Ann Kao draws ire with remarks
Kao’s remarks were widely seen as belittling Hsinchu-based Chung Hua University as an inferior school to NTU — one of Taiwan’s top schools, from which she holds a master’s degree. From left, Democratic Progressive Party legislators Michelle Lin, Huang Shih-chieh and Wu Yu-chin attend a news conference in Taipei yesterday. After her remarks were widely seen as elitist, she yesterday apologized to Chung Hua University. “Voters in Hsinchu are to choose a mayor who will speak up for them,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokeswoman Huang Tsai-ling (黃彩玲) said. “In past decades, many teenagers could not take university entrance exams, not because they were not smart, but because of their family background, she added.
Source:Taipei Times
September 22, 2022 04:13 UTC
KMT threatens to boycott review of NCC
From right, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lee De-wei, Lai Shyh-bao, Tseng Ming-chung, Alex Fei and Hung Meng-kai attend a news conference in Taipei yesterday. The two cable operators’ applications to move TVBS News surprised industry observers, given the station’s popularity. “The NCC should protect consumers amid disputes between channels and cable system operators per laws and customary practices,” Tseng said. “This is a business dispute and we should leave it to the NCC to decide whether cable operators have reasonable justifications for their plans,” Huang said. Article 55 of the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法) authorizes the commission to arbitrate disputes over broadcasting terms or between cable system operators.
Source:Taipei Times
September 21, 2022 01:48 UTC
Ministry eyes US biotech cooperation
Ministry eyes US biotech cooperationStaff writer, with CNAA visit to the US by a Taiwanese delegation has opened the door to dialogue on cooperation between biotechnology companies, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi speaks at an investment conference in New York last week. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Department of Investment ServicesUnder that model, pharmaceutical companies partner with others in the industry that are categorized as CDMOs to outsource drug development and manufacturing. Potential cooperation between Taiwanese and US pharmaceutical companies could include the development and production of medical consumables and minimally invasive surgical instruments. However, the ministry did not say when the discussions were expected to start or which US companies would be involved.
Source:Taipei Times
September 21, 2022 01:48 UTC
Taiwan’s Lin and Liao win men’s doubles title
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.
Source:Taipei Times
September 20, 2022 08:44 UTC
Official says Thailand trip rumors ‘cognitive warfare’
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.
Source:Taipei Times
September 20, 2022 05:53 UTC
Police raid Nantou site, arrest five in drugs investigation
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.
Source:Taipei Times
September 18, 2022 01:54 UTC
Start-up seeks to move shrimp farming inland
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.
Source:Taipei Times
September 17, 2022 17:35 UTC
Factory that rolled Castro’s cigars still striving for perfect puff
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.
Source:Taipei Times
September 17, 2022 17:35 UTC
Remembering Soviet imperialism
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.
Source:Taipei Times
September 17, 2022 07:52 UTC
Trench conflict
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
Source:Taipei Times
September 17, 2022 03:53 UTC
FSC to tighten rules for local investment firms
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.
Source:Taipei Times
September 16, 2022 23:27 UTC
Yuan investors weaken currency
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.
Source:Taipei Times
September 16, 2022 23:27 UTC
Taipower unveils power resiliency plan
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.
Source:Taipei Times
September 16, 2022 04:07 UTC
Deconstructing the Taiwan question
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.
Source:Taipei Times
September 16, 2022 04:05 UTC
Taiwan hosts lawmakers to push China sanctions
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.
Source:Taipei Times
September 15, 2022 02:25 UTC