Visit to enhance economic ties: Slovak delegation
Visit to enhance economic ties: Slovak delegationBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterTaiwan is the global leader in semiconductors and Slovakia’s second-largest investor from Asia, a delegation of Slovak officials said yesterday, adding that the visit is economic — and not political — in nature. “Taiwan is an important part of our future economic diplomacy,” Lucia Kiss, director-general of economic and development cooperation at the Slovak Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, told a news conference at the Sherwood Taipei. Lucia Kiss, left, director-general of the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs looks on as Slovak Second State Secretary of Ministry of Economy Karol Galek, center, speaks during a news conference in Taipei yesterday. “This visit is an economic one, not a political one,” and is a continuation of our cooperation since 2003, she said. Slovakia is also eyeing further cooperation with Taiwan in space technology, such as developing small satellites, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 10, 2021 21:35 UTC
US restricts arms to Cambodia
US restricts arms to CambodiaCHINESE INFLUENCE: A US embargo on arms exports took effect yesterday to protect national security as ties grow between Cambodia and the Chinese militaryAP, BANGKOKThe US has ordered an arms embargo on Cambodia, citing deepening Chinese military influence, corruption, and human rights abuses by the government and armed forces in the Southeast Asian country. Photo: APThe aim of the embargo is to ensure that defense-related items are not available to Cambodia’s military and intelligence services without advance review by the US government, it said. The US is the largest export market for Cambodia, a major garments manufacturing hub, but three-quarters of Cambodia’s imports are from China and other countries in Asia. The US halted military assistance to Cambodia following a 1997 coup in which the country’s leader, Hun Sen, grabbed full power after ousting his joint prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Hun Sen remains prime minister.
Source:Taipei Times
December 10, 2021 04:07 UTC
Wedding season sends gold demand in India soaring
Wedding season sends gold demand in India soaringBloombergGold consumption in India would probably be the best in at least a decade in this quarter, as buyers stocked up for festivals last month and the peak wedding period that followed, the World Gold Council (WGC) said. Indians buy gold ornaments to wear and gift during weddings as the precious metal is considered auspicious, and a bringer of luck and prosperity. Almost every day there are weddings,” WGC India head P.R. Gold jewelry is pictured on a counter inside a store in Mumbai, India, on Nov. 2. With very little mining and modest levels of recycling, India is heavily reliant on bullion imports to meet domestic demand.
Source:Taipei Times
December 10, 2021 01:00 UTC
TRA’s Sumitomo lawsuit over derailed train tossed
6432 in 2018 and does not need to pay compensation to the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), the Taipei District Court said yesterday. Photo: Wang Meng-lun, Taipei TimesThe TRA’s lawsuit said that the derailment occurred because of an ill-designed air compressor and a missing connection between the automatic train protection (ATP) and telemonitoring systems. It was seeking compensation from Sumitomo for the casualties caused by the derailment, as well as for damage to the train, railway facilities and its business, the TRA said. “The telemonitoring system, which monitors the ATP system, is not designed to slow down a train or reactivate the ATP when it is turned off,” the manufacturer said. On Oct. 18, the Yilan District Court sentenced train driver Yu Chen-chung (尤振仲) to four years and six months in jail for negligence leading to the crash.
Source:Taipei Times
December 10, 2021 00:59 UTC
Preserving Taiwan’s languages through social media
“As a foreigner, I don’t face that directly, but when I’m with people who speak Taiwanese, I see it.”A-iong is one of a growing number of social media content creators who are promoting Taiwan’s struggling non-Mandarin languages that were suppressed for decades by the government. While attitudes and policy are changing, stereotypes or the lack of resources make preserving these languages a challenge. “Mintamasaz” means “cheer up” or “be strong” in the Bunun language. Umav Ispalakan’s Facebook page featuring Bunun language illustrations has become a conduit to present deeper issues such as cultural identity, Aboriginal rights and persistent stereotypes. Photo courtesy of Umav Ispalakan“Their first reaction was to reply in Mandarin, but I kept telling them, speak the language, speak the language,” she says.
