DPP seeks to demote Sun Yat-sen at oath ceremonies
Despite persistent objections from KMT lawmakers, the three proposed amendments passed their first reading, pending reviews at the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee. Thirty-one KMT lawmakers, led by party Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), also proposed amendments to the two oath acts, although in a diametrically opposed spirit. The “ROC” is Taiwan’s formal name until a constitutional amendment is passed to change the nation’s name, KMT lawmakers wrote in the proposals. Earlier, Fan said that the KMT proposals clearly target hers. Before changing the oaths, KMT lawmakers should use “ROC” in their party’s name, she added.
Source:Taipei Times
October 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
First two of TRA’s ‘most beautiful local trains’ arrive
First two of TRA’s ‘most beautiful local trains’ arriveStaff writer, with CNAThe Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday took delivery of two of 52 commuter trains ordered from South Korea, calling them the “most beautiful local trains” it has ever had. The EMU900 trains, painted silver and green, feature a streamlined body with soft curves, while their interiors have been carefully designed to meet commuters’ needs, TRA Director-General Chang Chen-yuan (張政源) said. An EMU900 carriage is lowered onto a pier at the Port of Hualien yesterday as the Taiwan Railways Administration took delivery of two new commuter trains from South Korea. Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei TimesThe new trains are expected to provide better service for commuters, who account for 80 percent of the TRA’s passengers, Chang said at a ceremony at the Port of Hualien, where the trains were delivered. To celebrate the occasion, the TRA ran its 79-year-old DT668 locomotive to the ceremony, gaining the attention of railroad fans.
Source:Taipei Times
October 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
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Taiwan in Time: ‘Confusion and tears’ of an ill-fated clan
A family photo of Aisuke Sazuka, Yawai Taimo and their three young children. Left with four children and ostracized by the community, Yawai is one of the more overlooked tragic figures of the Wushe Incident. Isolated in the mountains, the Xakut did not encounter the Japanese until around 1906 — 11 years after the colonizers arrived in Taiwan. That same year, Aisuke Sazuka stole his father’s money and fled his hometown in rural Nagano Prefecture for Taiwan. Teng Hsiang-yang displays his three books on the Wushe Incident.
Source:Taipei Times
October 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
Life insurers can handle strong NT dollar, Huang says
Life insurers can handle strong NT dollar, Huang saysBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe capital adequacy of the nation’s life insurers would remain healthy even if the New Taiwan dollar continues trading above NT$29 to the US dollar, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Thomas Huang (黃天牧) told lawmakers at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee on Thursday. In light of the strong NT dollar, the Insurance Bureau in August ran a stress test on the nation’s life insurance companies to assess the impact of exchange-rate risk on their finances, Huang said. The entrance to the head office of Cathay Life Insurance in Taipei is pictured on July 16. “Overall, it seems that local life insurance companies could handle a strong NT dollar,” Huang told the meeting. Increased net profit at life insurance companies last year are expected to help cushion their foreign-exchange losses, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
October 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Beijing must end threats: US’ Steinberg
Former US deputy secretary of state James Steinberg addresses by video a forum organized by the Mainland Affairs Council in Taipei yesterday. A responsible Beijing — one that does not infringe on the rights of other nations when promoting its own — would be beneficial for everyone, he said. Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong speaks at a forum organized by the council in Taipei yesterday. US support is not limited to the Taiwan Relations Act or the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act, he said. Steinberg said that Taiwan should step up development of 5G networks, artificial intelligence systems and its biomedicine industry.
