TAIWAN CAPITAL MARKET FORUM: Social and sustainability bonds likely by year’s end
Securities and Futures Bureau Director Sam Chang speaks at the 2020 Taiwan Capital Market Forum in Taipei on Friday. Some overseas pension funds even follow an investment strategy that sets a minimum exposure to social bonds, he added. “Given that social bonds and sustainability bonds are popular overseas, Taiwan’s bond market is likely to continue advancing after these instruments are included,” he said. It expects to see companies issue Taiwan’s first sustainability bonds or social bonds by the end of this year, Chang said. The commission should unveil a development roadmap for the local capital market so investors could clearly see what it envisions, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Sea warning issued for Tropical Storm Hagupit
Sea warning issued for Tropical Storm HagupitBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterThe Central Weather Bureau yesterday issued a sea warning for Tropical Storm Hagupit and said that the storm would continue to affect the nation today. Hagupit was approaching northeastern Taiwan, threatening vessels operating near the northeast and north coasts, bureau forecaster Hsu Chung-yi (徐仲毅) said. Fishing boats are moored at a port in New Taipei City yesterday as Tropical Storm Hagupit approached. Thick clouds caused by the influence of Tropical Storm Hagupit are pictured over Taipei yesterday. Based on the bureau’s projected path, Hagupit would come close to Taiwan’s northeast coast today before moving toward China tomorrow.
Source:Taipei Times
August 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Former official rejects Ma’s ‘one China’ assertion
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei TimesThat resolution became the basis of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) “one China, with different interpretations” framework that formed the foundation of the “1992 consensus,” Ma said. “How could there possibly have been discussions on national sovereignty issues at that meeting?” Huang said. During a press conference following the meeting, Ma, who was also the MAC spokesman, even said the meeting was a failure, Huang said. “How can Ma now say there was a ‘1992 consensus’?” he added. Lee and former SEF chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) had both previously denied there was a “1992 consensus,” Huang said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Tsai urges recovery of Aboriginal perspectives
President Tsai Ing-wen speaks at a forum in Taipei yesterday marking Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod, center, and four Atayal children open an event in Taipei yesterday marking Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Photo: Luo Chi, Taipei TimesSome attendees shared troubles they had encountered for using traditional names. NOT TROUBLEMAKERSRecovering their traditional names means they are retrieving subjectivity, which does not mean they are troublemakers, Kolas said. Aborigines can register their names with Chinese characters or romanized along with the Chinese characters, Council of Indigenous Peoples Deputy Minister Iwan Nawi said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Hunter certificates issued to 294 Aborigines in Hualien
Hunter certificates issued to 294 Aborigines in HualienBy Wang Chin-yi and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerSioulin Township’s (秀林) Truku People’s Hunting Association yesterday awarded 294 hunter certificates to Aborigines of Hualien County, a first step toward self-managed hunting by local Aboriginal villages. The event might bolster Aborigines’ appeal to the central government to allow more villages to participate in non-commercial hunting, the association said. Truku hunters yesterday fire a salute at a ceremony organized by Hualien County’s Sioulin Township Office and the Truku People’s Hunting Association to award 294 hunter certificates. The association’s certificate entails a 20-hour course on topics such as hunting culture, hunter safety, and laws governing hunting and outdoor tracking. The Truku community continues to live by their ancestors’ teaching that the “land is our blood, and the mountains and woods our home,” Yudaw said.
Source:Taipei Times
August 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Remembering Lee Teng-hui: Lee held retirement dream: raise the best beef cattle
Remembering Lee Teng-hui: Lee held retirement dream: raise the best beef cattlePRIME CUT: After buying 19 heads of cattle in 2016, Lee set out to create a Taiwanese breed to rival Japan’s top beef cattle, using modern techniques and DNA analysisStaff Writer, with CNALate president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) fulfilled many political wishes during his lifetime, not least of which was securing democracy for Taiwan, but one remained — transforming the nation’s beef industry. They were transported to a dairy farm in Hualien County, with clean air and vast grassland, which Lee selected to fulfill his retirement “dream” of breeding Taiwanese prime beef cattle, the Lee Teng-hui Foundation said. Former president Lee Teng-hui, center, smiles during a visit to Harvest Ranch in Hualien County’s Fenglin Township on Nov. 6, 2017. Lee did not just want to breed Taiwan-exclusive prime beef cattle, he wanted to “thoroughly transform Taiwan’s beef industry,” Chen said. A cart drives down Lee Teng-hui Boulevard at Harvest Ranch in Hualien County’s Fenglin Township on Friday.