Source:Taipei Times
December 09, 2021 00:58 UTC
Property firm Kaisa suspends trading
Property firm Kaisa suspends tradingCONFIDENCE CRISIS: It is the second time in the past month that the debt-ridden firm has suspended trading and comes on the heels of China Evergrande missing a paymentAFP, HONG KONGChinese property firm Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd (佳兆業集團) yesterday suspended share trading in Hong Kong as questions swirl over its ability to make repayments and contagion spreads within the nation’s debt-ridden real-estate sector. Kaisa, China’s 27th-largest real-estate firm in terms of sales, but one of its most indebted, became the latest company to spook investors when it announced on Friday that it had failed in a bid for a debt swap that would buy it crucial time. Photo: AFPIt is the second time the company has suspended trading in the past month. The most indebted Chinese property firm is China Evergrande Group (恆大集團), which set off the current confidence crisis earlier in the summer. Wealthy owners of at least seven Chinese real-estate companies have also sold off some of their own luxury assets in the past few weeks to help prop up their firms, Bloomberg added.
Source:Taipei Times
December 09, 2021 00:56 UTC
Cryptocurrencies, payments, debit cards Visa’s focus
Cryptocurrencies, payments, debit cards Visa’s focusBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterVisa Taiwan Co (台灣威士卡) is to focus on providing new cross-border payment solutions, issuing debit cards for young people and collaborating with the cryptocurrency sector to boost its competitiveness, general manager Michelle Jao (趙麗芳) said yesterday. Visa Taiwan Co general manager Michelle Jao attends a news conference in Taipei yesterday. The issuance of debit cards has risen at a double-digit rate this year, Jao said, adding that hopefully more young people would use Visa’s other payment tools as well. Meanwhile, Visa has collaborated with more than 50 crypto wallets or trading platforms worldwide to allow people to buy cryptocurrencies with their Visa cards, Jao said. The value of cryptocurrency-related transactions made with Visa cards surpassed US$1 billion in the first half of this year, she said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 08, 2021 01:01 UTC
Consumer prices for last month rise 2.84%
Consumer prices for last month rise 2.84%‘NO INFLATION’: A DGBAS official said that prices are likely to taper off, as tariffs on imported beef, wheat, cement and other items have been brought downBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterConsumer prices last month rose 2.84 percent from a year earlier to the highest in nearly nine years with almost every consumption category becoming more expensive amid soaring fuel and food prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. It is the sixth time this year that the inflationary gauge has exceeded the 2 percent alarm, but the agency reiterated that consumer prices remained stable and would subside this month. “Consumer prices would likely taper off this month after the government lowered tariffs on imported beef, wheat, cement and other items,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) said. Photo: CNARising cases of infection with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 abroad have cast a shadow over the global economy and put a damper on international oil prices, Tsao said. Living costs increased 1.6 percent owing to rent hikes and higher home repair costs, the agency said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 07, 2021 22:12 UTC
New rules limit travel for Chungshan Institute staff
New rules limit travel for Chungshan Institute staffBy Aaron Tu and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerNew regulations governing international travel for Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology personnel would take effect “in the coming days,” a source said on Sunday. The institute president, vice president or supervisors of units under the board of directors would need permission to travel from the minister of national defense, the source said. Supervisors and directors who need to travel abroad on business related to the institute would need permission from the institute’s chairman of the board, and level-one supervisors would need permission from the institute president, the source added. Institute employees would be prohibited from traveling to, or transiting through, China, the source said, adding that border officials would share the employees’ travel data with the National Immigration Agency and the military. The majority of weapons in the Executive Yuan’s procurement plan for the special budget are anti-ship and anti-air missile systems being developed by the institute, the source added.
