EDITORIAL: Politics’ #MeToo moment beginsEven though the #MeToo movement was started by US activist Tarana Burke in 2006, Taiwan’s political world has just begun to see its first #MeToo reckoning. The #MeToo movement gained traction when a former gymnast accused a former coach of sexual assault while she was a junior-high student. In response, different parties have unanimously condemned sexual harassment and vowed to mete out penalties if the accusations proved to be true. The mindset of the women who lived through these movements is different from the previous generation — and they refuse to put up with grievances such as sexual harassment. However, as Taiwan’s #MeToo movement has coincided with the election season, there are concerns that it could be used by political parties to trade accusations, and fail to trigger far-reaching reforms.

Lai apologizes to sex abuse victims#METOO MOVEMENT: A woman who formerly worked at the TPP said that she was repeatedly harassed by a party deputy secretary last year and it was covered up Vice President and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman William Lai (賴清德) yesterday announced new party procedures for filing complaints and investigating reports of sexual misconduct in response to more accusations of negligence against the party in handling reports of sexual abuse. In what local media dubbed Taiwan’s #MeToo movement, more people went public yesterday with allegations about the DPP, other parties and local governments. Lai said he deeply regrets the situation and apologized to the victims, while also praising them for having the courage to come forward. “When facing bullying and violations in the workplace, it is most important to stand up toBy Jason Pan

Taiwan should ‘hide’ military assets for protection: expertBy Wu Su-wei and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerTaiwan would likely be targeted by Chinese precision missile strikes in the event of a war and should disperse its military assets to prevent their destruction, Institute for National Policy Research senior consultant Chen Wen-jia (陳文甲) said yesterday. Military units could be “hidden” among the public during peacetime and deployed to the field in the event of a conflict, Chen said. The military could use mountainous areas, bridges, culverts, factories and underground facilities to hide its assets. It said that China’s Dong-Feng 15C ballistic missile is capable of striking reinforced underground targets such as command centers, and fuel and munitions reserves. The article suggested that missile defense systems should go hand-in-hand with passive defense systems, such as reinforced concrete, to mitigate threats posed by penetrating weapons.

Taiwan faces its #MeToo momentBy Samuel Tung 董昱輝The #MeToo movement was started by activist Tarana Burke, who coined the term in 2006. However, it gained traction in 2017, when actress Alyssa Milano urged victims of sexual harassment and assault to share their stories on social media. This provides an opportunity to assess and expel unfit politicians, and address social issues such as gender inequality and the abuse of power. In the #MeToo movement, victim-blaming should be the last thing on people’s mind. Perhaps this is a God-given opportunity for Taiwan to tackle sexual inequality and the abuse of power prevalent in the workplace by incorporating sexual issues into the curriculum or making legal amendments.

Ministry aims to quadruple total green electricity mixBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Economic Affairs aims to quadruple the nation’s share of electricity from renewable sources to 90 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) by 2030, it said yesterday, as a growing number of local enterprises set goals to achieve carbon neutrality. The world’s biggest contract chipmaker joined the global corporate renewable energy initiative RE100 in 2020, committing to use only electricity from renewable sources by 2050. Only 10 percent of the electricity available for local businesses is sourced from renewable energy, he said. The chipmaker purchased 900 million kWh of electricity from renewable sources last year, Liu said. About 120 companies sourced 2.55 billion kWh of renewable energy last year, it said.

EDITORIAL: China needs to be put in its placeChina is demonstrating “growing aggressiveness” through repeated close encounters with US military aircraft and vessels, the White House said on Monday. Second, the US is understandably concerned about the free passage of cargo vessels through international waters in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. Third, the close intercepts by China occurred in international waters — more than 12 nautical miles (22km) from a country’s shore — and regardless of whether Bejing recognizes those international waters, every other country with interests in the region does. Perhaps China has forgotten the lessons of World War II: Things did not end well for the aggressors, and they would not end well for China either if it attempts to impose itself on other countries. Only through a coordinated and unambiguous response from the international community would China get the message that its aggressions will not be tolerated.

Vietnam province vows power for global firmsBLACKOUTS: Searing summer temperatures are straining the nation’s power grid and thousands of factories have been forced to curb their consumption of electricityBloombergVietnam’s northern province of Bac Giang, home to suppliers for Apple Inc and other global electronics companies, has promised daytime power to factories as blackouts sweep the nation. Outages have hit industrial parks in some northern provinces including Bac Giang and Bac Ninh, state utility Vietnam Electricity Group’s northern unit has said. Canon Inc’s factory in Bac Ninh Province faced an outage from 8am on Monday to 5am yesterday, the unit said. Soaring power usage in northern Vietnam is expected to continue this month amid intense heat, it said. Bac Ninh People’s Committee Chairman Le Anh Duong urged companies to arrange shifts for the efficient use of power.

