NPP backs Hsinchu fight against expropriation
NPP backs Hsinchu fight against expropriationBy Chen Yu-hsin and Jason Pan / Staff reportersThe New Power Party (NPP) yesterday pledged its support to environmental groups and Hsinchu County residents in their decades-long fight against the expropriation of more than 400 hectares of land for the “Puyu Project” (璞玉, uncut jade) — the third phase of expansion at the Hsinchu Science Park. NPP Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said that government agencies aim to forcibly expropriate large tracts of farmland for the project, which spans the county’s Cyonglin Township (芎林) and Jhubei City (竹北). New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih, holding a microphone, and civic group representatives in Taipei yesterday warn that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s planned 2-nanometer chip fab would put an unbearable strain on Hsinchu County’s water supply. Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times“It also requires large-scale water storage, and farmers would have to stop their cultivation and all farming would cease... “When water supply is short, it results in overuse and increased pollutants in the rivers,” Taiwan Clean Water Action Alliance chairperson Peng Kuei-chih (彭桂枝) said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 28, 2020 15:56 UTC
High school ers found political party
High school ers found political partyBy Hung Jui-chin and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerTainan First Senior High School on Wednesday is to inaugurate its first political party, the TNFSH Full-Sugarism Party, to help support students’ democratic literacy. “A group has more influence.”The entrance to the main building of Tainan First Senior High School in Tainan is pictured on June 27, 2018. Lastly, the party promised to connect the all-boys school to Tainan Girls’ Senior High School through an underground tunnel. The Full-Sugarism Party is not the first student party in Taiwan. The Taichung First Senior High School student council last year became the first in the nation to pass a “student political party act.”Three parties were established, although one is at risk of dissolution after it failed to nominate any candidates for party office.
Source:Taipei Times
December 27, 2020 15:56 UTC
High alert as flight from London lands
Staff wearing protective gear prepare to welcome passengers arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei TimesAll passengers would be tested a second time before they complete their quarantine, it said, adding that the 13 flight personnel were required to quarantine at home for 14 days. As of press time, one passenger was sent to hospital directly from the airport with a fever, the CECC said. Passengers on a flight from the UK, most of them wearing protective clothing and masks, wait to go through immigration at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday. Meanwhile, the CECC said that Taiwan has two new imported cases of COVID-19, both of whom are Indonesian fishers.
Source:Taipei Times
December 27, 2020 15:56 UTC
Changhua eldery protection program enrollment soars
Changhua eldery protection program enrollment soarsBy Chang Tsung-chiu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe number of people enrolled in a Changhua County Government program to reduce the risk of older people getting lost has expanded to 750, a fivefold increase from 150 in the previous year, the county’s Department of Social Affairs said on Saturday. The surge in enrollments came after officials relaxed eligibility requirements and introduced QR code-bearing cloth tabs as a less obtrusive alternative to radio frequency identification (RFID) devices, the department said. A woman sits at a table in Changhua County on Dec. 19, wearing a shirt with an embedded QR code, through which she can be identified. During last year’s budget review, a bipartisan panel of county councilors urged County Commissioner Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) of the KMT to improve the program. The changes have boosted enrollment in the program, while about 6,500 people have downloaded the program’s app, the department said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 27, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taiwan in Time: The first Truku convert
This portrait of Ciwang Iwal can be found at the entrance to the cave next to the Ciwang Memorial Church. Ciwang died the following year, and is still revered today as the first Truku convert to Christianity and an influential figure by the large number of Truku who still follow the religion today. THREE HUSBANDSCanadian missionary James Dickson encouraged Ciwang Iwal to attend Bible college in Tamsui since he was banned from entering the mountain areas to convert the Truku. When she realized that Truku who married Han Taiwanese enjoyed a better standard of living, she spurned the advances of young men in her village. But her fate changed when she met Canadian missionary James Dickson, who was frustrated that he couldn’t enter the mountains to convert the Truku.
