Talent shortage hampers military projects: official‘HIGH SALARIES’: Fresh talent is urgently needed in the areas of avionics, shipbuilding, and shipborne weapons and naval platforms design, an official saidBy Lo Tien-pin and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerA shortage of experts has impeded the development of the military’s indigenous submarine prototype, an advanced trainer jet and an F-16 modernization program, a Ministry of National Defense official said on Friday. The official made the remarks on condition of anonymity amid an initiative by the ministry to recruit more foreigners with technical expertise to work in Taiwan’s defense sector. A model submarine is displayed in the lobby of shipbuilding company CSBC Corp’s headquarters in Kaohsiung on Dec. 29 last year. However, the ministry would try to make their employment packages as attractive as possible, the official added. Also exempt would be specialists with five years of experience in shipborne weapons, equipment and platform design, including performance, structure, propulsion, electrical systems, command and control, auxiliary machinery and outfitting, the document showed.

They probably hoped to sell the pieces for cash, as they were the handiwork of Chiang Hsin (蔣馨), whose relatives and disciples left their mark across Taiwan’s many temples and traditional structures. This photo shows the Huang family grave with the stone carvings adorning the headstone. This photo shows a recovered piece of stone carving from the Huang family gravestone. Chiang Hsin first came to Taiwan to fix Lukang’s famed Tianhou Temple. Chiang won the bid for the Tianhou Temple project and recruited several of his clansmen, including Chiang Mei-shui, to help him.

Taiwanese detained at Turkey airport over betel nutsBy Wu Su-wei / Staff reporterSeveral Taiwanese were detained in Turkey after allegedly taking betel nuts into the country, which regards them as containing illegal drugs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. The Chinese Consulate-General in Istanbul on Thursday said in a statement that Chinese and Taiwanese were detained upon arrival in Turkey for carrying betel nuts. A person holds a handful of betel nuts in Pingtung County on July 4. People who travel to Turkey must not take betel nuts, as they would be infringing on local laws, she added. While Turkey’s criminal code does not stipulate a specific ban on betel nuts, authorities list products as prohibited articles if they contain arecoline hydrobromide.

Voucher details being reviewed, no decisions yetBy Lee Hsin-fang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Presidential Office late on Friday denied some local media reports that upfront payments for a planned “quintuple stimulus voucher” program would be waived for the entire nation, saying that the plan was still under discussion. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) acknowledges the different opinions regarding stimulus vouchers, Chang said, adding that she would discuss the plan and possible changes with Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌). A woman holds up Triple Stimulus Vouchers on Jan. 7. Tsai expects that this year’s voucher program will be designed with input from different sides, Chang said. Last year, members of the public could acquire Triple Stimulus Vouchers worth NT$3,000 for NT$1,000.

Taichung official criticizes stagnation with aquarium not open after a decadeBy Tang Tsai-sheng and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerAn aquarium in Taichung’s Cingshui District (清水) that started development more than a decade ago under then-Taichung mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) still has no animals and has not opened, Taichung City Councilor Yang Tien-chung (楊典忠) said on Sunday. Under Hu, the aquarium was initially envisioned as a penguin conservation center and later an Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin conservation center, Yang said. “When Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) became mayor, the city pushed for its development as a jellyfish conservation center, and then as an all-purpose aquarium,” Yang said. The initial construction budget was NT$350 million (US$12.56 million), which was increased to NT$570 million when Lin decided that it should be an all-purpose marine conservation center, Yang said. “Following several unsuccessful attempts to find a bidder for the build-operate-transfer project, Nan Ren Hu in July stepped in after adjustments were made to the contract,” he said.

COVID-19: Upfront fee for vouchers might be done away withBy Lee Hsin-fang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Executive Yuan yesterday signaled that it might do away with an upfront payment in its planned quintuple stimulus voucher program, as differentiating between who would qualify to have the NT$1,000 buy-in waived might cost too much to administer. Envelopes of Triple Stimulus Vouchers from a program last year are pictured in an undated photograph. Moreover, determining who is eligible to have the fee waived becomes more complicated with each condition, leading to enormous administrative costs, Su said. Last year, an upfront payment of NT$1,000 was exchanged for NT$3,000 of vouchers. The quintuple stimulus voucher program plan is for NT$5,000 of vouchers.

COVID-19: Group launches ‘I Support Taiwan Vaccine’ campaignBy Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with CNAFormer members of the Wild Lily student movement on Thursday launched an “I Support Taiwan Vaccine” campaign, urging people to register to receive locally produced COVID-19 vaccines. Former members of the Wild Lily student movement at a news conference in Taipei on Thursday hold placards calling for people to support the development of domestic COVID-19 vaccines. The Central Epidemic Command Center on Wednesday said that on Aug. 23, a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp would become part of Taiwan’s inoculation program. The FDA authorized the vaccine because those given it had neutralizing antibodies that compared favorably to those generated in people given AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, a concept known as immunobridging. National Taiwan University Graduate Institute of Journalism director Hung Chen-ling (洪貞玲) said that the I Support Taiwan Vaccine campaign aims to boost support for Medigen’s product and other domestic vaccines still in development.

