Changes in traditional medicineBy Huang Shyh-shyun 黃世勳Recent media reports have again warned that traditional Chinese medicine pharmacies are disappearing and might vanish altogether within the next 15 years. The same perspective should be applied to the evolution of the traditional Chinese medicine sector. To protect the livelihoods of those already engaged in the traditional medicine trade at the time, the law also introduced a “sunset clause” in Article 103, intended solely to safeguard the rights of traditional Chinese medicine vendors operating prior to the 1993 revision. While the number of traditional herb shops has declined, pharmacies that also dispense and retail traditional Chinese medicine have steadily increased — from 3,071 in 2011 to 5,247 last year. Likewise, the number of traditional Chinese medicine retailers managed on-site by pharmacists or assistant pharmacists has risen to 1,392 from 969.

Mexico tariff hike will not impact Taiwan’s chips: Trade officeStaff writer, with CNAA tariff hike to be imposed by the Mexican government will not affect Taiwan-made information and communications technology (ICT) related items such as semiconductors, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday. According to the office, these items, including chips, servers, graphics cards and printed circuit boards (PCBs), represent about 70 percent of Taiwan’s exports to Mexico, so the tariff hike is expected to have limited impact on Taiwanese exporters. During the talks, Taiwan’s representative office presented Mexico with a list of 105 Taiwanese export items for which it sought preferential status, with Taiwanese exporters concerned over the potential impact of the tariff hike. It was agreed that 82 products among the 105 listed will be levied at either the current tariff or a lower tariff, which is expected to stabilize Taiwan’s outbound sales to Mexico, according to the office. According to Kung, Taiwan’s ICT products remain protected by the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which has eliminated all import duties on a wide range of products.

Motion to impeach President Lai placed on agendaBy Sam Garcia / Staff writer, with CNAA motion to impeach President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday was placed on the agenda for a Legislative Yuan meeting on Friday, while opposition lawmakers formally filed a request with the Control Yuan to initiate an impeachment investigation against Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). The Legislative Yuan’s Procedure Committee met yesterday to set the legislative agenda from Friday to Tuesday next week. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party legislators hold placards outside the Control Yuan in Taipei yesterday. If passed, the case would then proceed to the Constitutional Court, where two-thirds of the justices must vote for impeachment. Meanwhile, KMT and TPP lawmakers went to the Control Yuan in Taipei to formally request an impeachment investigation into Cho.

Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei TimesDuring a meeting of the Procedure Committee yesterday, nine members voted in favor of scheduling the budget bill discussion and nine voted against. However, the opposition “is not even allowing the bill to enter discussion,” she said. “This is opposition for the sake of opposition, with no sincerity whatsoever.”The public does not support spending additional funds on weapons, Weng said. The proposed defense spending is in excess of NT$1 trillion, she said, adding that it would be an unbearable burden on the nation’s finances. Apart from the defense budget bill, several other amendments were withheld from the agenda for plenary sessions scheduled from Friday to Tuesday next week.

Ministry acts to ward off China’s arrest threatStaff writer, with CNAThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that it is “taking action” to prevent Taiwanese from facing possible arrest when visiting China-friendly Laos, Cambodia or Belarus. The ministry has beefed up emergency response mechanisms at its overseas offices and is working closely with like-minded countries to counter the threat of China’s “long-arm jurisdiction” tactics, ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) told a news conference at the ministry, without offering details. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei speaks at a news conference at the ministry in Taipei yesterday. Travel warnings for Laos and Cambodia mention extradition arrangements between the two countries and China, but not for Belarus. The expert said that Shen was on China’s wanted list for advocating Taiwanese independence and should be pursued through Interpol and other global judicial assistance channels.

EDITORIAL: Avoid food delivery rules messThe legislature this month passed the initial review of a food delivery platform labor protection bill to safeguard the interests of delivery workers and address ambiguity over pay calculations and protections against labor exploitation. However, proposed minimum pay rules have triggered concern over the likelihood that delivery fees would surge and orders would drop. The bill says that the minimum pay for app-based food delivery drivers must be equivalent to 1.25 times the minimum wage and no less than NT$45 per delivery. However, the changes led to a significant decrease in delivery workers’ pay, reports said. To prevent a surge in delivery fees from reducing order volumes, the government should thoroughly analyze the cost structures in the food delivery supply chain, including platform operators, restaurants and delivery drivers.

South Africa seeks meeting on office: ministryBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterSouth African officials have asked that in-person negotiations be conducted next month regarding the future of Taiwan’s representative office in the nation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Photo: BloombergOn July 21, it renamed and downgraded Taiwan’s main representative office in Pretoria and branch office in Cape Town. The ministry has protested the relocation proposal, citing a 1997 bilateral agreement that allows the Taipei office to operate in Pretoria. “However, considering that the G20 summit was in South Africa last month, we suggested moving the meeting to next month,” Yen said, adding that DIRCO was considering the suggestion. “As a country with sovereignty, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other,” he said.

CDC to offer new vaccines, raise fees next yearRISING COSTS: Starting from March, the cost of shots for children aged six or younger would increase to NT$200, while those to others would rise to NT$150, the CDC saidBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe government is next year to offer new single-dose pneumococcal vaccines, as well as adjuvanted influenza vaccines for some elderly people, while increasing the administration fee for young children, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The Executive Yuan on Thursday last week approved the policy, which includes offering new single-dose pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, CDC Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said. Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei TimesThe Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has agreed that the single-dose vaccines can replace the current two-dose regimens, he said. He said that 150,000 doses of the new single-dose vaccine have been purchased, and would be ready for administering from Jan. 15 in two phases. People aged 65 years or older, indigenous people aged 50 to 64, and people aged 19 to 64 with high risk of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) are eligible for the government-funded single-dose pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, the CDC said.