Source:Taipei Times
August 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Monkeys maintain second-half streak
Rakuten Monkeys catcher Liao Chien-fu connects during their game against the Uni-President Lions at the Taoyuan Intenational Stadium yesterday. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei TimesIt was tied at 1-1 early, with Rakuten hosting the Lions at the Taoyuan Intenational Stadium yesterday. Kuo Yen-wen of the Rakuten Monkeys, second right, celebrates with his teammates after their win against the Uni-President Lions at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium on Friday. Kuo Yen-wen, center, of the Rakuten Monkeys waves after being named most valuable player in Friday’s game against the Uni-President Lions at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium. It was not only the Monkeys who won with final at-bats this week, as the Brothers also left it late.
Source:Taipei Times
August 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taiwan in Time: The green ‘preacher’
“Environmental Protection Preacher” (環保弘法師) was more than a nickname, though, it was Nien’s actual job title when the full-time activist moonlighted as an environmental writer and speaker for a Buddhist magazine in 1990. The cover of Nien Hsi-lin’s biography, Environmental Protection Preacher, shows him during his anti-Dupont days between 1986 and 1987. The success of the anti-Dupont movement was a pivotal moment in Taiwan’s environmental protection history. Just five months after Dupont scrapped its Lukang project, the Executive Yuan upgraded the Department of Health’s Environmental Protection Bureau to an independent Environmental Protection Administration, greatly expanding its scope and responsibilities. “If Taiwan becomes a complete wasteland, what meaning would independence or unification have?”LATE-LIFE AWAKENINGA screenshot from the Lukang Residents’ Anti-Dupont Movement documentary filmed by Green Team.
Source:Taipei Times
August 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: Belgian suspected of local infection
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) confirmed seven new COVID-19 cases, six of which are imported. The other case involves a Belgian engineer who entered Taiwan on May 3 and remained in quarantine until May 17, said Chen, who heads the CECC. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung speaks at a Central Epidemic Command Center briefing in Taipei yesterday. The Belgian, in his 20s, is a technician working on an offshore wind project in Changhua County. The government would maintain strict border controls, he said, adding that the nation is still safe from the risk of community outbreaks.
Source:Taipei Times
August 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Human Rights Commission launched
Human Rights Commission launchedPROUD WORK: Protecting human rights to an international standard would continue, even as a constitutional amendment committee is planned, President Tsai Ing-wen saidBy Sean Lin / Staff reporterPresident Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that she hopes the National Human Rights Commission, launched yesterday, would make a “unique contribution” to the international community by passing on the nation’s experience with promoting human rights. Photo: CNAThe commission’s responsibilities include investigating human rights violations, researching and reviewing human rights policies, generating reports on human rights incidents, promoting human rights and engaging in international exchanges, she said, adding that the tasks should be conducted in the spirit of the Control Yuan as watchdog, while fostering local human rights institutions and instilling in residents a sense of respect toward other human beings. The Presidential Office’s Human Rights Commission Consultative Committee, after adapting many international covenants on human rights to the nation, on May 19 ceased operations so that it could pass on the baton to the commission, she added. Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei TimesThe commission is to be a voice for minority groups, comprehensively monitor human rights in Taiwan, consult on human rights, receive complaints on human rights infringements, offer human rights education, assess whether government policies protect human rights, and advise the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan on human rights legislation, she said. Asked what human rights she hoped to bolster, Chen said that she would focus on the human rights of children, inmates and people who are mentally challenged.