Source:Taipei Times
December 27, 2020 11:01 UTC
Home selected to be museum for 228 Incident
Home selected to be museum for 228 IncidentMARCH OPENING: The house of Tang Te-chang is to open on March 13, the date of his death in 1947, also known as Justice and Courage Memorial DayBy Hung Jui-chin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe former home of a victim of the 228 Incident is to open as a museum in March, the Tainan Cultural Heritage Protection Association said yesterday. It is to open as a museum commemorating Tang on March 13, the date of his death in 1947, also known as “Justice and Courage Memorial Day.”The Tainan residence of lawyer and 228 Incident victim Tang Te-chang is pictured yesterday. Tang lived in it for less than four years before he died in the 228 Incident,” association director Huang Chien-lung (黃建龍) said, adding that the building had also served as an office for Tang, who ran a law practice. “This will not only be a place to commemorate Tang Te-chang, but will also be an important place of learning about democracy and human rights,” he said. On Monday, the association posted on Facebook an unfinished graphic story of Tang’s experiences up to and including the 228 Incident, produced by author and artist Nisin Sheep (蠢羊與奇怪生物).
Source:Taipei Times
December 27, 2020 10:52 UTC
Officials ready for UK flight: CECC
Officials ready for UK flight: CECCLONDON CALLING: Today’s flight with 120 passengers is the first to arrive from England since measures were put in place in response to the UK’s new virus variantBy Wu Liang-yi and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerHealth officials have already made preparations for a China Airlines (中華航空) flight that is bringing 120 passengers to Taiwan from the UK today, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday. Today’s flight from London, which is to arrive at 6:15pm, is the first from the UK to arrive since the new measures were put in place, the center said. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, center, and Premier Su Tseng-chang, right, yesterday inspect a COVID-19 quarantine center in New Taipei City’s Wulai District. Anyone who has recently traveled to the UK would be subject to the same regulations, he added. Over the past few days, 26 people who have recently been to the UK were placed in a quarantine facility, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 26, 2020 18:56 UTC
Mislabeling triggers doubt over ‘Taiwan Pork’ label
Mislabeling triggers doubt over ‘Taiwan Pork’ labelA TRIAL MONTH: National Animal Industry Foundation executive director Wang Chung-shu said Formosa Chang was approved as its Spanish pork supply finishes this weekBy Yang Yuan-ting / Staff reporterMembers of the public yesterday called into question the credibility of the government-certified “Taiwan Pork” label after braised pork rice chain Formosa Chang (鬍鬚張) was found to use the label for some products containing Spanish pork. The promotion of local pork through the “Taiwan Pork” label is a government measure designed to mitigate the effects of lifting restrictions on US pork imports. Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung, right, and the winner of a competition to design the “Taiwan Pork” label, Lin Lee-hsun, stand next to the label at an awards ceremony in Taipei on Oct. 6. Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei TimesThe Council of Agriculture (COA) in October launched the label, saying that businesses selling local pork could apply to use it from last month. Formosa Chang said it was approved to use “Taiwan Pork” labels throughout the nation, but customers reported that one of its lunchboxes, braised pork with anka, contained pork from Spain.
Source:Taipei Times
December 26, 2020 18:56 UTC
NT$23.9m may not satisfy former death row inmate
NT$23.9m may not satisfy former death row inmateBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterFormer death row inmate Hsieh Chih-hung (謝志宏) and his lawyers were yesterday considering whether to appeal the Tainan branch of the High Court’s decision to compensate him NT$23.919 million (US$838,058) for spending more than 18 years in prison. Former death row inmate Hsieh Chih-hung, right, and his lawyer Tu Hsin-cheng are pictured in Tainan on May 15. The High Court on March 14 last year accepted the petition and ordered that Hsieh’s sentence be temporarily suspended. The retrial was held in May, and the High Court acquitted Hsieh of all charges. However, the High Court did not agree and reduced the amount to NT$3,500 per day, as the judges did not find wrongdoing by the police.