Source:Taipei Times
December 07, 2021 03:59 UTC
Next pandemic could be more lethal: AZ creator
Next pandemic could be more lethal: AZ creatorThe GuardianThe COVID-19 pandemic that has so far killed more than 5 million people worldwide is far from over and the next one could be even more lethal, the creator of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine has said. Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford, poses with her Barbie doll in her office at the university in Oxford, England, on Aug. 2. Photo: EPA-EFE“This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods,” she said. “The truth is, the next one could be worse. “We cannot allow a situation where we have gone through all we have gone through and then find that the enormous economic losses we have sustained mean that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness,” she said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 07, 2021 03:58 UTC
Ian Easton On Taiwan: Miracles vs Menace
Ian Easton On Taiwan: Miracles vs MenaceDo you remember where you were last year at this time? President Joe Biden has said in recent weeks that Taiwan is independent, and America will defend Taiwan if China attacks. The legacy of Washington’s troubled Taiwan policy makes it difficult for the US government and military to get ready to defend Taiwan. His volumes on World War One and World War Two repeatedly recount the story of an old man in his twilight, reflecting on his life story. Ian Easton is a senior director at the Project 2049 Institute and author of The Chinese Invasion Threat: Taiwan’s Defense and American Strategy in Asia.
Source:Taipei Times
December 06, 2021 04:12 UTC
Navy mulls construction of eight light patrol ships
Navy mulls construction of eight light patrol shipsBy Wu Su-wei and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe navy is reportedly considering building eight light patrol ships with displacements between 2,000 and 2,500 tonnes amid a delay in plans to update the nation’s fleet of guided missile frigates. First are destroyers and patrol vessels led by a captain, followed by patrol ships larger than 1,000 tonnes led by a commander and smaller patrol boats led by a lieutenant commander. However, ships fitting the second category are no longer in commission, requiring 500-tonne Ching Chiang-class patrol boats to assume the duties previously assigned to 1,000-tonne vessels. If it wants to build light patrol ships, they cannot be “super warships” equipped with a full suite of capabilities, he added. After all, modern patrol ships without vertical launch systems to fire anti-aircraft missiles or phased array radar could hardly stave off a saturation attack, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 06, 2021 03:54 UTC
Minister defends policy to keep bayonet drills
Minister defends policy to keep bayonet drillsMARTIAL ART? Chiu said that he agrees with Hsu’s bayonet training policy, adding that the drills build up the mental and physical conditioning of soldiers. Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Chang Yuan-hsun (章元勳) said that bayonet drills are carried out within the time allotted to units for training. A retired general who requested anonymity on Thursday said that public interest in the bayonet policy is evidence that the nation is paying attention to the threat from China. “Bayonet drills are necessary for the individual soldier to wield the weapon effectively to complete their mission,” they said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 05, 2021 04:11 UTC
Oil posts longest run of weekly losses since 2018
Oil posts longest run of weekly losses since 2018BloombergOil slid for a sixth straight week, marking the longest stretch of weekly declines since 2018, as the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 jolts markets and OPEC+ continues to hike supply. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery declined 0.36 percent to US$66.26 a barrel, down 2.77 percent from a week earlier. Brent crude for February delivery rose 0.3 percent to US$69.88 a barrel, posting a weekly decline of 3.9 percent. A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured in Freeport, Texas, on June 9, 2016. Photo: ReutersThe spread of the Omicron variant has investors concerned about any potential damage to demand as the US reported at least six states with cases.
Source:Taipei Times
December 05, 2021 00:53 UTC
Chinese jet incursions reach 159
Chinese jet incursions reach 159MONTHLY DATA: There have been more than 1,000 sorties since the defense ministry began making data public, with October the busiest month with 196 planesAFP, TAIPEIChinese warplanes made 159 incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone last month, Agence France-Presse data showed, the second-highest monthly number on record. Over the past 14 months, the sabre-rattling has reached new peaks after Beijing began sending an increasing number of warplanes into the zone, which Chinese military aircraft had previously largely avoided. In Taipei, the Ministry of National Defense began making the Chinese warplane incursions public in September last year and AFP has built a database collecting details of the flights, which have been increasing in size and frequency. The incursions last month included 100 by fighter jets and nine by China’s nuclear-capable H6 bombers. October remains the busiest month on record with 196 incursions, 149 of which were made over just four days as Beijing marked China’s National Day.
Source:Taipei Times
December 04, 2021 22:13 UTC