Virus Outbreak: CIER lifts GDP forecast on stimulus
Virus Outbreak: CIER lifts GDP forecast on stimulusWEALTH EFFECT: The Triple Stimulus Vouchers might boost GDP growth by 0.44 percentage points and private consumption to 1.33 percent, the CIER head saidBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterThe Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year to 1.77 percent, from a previous estimate of 1.03 percent, as private consumption might stage a comeback fueled by the government’s Triple Stimulus Vouchers. It is the first upgrade to Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast since COVID-19 broke out in late January, prompting research institutes at home and abroad to cut projections, citing concerns over tepid consumer spending and exports. A sales clerk accepts a customer’s payment using a Triple Stimulus Voucher in Taichung yesterday. Photo: Chang Ching-ya, Taipei Times“The stimulus vouchers of NT$3,000 per person might boost GDP growth by 0.44 percentage points,” meaning the institute would have to raise the growth rate anyhow, CIER president Chang Chuang-chang (張傳章) said. Taiwan’s quick control of the virus outbreak has enabled people to lead a normal life with minimal social distancing requirements, the economist said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 22, 2020 15:56 UTC
Legislature votes to update passport and CAL’s name
Legislature votes to update passport and CAL’s nameBy Sean Lin / Staff reporterThe Legislative Yuan yesterday resolved to update the nation’s passport to highlight the Chinese and English for “Taiwan,” and to devise “feasible” ways to rename state-run China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) to differentiate it from its Chinese counterpart, Air China. Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei comments on a resolution in favor of highlighting the word “Taiwan” on the passport at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. The ministry in the long term should devise feasible ways to change the English-language name of China Airlines, it says. The ministry said that it has instructed the China Aviation Development Foundation (中華航空事業發展基金會) — China Airlines’ largest shareholder — to form a consultancy team to discuss the legislature’s resolution. China Airlines said that it had no comment on the resolution.
Source:Taipei Times
July 22, 2020 15:56 UTC
DPP councilor criticizes silence on twin-city forum
DPP councilor criticizes silence on twin-city forumBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterTaipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) yesterday criticized city officials for refusing to disclose the names of people participating in this year’s Taipei-Shanghai forum. Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pei, center, speaks to reporters in an undated photograph. Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei TimesThe forum, which begins today, is being held online, as the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented Shanghai officials from traveling to Taiwan. Asked about Chien’s criticism, Chou said the city government does not have to get a nod from China to make its decisions. The names of Chinese participants have always been released after the forums to help protect the their privacy, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
TAITRA launches virtual reality exhibition
TAITRA launches virtual reality exhibitionBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterThe Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) yesterday launched an online exhibition for 28 local manufacturers, who were scheduled to display their products at the Hannover Industrial Fair until the fair was canceled for the first time in its 73-year history due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the trend for fairs and exhibitions to go ‘online to offline,’” TAITRA president and chief executive Walter Yeh (葉明水) said at a news conference in Taipei. From left, Su Zin Industry Co CEO Brian Su, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) president and CEO Walter Yeh, and TAITRA digital commerce department director Chen Lin-chun pose for a photograph in Taipei yesterday. In addition to the online exhibition, TAITRA is working with individual companies to implement “martech” (marketing technology) tools, such as big data analysis, influencer targeting and buyer behavior analysis, Yeh said. TAITRA said it plans to hold 80 online VR exhibitions for local businesses each year.
Source:Taipei Times
July 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
Oxford wants to establish ties with Taiwanese town
Oxford wants to establish ties with Taiwanese townBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe Oxford City Council on Monday passed a motion to establish sister-city ties with a municipality in Taiwan, adding that such a move would be separate from the UK’s official recognition of China. The motion was made by Oxford City Councilor Stephen Goddard and seconded by Oxford City Councilor Elizabeth Wade — members of the Liberal Democrats party — and passed after a proposal from Oxford City Councilor Mary Clarkson of the Labour Party to find a candidate from a grassroots-level municipality was added. Oxford has twin city and town ties with several places in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, but not in East Asia, the motion on the council’s Web site read. Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei TimesNo UK town or city is twinned with any municipality in Taiwan, it added. Oxford is renowned for its history, the University of Oxford and high-tech firms, Ou said, adding that the motion would advance city-to-city and people-to-people interactions.
Source:Taipei Times
July 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
Su Jia-chyuan sues KMT trio for claims
Attorney Fang Yen-hui yesterday presses the “accusation bell” at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to file a lawsuit on behalf of Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Culture and Communications Committee chairwoman Alicia Wang and other KMT members. Su Chen-ching reportedly visited again the following month, accompanied by Su Jia-chyuan, whose office told the TETO staff to meet the pair at the airport, or arrange events or offer support. The Legislative Yuan should investigate how deeply Su Jia-chyuan and Su Chen-ching are involved in the operation of state-owned businesses, Yu said. Wang called on the foreign ministry to respond formally to the allegations the KMT raised on Monday. Meanwhile, Lo said that if Su Jia-chyuan wanted to sue somebody he should sue the foreign ministry, since he and other KMT members had only quoted material from the telegram.
Source:Taipei Times
July 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: Local tourists overwhelm Penghu amid virus curbs
Local environmental groups have said that the surge in tourists has exceeded the island’s estimated environmental carrying capacity of 15,000 people. Tourists walk on a path known as “Moses Parting the Sea” in Penghu County on Saturday. People line up outside a popular breakfast shop in Magong on Sunday as tourists swarm Penghu County during summer vacation. Penghu County Government statistics showed that the island received about 12,000 travelers per day. Eighty percent of the transit passengers were Southeast Asian travelers headed to the US and Canada, airport statistics showed.