Local semiconductor output is now projected to grow 24.7 percent from a year earlier to NT$4.01 trillion, the market information advisory unit of the Industrial Technology Research Institute said. IEK had in May forecast that output this year would increase 18.1 percent to NT$3.8 trillion. The IEK forecast that the local semiconductor industry would see quarterly increases in shipments in the second half of the year, paving the way for robust full-year growth in output. Among the four major segments of the semiconductor industry, IC design reported the highest sequential growth of 17.9 percent to NT$306.9 billion, IEK data showed. The IEK forecast that the four major IC segments would see a combined output of NT$1.05 trillion in the third quarter, up 6.8 percent from the previous quarter.

Amnesty concerned about electronic ID card securityLACKING SAFEGUARDS: Taiwan lacks cybersecurity mechanisms for an eID program, a critic said, while an Estonian hack saw 300,000 ID photographs stolenBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterAmnesty International Taiwan yesterday called for the establishment of a dedicated oversight body for the government’s planned electronic identification card (eID) program, citing potential privacy and security concerns. The NT$3.3 billion (US$118.45 million at the current exchange rate) eID program was initiated by the Ministry of the Interior to replace national IDs with cards containing electronic chips that store personal information. Along with calling for new cybersecurity laws and an independent regulatory body to oversee the program, Chiu and others demanded that the government allow people the choice to continue using traditional IDs. New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said the scheme must consider privacy concerns and potential human rights issues. “The current laws and regulatory bodies are insufficient for security protection and safety for use of eIDs,” he said.

Nineteen eateries join this year’s Bib Gourmand listBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterNinety-one restaurants and street vendors in Taipei and Taichung made the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list this year, including 19 that were listed for the first time, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday. This year’s edition, with both the eateries awarded Michelin stars and the Bib Gourmand list, is to be officially released online on Aug. 25. The Bib Gourmand list would usually be announced prior to the guide’s official release. The Gulu Gulu Aboriginal live music restaurant in Taichung’s West District is pictured in an undated photograph. The Taichung restaurants and street vendors appearing in the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list this year are pictured in an undated illustration.

Taiwan, US hold first online coast guard discussionsBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterTaiwan and the US yesterday held the first coast guard working group meeting to discuss joint missions at sea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The videoconference was convened in line with a memorandum of understanding signed on March 25 that established a joint coast guard working group, the ministry said in a statement. Patrol vessel the Chiayi is pictured in Kaohsiung on April 29, the day the ship was handed to the Coast Guard Administration. Photo: CNADuring the meeting, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and the US Coast Guard exchanged opinions over maritime law enforcement, including fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities, and joint search and rescue missions, the ministry said. The meeting came after media reports on Tuesday said that Taiwan and US coast guard personnel had conducted a joint drill off the coast of Hualien County, reports that the CGA denied.

Dad gets 10 years in gas station deathBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterThe Kaohsiung branch of the Taiwan High Court yesterday handed a heavier, 10-year sentence to a man after his three-year-old daughter died from an air pump at a gas station. The High Court found Kuang guilty of deliberately causing injury to a child resulting in death. The incident took place in January 2019, when Kuang drove to a gas station in Kaohsiung for the self-service car wash, as his daughter sat in the front passenger seat. He was found guilty of failing to look after the girl and allowing her to play with the air pump. The High Court ruled that Kuang had directly caused the girl’s death, most likely by putting the air nozzle in her mouth.

Sports Administration Director-General Chang Shao-hsi sits alone on a July 21 flight to Tokyo to attend the Olympic Games. That arrangement was necessary to allow social distancing between the athletes, which would not have been possible in business class, as there are only 36 seats in that section, it said. It flew all Taiwanese athletes in business class on their return from Tokyo after the Games. After submitting his request to resign, Chang was told to first go to Tokyo to handle matters related to the athletes. DPP caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said that somebody has to take full responsibility for letting athletes sit in economy class, as it was a mission handed down by the president and the premier.

A teacher attends an online English class from her home in New Taipei City on May 19. In the first half of the year, the computer and IT services sector posted record combined revenue of NT$209.2 billion, up 12.4 percent year-on-year, the ministry said. The computer programming industry’s revenue rose 11.3 percent from a year earlier to NT$157.1 billion, while the IT services industry increased by 15.8 percent to NT$52.1 billion, it said. However, the technical support and professional services sector’s revenue declined 1.1 percent from a year earlier to NT$74.1 billion, the ministry said. Overall, the technical support and professional services sector reported first-half revenue edging up 0.4 percent to NT$144.6 billion, the ministry added.

Department of European Affairs Deputy Director-GeneralKendra Chen attends a news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei yesterday. Department of European Affairs Deputy Director-General Kendra Chen (陳詠韶) told an online news briefing yesterday that the ministry has twice urged the office to ensure that the divers can enter Cyprus and participate in the competition. “The case is pertinent to national dignity and people’s rights,” and the ministry would do its best to ensure the divers join the competition, she said. The divers are communicating with the ministry in the hope that they can enter Cyprus and join the competition, he said. To ensure that the divers can enter Cyprus, the association might suggest that they identify as coming from China and undergo PCR testing before their flight, he said.