Source:Taipei Times
October 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Invasive semi-slug suspected in Taoyuan
Invasive semi-slug suspected in TaoyuanBy Wei Chin-yun and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerAn environmental educator and researcher on Monday said that he believes he found a species of invasive semi-slug that was thought to have disappeared from Taiwan, potentially posing a threat to certain crops. Watson Crick’s Scientific Lab founder Hua Shun-fa on Monday holds up a leaf with what he suspects might be two members of an invasive semi-slug species in Taoyuan. Most invasive snails are brought by flora imported for gardening, but are usually stymied by the required pesticide treatment for imported plants, he said. The Taoyuan Department of Agriculture said that it had not heard of any P martensi sightings before now. Hua said that the semi-slug is a good host for the rat lungworm, or Angiostrongylus cantonensis, which can cause eosinophilic meningitis in humans.
Source:Taipei Times
October 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
First round-island cruise launched
First round-island cruise launchedBy Dennis Xie / Staff writer, with CNATaiwan’s first round-the-island cruise liner yesterday docked in Kaohsiung on a four-day voyage launched as part of the tourism industry’s efforts to boost domestic travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, standing behind a mascot, welcomes the passengers of a cruise ship sailing around Taiwan after it arrived in the city yesterday on the second day of the tour. Photo: Hung Chen-hung, Taipei TimesThe maiden cruise was well-received, with 80 percent of the tickets having been sold, the tour operator said. A cruise ship circumnavigating Taiwan proper is moored in Kaoshiung yesterday, the second day of the trip. Each passenger spends about NT$2,500 each time the ship docks, so a considerable amount is added to local economies, he added.
Source:Taipei Times
October 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
KMT chairman calls out Chinese aggression
Yesterday’s commemoration was attended by KMT members, as well as nearly 80 Taiwanese expats returning from the US and Southeast Asian countries. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang speaks at an event in Taipei yesterday, part of a series of activities to mark the 75th anniversary of Retrocession Day tomorrow. He thanked them for lending their robust support to the ROC during the war with Japan from 1937 to 1945, which mainly took place on the Chinese mainland. Despite having different political systems, the two sides are nourished by the same Chinese culture and share the same language, Mandarin, he said. Any verbal aggression or military threat by one side would not heal the wound among Chinese who are split apart, but would instead widen the gap, he said, without naming the perpetrator.
Source:Taipei Times
October 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Four bailed amid rail investigation
Four bailed amid rail investigationSINFONG SAGA: Hua Sheng Engineering Construction and TRA personnel posted bail amid an investigation into alleged collusion over a public tender in Hsinchu CountyBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterFour people were released on bail yesterday amid a probe into alleged corruption over a NT$110 million (US$3.8 million) contract for work at a Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) station in Hsinchu County. The investigation was launched into the tender process for a contract to the reconstruction of the station in Sinfong Township (新豐), which was awarded to Kaohsiung-based Hua Sheng Engineering Construction Co. The entrance to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in the city’s Zhongzheng District is pictured yesterday. The two men reopened the public tender, which was won by Hua Sheng at a reduced bid of NT$100 million, prosecutors said. The High Court ruled in the company’s favor and ordered the TRA to pay it NT$4.94 million.
Source:Taipei Times
October 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Restricting security suspects’ movements
However, as he was still implicated in another case involving national security, the courts prevented him from leaving the country, and this order was on Sept. 23 extended by a further eight months. Although Zhou was not allowed to leave the country, neither was he forbidden from moving around freely within the country, leaving many to ask why, if he was involved in a national security case, there were no restrictions placed on his movements. In cases where it is unknown when they would be concluded, this requirement is inherently flawed. More importantly, detention is intended to be in preparation for deportation, and there is a clear contradiction here when applied to a defendant awaiting trial. The problem is, Zhou’s case involves the crime of developing an organization that poses a threat to national security, which according to Article 2-1 of the National Security Act, requires a custodial sentence of no more than five years.