Source:Taipei Times
December 26, 2020 18:56 UTC
New CPBL head eyes expansion
New CPBL head eyes expansionLOVE FOR BASEBALL: Finding a corporation with the money and passion to sponsor a team would not be easy, but interest was brewing in Kaohsiung, Tsai saidBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterDeputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), who is to takeover as head of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), on Thursday said he would add a sixth team to the league. Tsai made the remarks after he was tapped to head the organization when CPBL commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) finishes his second term next month. Tsai outlined his vision for the league, saying that finding corporate backers to start a sixth team was a top priority. “Then the CPBL can grow more vigorously, and have different combinations for game matchups.”However, Tsai said he knows it would not be easy. “The CPBL in the past decade has operated with four teams, and waited a long time to welcome the Wei Chuan Dragons back.
Source:Taipei Times
December 26, 2020 18:56 UTC
Painting the sky
CECC reports four new imported COVID-19 casesCHECKING IT TWICE: All four people presented negative COVID-19 test results before boarding their flights, but all but one reported experiencing symptoms after arriving The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported four imported cases of COVID-19, bringing the nation’s total to 780. The new cases involve people arriving from Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and the US, who all presented a negative COVID-19 test result issued within 72 hours of boarding their flight, the center said in a statement. The case from the Philippines is a woman in her 30s who arrived in Taiwan to work on Dec. 10 and was quarantined at a government-designated center, the center said. The woman on Wednesday was tested prior to leaving mandatory 14-day quarantine and the result came back positive
Source:Taipei Times
December 25, 2020 15:56 UTC
DPP passes ractopamine directives
DPP passes ractopamine directivesCHRISTMAS SPIRIT? Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang, front row, center, leads KMT lawmakers in a protest of government plans to import US pork containing ractopamine at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei TimesOpposition lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted against the directives. Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) and independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) sided with the DPP. KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said: “DPP legislators have castrated themselves by going against the public will.”“They are a rubber-stamp team and the party has become a ‘ractopamine pork’ entity,” she said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
Contacts of domestic case test negative: CECC
Contacts of domestic case test negative: CECCREBUTTING RUMORS: While the contacts of Taiwan’s COVID-19 case No. 771 have tested negative, those who spread rumors would be held legally liable, the center saidBy Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter176 people who came in close contact with Taiwan’s COVID-19 case No. 771 have tested negative for COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, rebutting rumors about possible activity history with links to the nation’s first domestic case of the novel coronavirus since April. The CECC on April 1 published guidelines for the release of information about confirmed COVID-19 cases, Chen said. As the center could identify contacts associated with the case’s other activities, it would not release that information, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
KMT to launch signature drive for pork referendum
KMT to launch signature drive for pork referendumAN EATER’s CHOICE? Lin spoke to reporters in front of the Legislative Yuan’s Chun-hsien Building (群賢樓) in Taipei, where KMT lawmakers spent the night to demonstrate their “firm” opposition to the importation of pork with traces of ractopamine. The Referendum Act stipulates that referendums from next year are to be held once every two years on the fourth Saturday of August. The KMT was scheduled to hold a rally outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday, with former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) expected to participate. The KMT livestreamed the voting on Facebook, with KMT Chairman Office director Yeh Hsu-hung (葉旭鴻), KMT Youth Department director Chen Kuan-an (陳冠安), and KMT spokeswoman and New Taipei City Councilor Chiang I-chen (江怡臻) among those providing live commentary.
Source:Taipei Times
December 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
Caroling in the Truku mountains
My artist friend had spent time here through the Tree Tree Tree Person Residency Project (森人藝駐計劃) and we were invited up to celebrate Christmas — a week early since the actual festivities are held in Tmbarah. “Christmas to Truku people is like the Lunar New Year [for Han-Taiwanese],” says Hayu Yudau, pastor of the Skadang Church in Tmbarah. Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei TimesSTUNNING VIEWSThe Japanese forcefully relocated most Truku off the mountains to better “govern” them in 1933. More songs are sung — usually three verses in Truku and one in Mandarin, and prayers are made in both languages. After breakfast, Hayu and the Tree Tree Tree Person crew head down a steep and slippery overgrown path for about 30 minutes until they reach the foundations of the ruined original Skadang church.
Source:Taipei Times
December 24, 2020 15:56 UTC