Source:Taipei Times
August 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Remembering Lee Teng-hui: Leaders, Taiwanese pay respects at Lee memorial
Remembering Lee Teng-hui: Leaders, Taiwanese pay respects at Lee memorial’TAIWAN’S HELMSMAN’: A Taichung woman said Lee Teng-hui lived through martial law and its lifting, and she watched him ‘lead Taiwan to become a democracy’By Lee Hsin-fang / Staff Reporter, with APNational leaders and others yesterday paid their respects to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who died on Thursday aged 97 after bringing full democracy to Taiwan. Among yesterday’s visitors was President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who wrote in a book of condolences: “You shall forever be watching over democratic Taiwan.”People pay tribute to former president Lee Teng-hui at the Taipei Guest House in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei TimesTsai was accompanied by Vice President William Lai (賴清德) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌). In response, New Power Party creative media director Jerry Liu (劉仕傑) called Wang “inhumane,” and urged him to apologize to Lee’s family. Taiwanese singer Chang Li-min (張琍敏), an outspoken supporter of ousted Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), made a similar post on Facebook, writing: “Lee Teng-hui is dead, oh yeah.”Additional reporting by Huang Hsin-po
Source:Taipei Times
August 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Lawmakers face corruption charges
Lawmakers face corruption chargesBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterProsecutors yesterday listed five current and former lawmakers, and four others, as suspects in a corruption probe, and applied to place them in judicial detention. Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau staff carry boxes with documents gathered in connection to a corruption probe involving several legislators in Taipei yesterday. New Power Party (NPP) Chairman Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), a former legislator, also faces charges under the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Former DPP legislator Mark Chen (陳唐山), who also faces pending corruption charges, was released in the morning after posting NT$500,000 bail. He also allegedly urged BreadTalk Group to launch an international business lawsuit over accusations that Douglas Hsu’s subsidiary firm in 2002 forged documents to falsify capitalization figures to gain control of Pacific Sogo.
Source:Taipei Times
August 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Remembering Lee Teng-hui: Groups urge renaming airport to honor Lee
Remembering Lee Teng-hui: Groups urge renaming airport to honor LeeBy Lin Tsuei-yi and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerTaiwan Taoyuan International Airport should be renamed “Lee Teng-hui Airport,” Taiwan-Japan cultural exchange organizations said yesterday in a joint statement. Japan-based Taiwan independence activist Lin Chien-liang (林建良), who initiated the statement, said the idea of renaming either the Taoyuan airport or Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) in honor of Lee has been raised by several Japanese friends who contacted him after Lee passed away. A departure board in Terminal 2 of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is pictured on March 21. Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei TimesNaming international airports after political figures who have made significant contributions and achievements during their tenure is a common practice, the statement said, citing as examples New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. The statement included comments by All Japan Taiwanese Union president Chao Chung-cheng (趙中正) and Taiwanese Association in Japan president Wang Shao-ying (王紹英).
Source:Taipei Times
August 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
White House, Cornell University praise Lee Teng-hui
White House, Cornell University praise Lee Teng-huiBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reportersThe White House in a statement on Friday marked the passing of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), while Lee’s alma mater Cornell University issued an obituary remembering his academic achievements and his 1995 speech during a visit to the campus. The text “Mourning former president Lee” is displayed over 59th and 60th floors on Taipei 101 on Friday. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei TimesThe White House statement said that “President Lee was Taiwan’s first popularly elected leader and stepped down in adherence to term limits. The White House statement came after the US National Security Council remembered Lee as “Mr Democracy.”Then-president Lee Teng-hui, left, holds hands with the Dalai Lama at their first-ever meeting at a government guest house in Taipei on March 27, 1997. Cornell University, where Lee earned a doctorate in agricultural economics in 1968, published an obituary on its Web site.
Source:Taipei Times
August 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
All listed firms need balanced growth: FSC
People attend the Taiwan Capital Market Forum held by the Liberty Times in Taipei’s Neihu District yesterday. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei TimesAs the heavily weighted TSMC could easily influence the local bourse, investors should refrain from gloating over the rallies, Huang added. “We should think how the TAIEX would perform if there were no TSMC,” Huang said. Instead of feeling good about the market thanks to the success of one big company, the regulator should focus more on the balanced development of all listed corporations, he said. There is a balance between insufficient and excessive investor protection, but the commission would improve investor education so that they can make good decisions, Huang said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 31, 2020 15:56 UTC