Eswatini to keep standing with TaiwanDEEPENING TIES: Taiwan built a modern hospital in Eswatini, helped save lives and brought electricity to remote regions, Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku saidBy Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporterVisiting Eswatini Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku vowed to continue standing with Taiwan and support the nation’s international participation during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday. Taiwan can contribute greatly to the world and Eswatini would continue to speak up for Taiwan and support its inclusion in international organizations, global forums and the UN system, he said. The warm and reciprocal relationship between Eswatini and Taiwan has lasted for more than a half-century, he said, adding that his country would keep working with Taiwan to overcome difficulties. Masuku’s trip came after a visit by Eswatini Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini in March and by King Mswati III in October last year, which “fully demonstrates the importance Eswatini attaches to the friendship with Taiwan,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Eswatini has long been a vocal supporter of Taiwan on the global stage, it said, adding that Eswatini Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi urged the WHO to include Taiwan at the World Health Assembly last month.

President touts military reforms during her termStaff writer, with CNAPresident Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday outlined a number of military reforms achieved during her seven-year presidency at a ceremony to promote 27 senior military officers. At the conferral ceremony at the Ministry of National Defense’s Taipei headquarters, Tsai said that since taking office in May 2016, she has launched a series of military reforms to boost the armed forces’ ability to defend national security. President Tsai Ing-wen, front, left, attends a conferral ceremony at the Ministry of National Defense in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNAThe president also thanked the promoted officers for their tireless efforts, and urged them to continue to exercise their leadership in their new roles to improve training and nurture talent in the nation’s armed forces. “Together let us modernize and professionalize our troops for national security reasons and show the world our determination to safeguard our country,” Tsai said.

US’ Austin eyeing upgraded India ties to counter ChinaAP, NEW DELHIUS Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin yesterday discussed upgrading the partnership with India, a major arms buyer, and set a road map for cooperation for the next five years as both nations grapple with China’s economic rise and increased belligerence, officials said. Austin and Indian Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh explored ways of building resilient supply chains, a statement from the Indian Ministry of Defence said. Indian Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh, left, shakes hands with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin before his ceremonial reception at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi yesterday. “I’m returning to India to meet with key leaders for discussions about strengthening our Major Defense Partnership. Together, we’re advancing a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Austin wrote on Twitter after his arrival in New Delhi on Sunday.

“The outlook for the second quarter remains unchanged from earlier guidance.”Revenue would drop quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year during the April-June period, as demand usually softens during production transitions, it said. Server demand from the enterprise side was weak, but cloud-service providers such as Google and Amazon.com continued to show resilient demand, Liu said. Hon Hai expects demand for its consumer electronics to decline sequentially this quarter, he added. Demand for its cloud, networking and computing products would be flat on a quarterly basis, whereas demand for components and other products would grow sequentially, he added. During the first five months, Hon Hai accumulated NT$2.34 trillion in revenue, falling 2.08 percent from NT$2.39 trillion during the same period last year.

Heat surge past Nuggets to level FinalsDIGGING DEEP: After being dominated in Game 1, Miami reasserted themselves with an early lead, leaving Denver coach Malone ‘perplexed’ at his own team’s performanceAFP, DENVERThe Miami Heat on Sunday handed the Denver Nuggets their first home defeat of the playoffs, surging in the fourth quarter for a 111-108 victory that leveled the NBA Finals at one game apiece. The Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo, right, reacts after a play, as the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic walks past in Game 2 of the NBA Finals at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, on Sunday. “This is NBA Finals, we are talking about effort. “This is the NBA Finals. That’s what this league is, that’s what this game is, make-or-miss game, make-or-miss league,” he said.

Qualcomm says AI needs more power than the cloudBIG MARKET: As growth in the number of devices and data traffic accelerates, it will not be possible to send everything to the cloud, a Qualcomm executive said Qualcomm Inc is betting the future of artificial intelligence (AI) will require more computing power than what the cloud alone can provide. The world’s largest maker of smartphone processors is transitioning from a communications company into an “intelligent edge computing” firm, Qualcomm senior vice president Alex Katouzian said. The edge in question is the mobile device that a user taps to access a network or service, and Katouzian used his time headlining one of the major keynote events at the Computex show in Taipei to make the case for how big a market that would be. The US company’s chips help smartphones harness

JPMorgan turns to blockchain for US$ trades in India hubBloombergJPMorgan Chase & Co has tied up with six Indian banks to introduce a blockchain-based platform to settle interbank dollar transactions in the nation’s newest international financial hub. The move would provide a further fillip to New Delhi’s attempt to position GIFT City as an alternative trading center to Singapore and Dubai. The Reserve Bank of India has started a domestic non-deliverable forward market settled in dollars at GIFT City. “By leveraging blockchain technology to facilitate transactions on a 24x7 basis, processing is instantaneous and enables GIFT City banks to support their own time-zone and operating hours,” Kulkarni said. The pilot project was scheduled for launch yesterday, using JPMorgan’s blockchain platform Onyx, after approval from the International Financial Services Center Authority.

The RCEP is mainly composed of ASEAN member countries with the main goal of reducing tariffs and eliminating trade barriers. The Washington-led regional economic initiative was formally established in Tokyo in May last year, an indication that the US wants to deepen its integration with the Indo-Pacific region by collaborating with its democratic partners. The Cabinet’s Office of Trade Negotiations views the initial trade agreement between Taiwan and the US as the first fruit of the most wide-ranging and comprehensive trade negotiations conducted by Taipei and Washington since 1979. It would also provide Taiwan with more opportunities to take part in regional trade blocs, including the CPTPP, the office said. The government could also use the initiative as a stepping stone toward signing bilateral trade agreements with other countries, and therefore avoid marginalization.