Source:Taipei Times
October 22, 2020 16:06 UTC
Powertech net profit declines on sluggish demand
Powertech net profit declines on sluggish demandBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterPowertech Technology Inc (力成科技), the world’s biggest supplier of memory chip packaging and testing services, yesterday said that net profit dipped 7.1 percent sequentially last quarter due to sluggish demand for system-in-package (SiP) modules and mobile DRAM chips. The headquarters of memorychip packager and tester Powertech Technology Inc at the Hsinchu Science Park is pictured on April 21. Photo: Hung Yu-fang, Taipei TimesOn an annual basis, net profit improved 1.4 percent from NT$1.6 billion. Powertech will continue to provide NAND flash memory packaging services to Intel before the deal is completed in 2025, he added. Strong packaging and testing service demand for logic chips, DRAM and flash memory chips used in PCs amid the work-from-home and online learning trends would drive growth, Powertech chief executive officer Boris Hsieh (謝永達) said.
Source:Taipei Times
October 22, 2020 15:56 UTC
BTA talks possible within one to two years: official
BTA talks possible within one to two years: officialBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterThe lifting of a ban on imports of pork products containing traces of ractopamine is a step in initiating talks on a potential bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the US, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei yesterday. “Why has the US Trade Representative not yet initiated talks?” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) asked. Without the lifting of the ban, there would have been little hope of furthering Taiwan-US trade ties, Wang said. She added that members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership allow the import of pork and beef containing ractopamine. “We can buy more corn, wheat and soybeans from the US, as well as natural gas” to help expedite trade talks, she said.
Source:Taipei Times
October 22, 2020 15:56 UTC
Prosecutors say no charges in spying incident of HK trio
Prosecutors say no charges in spying incident of HK trioBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterCharges would not be filed against a Hong Kong student, his Taiwanese friend and private investigators over the alleged tailing and photographing of three Hong Kong democracy advocates in Taipei last year, prosecutors said yesterday. Yang and Su accused Lee of “offenses against personal privacy” after news reports, including photograhs, were published in the Wen Wei Po and other media in Hong Kong. The reports said that the Hong Kong trio met with Taiwanese independence groups and officials close to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Lee paid UIC NT$20,000 per day, with the money from a “boss” in Hong Kong, prosecutors said. Lee arrived in Taiwan on a student visa and later obtained a resident’s visa, which allowed him to work at a Taiwanese company, the council said.
Source:Taipei Times
October 22, 2020 15:56 UTC
FSC to inspect brokerages offering high-speed trade
FSC to inspect brokerages offering high-speed tradeBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is to conduct a full inspection of the 22 securities firms that offer high-speed trading services to see if they treat clients fairly, FSC Chairman Thomas Huang (黃天牧) said yesterday. Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Thomas Huang attends a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee in Taipei yesterday. It is unclear whether Concord had put any other device in the center, the commission said. All securities firms are allowed to rent the Co-Location trading service, and so far there are 22 securities companies using the service, it said. The commission would carry out an inspection to see if any of the 22 are using the service improperly, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
October 22, 2020 15:56 UTC
Few predict salary increase: survey
Few predict salary increase: surveyBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterMore than 68 percent of people do not believe their salary would increase after the government raises the minimum monthly wage to NT$24,000 (US$830.36) next year, a survey released on Tuesday by Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) showed. A Cathay Financial poll conducted in September last year found that 61.9 percent of respondents said that they did not expect a pay increase after the Ministry of Labor announced that it would increase the minimum monthly wage from NT$23,100 to NT$23,800. The surveys show that a majority of consumers do not think they would benefit from adjustments to the minimum salary, Cathay Financial economic research division manager Nelson Chen (陳志祿) told the Taipei Times by telephone on Wednesday. The latest survey of 23,532 respondents showed that 25 percent of people expected a salary increase of less than 3 percent next year, while 4.6 percent of respondents said they expected an increase of 3 percent to 5 percent, and 1.8 percent predicted an increase of more than 5 percent. However, 61.8 percent of respondents predicted that their salary would remain unchanged for the next six months, and 39.3 percent forecast a tougher job market, the survey found.
Source:Taipei Times
October 22, 2020 15:56 UTC