In the first 11 months of the year, export orders grew 24.2 percent annually to US$666.65 billion, also the largest for the period, the ministry’s data showed. Full-year orders are expected to hit a new high, rising 25.3 percent to 25.6 percent year-on-year to US$738.7 billion to US$740.7 billion, it said. The annual total could exceed US$750 billion when orders this month reach US$83.35 billion, if server makers’ order momentum continues to grow, Huang said. Last month, export orders for electronic components surged 47.9 percent year-on-year, driven by demand for ICs and memory chips for AI and high-performance computing applications, as well as a surge in memory prices, the ministry said. In traditional industries, export orders for plastic and rubber products fell 15.8 percent, orders for base metals dropped 0.5 percent and those for chemical products decreased 12.5 percent, the ministry said.

KMT proposes constitutional ruling bypassREFERENDUM ROUTE: The bill would add rules allowing referendums on Constitutional Court judgements, excluding impeachment rulingsBy Lin Hsin-han and Hollie Younger / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday proposed amendments that would allow rulings of the Constitutional Court to be overturned by a public referendum. Amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) that passed a third reading at the end of last year have paralyzed the Constitutional Court by requiring that 10 justices be present before deliberations begin, while at least nine are needed to declare a law unconstitutional. KMT caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said that President William Lai (賴清德) has spoken of “greater democracy,” asking whether the people should help to decide when conflict arises within the government. There is no precedent worldwide among democratic countries for a public referendum to overturn a constitutional ruling, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said. The KMT is placing direct democracy above the principles of separation of powers and constitutional supremacy, he added.

China Replaces Commanders Overseeing Beijing, Taiwan OperationsBloombergChinese President Xi Jinping installed new military leadership for its central and eastern regions amid an unprecedented purge of the top defense echelons. General Yang Zhibin(楊志斌) has become commander of the Eastern Theater Command, responsible for Taiwan operations, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The former commander of the Taiwan command, Lin Xiangyang(林向陽), was removed in October for violating party discipline and laws. Meanwhile, Wang Qiang(王強), ex-Central Theater Commander, missed a military parade in Beijing in September without reason. Yang, who also has an air force background, was until recently the vice commander of the Eastern Theater Command.

China likely loaded more than 100 ICBMs in silo fields, Pentagon report saysBy Idrees Ali, Jonathan Landay / Staff Reporter, ReutersChina is likely to have loaded more than 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles across its latest three silo fields and has no desire for arms control talks, according to a draft Pentagon report which highlighted Beijing’s growing military ambitions. But the draft Pentagon report, which was seen by Reuters, said Beijing did not appear to be interested. Photo: Reuters“We continue to see no appetite from Beijing for pursuing such measures or more comprehensive arms control discussions,” the report said. In particular, the report said that China had likely put in more than 100 solid-fuelled DF-31 ICBMs in silo fields close to China’s border with Mongolia - the latest in a series of silo sites. The draft Pentagon report did not identify any potential target of the reported newly placed missiles.

Legislature passes amendments to protect railway workersStaff writer, with CNAThe Legislature today passed amendments to the Railway Act (鐵路法) that impose criminal penalties on those who use violence, coercion or threats to obstruct railway personnel while they are carrying out their duties. Under the amendments, such offenses are punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to NT$300,000. The amendments would authorize railway operators to refuse service when there is a risk that passengers could obstruct railway personnel using violence, coercion or threats. The new amendments would also raise fines to deter improper profit-seeking involving train tickets. The amendments today passed their third reading at a legislative plenary session without objections.

Tax exemptions for EVs to be extendedStaff writer, with CNAThe Legislative Yuan today passed amendments to commodity and vehicle license tax laws for electric vehicles (EVs) that would extend an exemption of these taxes for an additional five years. An amendment to the Commodity Tax Act (貨物稅條例) would extend the exemption of the commodity tax for EV purchases, but continue to limit it to a taxable value of NT$1.4 million (US$44,430) per EV, with amounts in excess of that not receiving tax-free status. Photo: Taipei Times file photoAn amendment to the Vehicle License Tax Act (使用牌照稅法) would also extend the exemption of the license tax for another five years. The commodity tax and vehicle license tax exemptions for EVs took effect in January 2011 and in January 2012 respectively, and have been extended several times, the Ministry of Finance said. As of the end of last month, the EV commodity tax exemption had cost the treasury a cumulative NT$28.9 billion, while the EV vehicle license tax exemption had cost the government NT$9.2 billion, the ministry said.

Fines to be raised for using phones, smoking while drivingBy Sam Garcia / Staff writer, with CNAThe Legislative Yuan today passed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) that raise the penalties for certain traffic contraventions. The amendments would raise the fine for using mobile phones, computers or other similar devices to call, text or send or receive data while driving a motorcycle from NT$1,000 to NT$1,200. A scooter driver holds his cellphone while stopped at a traffic light in Taipei on June 8, 2012. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei TimesThe fine for doing that while driving a car is NT$3,000. They would also raise the fine for holding, smoking or lighting a cigarette while driving a car or motorcycle from NT$600 to NT$1,200.