reduce interregional power supply by adjusting power allocation and deploying dedicated microgrids to transmit power directly to industrial users in major science parks, Wang said. Taipower plans to transmit electricity to industrial users in the Hsinchu Science Park from the Tunghsiao Power Plant (通霄電廠) in Miaoli County, while the Taichung Power Plant (台中電廠) would serve users in the Central Taiwan Science Park. The Hsinta Power Plant will supply power to companies in the Southeastern Taiwan Science Park, while the Datan Power Plant (大潭電廠) will be responsible for users in Taoyuan and New Taipei City industrial parks, the company said. To provide stable power supply, Taipower plans to add about 52 new and revamped substations, mostly indoor facilities within the next 10 years.

Deconstructing the Taiwan questionBy Jerome KeatingThe People’s Republic of China (PRC) has no legitimate claim to Taiwan despite the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) constant harping on. The CCP used US of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan as a pretext to demonstrate that it could reach the nation with its missiles, as well as present its innocuous white paper on “the Taiwan question.”The Taiwan question has been around for a long time. The Taiwan question was on my mind when writing five books on Taiwan over the past two decades. What is important is that they know how to manipulate the “true believers” who are the proverbial frogs in a well. In any discussion on Taiwan with “true believers,” the Cairo and Potsdam declarations — 1943 and 1945 respectively — inevitably comes up.

Taiwan hosts lawmakers to push China sanctionsReuters, WASHINGTONRepresentative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) on Tuesday hosted dozens of international lawmakers who back sanctions on China for aggression toward Taiwan, a show of support for Taipei amid military pressure from Beijing. Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters“We will campaign to ensure our governments signal to the PRC that military aggression towards Taiwan will cost Beijing dearly. It added that their countries’ ties to Taiwan were not Beijing’s to determine, and that they would push to increase mutual visits by lawmakers. Sources familiar with the issue have told Reuters that Washington is considering sanctions against China to deter it from invading Taiwan, with Taipei calling on the EU to do the same. An initial version of that bill threatens severe sanctions against China for any aggression against Taiwan, and would provide Taiwan with billions of US dollars in foreign military financing in coming years.

Academy dedicated to the circular economy foundedBy Tung Chen-kuo and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerGovernment partnerships with academia and enterprises are key to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday at the founding of the nation’s first academy dedicated to the circular economy. The National Chung Hsing University Academy of Circular Economy in Nantou County is the first educational institution of its kind to be established in Taiwan and is to play a lead role in the nation’s efforts to tackle the challenges of climate change, the president said. President Tsai Ing-wen, third right, attends the opening of the National Chung Hsing University Academy of Circular Economy in Nantou County’s Jhongsing New Village yesterday. The Nantou campus is in Jhongsing New Village (中興新村), the former seat of the now-defunct Taiwan Provincial Government, university president Hsueh Fu-sheng (薛富盛) said. The Academy of Circular Economy — established under Taipei’s directive to boost industry-university collaboration in key technological fields — would become Asia’s first research institute for new agriculture, digital and green semiconductor technologies, he said.

Focus on building asymmetric combat capability: TPPBy Hung Ching-hsuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe government should prioritize use of its fiscal 2023 national defense budget — estimated at NT$586.3 billion (US$18.98 billion) — on building the military’s asymmetric combat capabilities and procuring more and better equipment, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus said yesterday. Despite racking up NT$1.7 trillion in expenditures for purchasing weapons, more than 70 percent of the military’s equipment is antiquated, he said. Taiwan People’s Party legislators Jang Chyi-lu, center left, and Chiu Chen-yuan, center right, hold a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense should review its arms purchases and see if they align with the military’s aims, Chiu said. President Tsai Ing-wen, center, tours the Army Center of Ordinance Preparation and Development during an inspection of the military’s modernization efforts in Nantou County’s Jiji Township yesterday.

The Foxconn Technology Group logo is pictured atop the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co headquarters in New Taipei City on Aug. 10. Photo: Lam Yik Fei, BloombergThe companies yesterday said the Vedanta-Hon Hai joint venture project would create more than 100,000 jobs in Gujarat. The Vedanta venture aims to start manufacturing display and chip products within two years, Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal told a public event in Gujarat, where an agreement was signed with state officials. Vedanta and Hon Hai would work closely with the state government to establish high-tech clusters with requisite infrastructure, including land, and semiconductor-grade water and power, the statement added. TECHNICAL PARTNERHon Hai, known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) outside of Taiwan, is acting as the technical partner, while oil-to-metals conglomerate Vedanta is financing the project.