Source:Taipei Times
July 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
Huawei at legislature, military: report
Solar panels are pictured on the rooftop of the Legislative Yuan’s Zhengjiang House in Taipei yesterday. Changing the transmission frequency of the power inverters could disrupt the electricity grids, sending them into safety mode and triggering blackouts, they said. No central government departments or agencies are using Huawei products, the source added. It would comply with the government’s information safety rules and not use Chinese products, it said. Legislative Yuan Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) yesterday said that he had ordered that the power inverters be promptly torn down, adding that Huawei products are strictly prohibited.
Source:Taipei Times
July 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
Lawmakers slog through lay judge system review
Lawmakers slog through lay judge system reviewRIVAL VERSIONS: The KMT said the DPP had sold out the public by opting for a system that would allow professionals to dominate the lay judge processBy Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNALawmakers yesterday continued to slog through a review of a draft “national judge act” that began on Monday afternoon, covering only one-third of the act, or 37 articles, by noon. Lawmakers in the main chamber of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday review draft bills, including those for a lay judges system, during yesterday’s meeting of an extraordinary session. As of press time last night, lawmakers were expected to review draft articles on lay judges obtaining days off from work, and on whether lay judges would have access to the dossier and evidence. The KMT’s version of the act is that of a moderated lay judge system, which was formulated after much discussion with experts and civic groups, Lin said. The KMT’s version, which would utilize a lay judge system and jury system simultaneously, shows the true spirit of reform, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
Powertech sees ‘slight setback’
Unfavorable fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic would cause a “slight setback” to revenue this quarter, compared with last quarter’s NT$19.41 billion (US$656.8 million), Powertech president Hung Chia-yu told investors in a teleconference. However, revenue this quarter is forecast to surpass the NT$17.71 billion the company made in the third quarter last year, he said. Photo: Hung Yu-fang, Taipei TimesThat would mean the quarter-on-quarter setback would be within 9 percent. However, Powertech said that it was maintaining its target of posting record-high revenue this year. Demand for replacement 5G smartphones and the installation of more base stations for 5G networks would fuel demand for memory chips in the third quarter, Hung said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
Changing to maintain ‘status quo’
Changing to maintain ‘status quo’By Tzou Jiing-wen 鄒景雯However the questions are phrased, opinion polls in Taiwan on cross-strait relations always result in a majority of respondents advocating maintaining the “status quo,” but what does that actually mean? In the past, maintaining the “status quo” meant Beijing refraining from taking aggressive action, and Taipei avoiding policies that might provoke Beijing. This allowed the two sides, on the surface at least, to maintain the pretense of an unbroken “status quo.”However, the rules of the old “status quo” have long since ceased to apply, and Beijing has lately taken to attacking the “status quo” in an attempt to reshape the wold order. If the Tsai administration’s policy is to maintain the cross-strait “status quo,” that would mean choosing to submit to Beijing’s logic. This is the kind of “status quo” Taiwan should hold on to.
Source:Taipei Times
July 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
Paraguayan envoy reaffirms nation’s ties with Taiwan
Paraguayan envoy reaffirms nation’s ties with TaiwanBy Peng Wan-hsin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerParaguayan Ambassador to Taiwan Marcial Bobadilla Guillen yesterday said that his country resolutely opposes the establishment of ties with Beijing, despite increasing pressure from China. Companies in Paraguay have been calling for the government to cut ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing, but “Taiwan, not China, is Paraguay’s friend,” Guillen cited Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez as saying. Benitez hopes Taiwan and Paraguay will continue to deepen that friendship, Guillen said during an inauguration ceremony for the 23-member Republic of China (Taiwan) — Republic of Paraguay Inter-parliamentarian Friendship Association. Paraguay Ambassador to Taiwan Marcial Bobadilla Guillen, center, takes part in a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday, accompanied by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wen Yu-hsia, right. By the end of this year, Taiwan would have imported an estimated 20,000 tonnes of Paraguayan beef worth US$100 million, 10 times the amount it imported five years ago, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
No room for failure: new envoy to US
The difference between being a legislator and an ambassador is that the former is a matter of personal success or failure, but failure on a diplomat’s part regarding Taiwan-US relations could not be tolerated, she said. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), who serves on the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, was chosen as caucus chairman. He said that 71 legislators across party lines had joined the caucus as of Sunday night, making it the largest legislative caucus. DPP Legislator Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) and Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) are the two other cochairs. Christensen said that the Legislative Yuan USA Caucus embodies the goodwill of Taiwanese from all walks of life toward the US, which he has personally experienced over the decades.
Source:Taipei Times
July 20, 2020 16:00 UTC
INTERVIEW: Minister says lay judge system a more stable approach
Assessing the judicial system, it has said since the beginning that only experts could participate in trials, [but through a lay judge system] later on common people could also participate. The lay judge system being proposed now would allow lay judges to rule on cases together with professional judges. In the end they scrapped the jury system and kept the lay judge system. If a lay judge system goes smoothly, in six years after assessments are made, would there be a chance that a jury system would be implemented? I would not rule out the possibility that a jury system could replace a lay judge system at that time.
Source:Taipei Times
July 20, 2020 15:56 UTC
Ministry thanks US lawmaker Yoho for bill proposal
Ministry thanks US lawmaker Yoho for bill proposalStaff writer, with CNA, WASHINGTONThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked US Representative Ted Yoho, who on Friday announced plans to submit a bill to the US House of Representatives to authorize the US president to respond with military force if China attacks Taiwan. The ministry would monitor the bill’s progress and, together with the US, promote regional peace, stability and prosperity, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s logo is pictured at the ministry in Taipei in an undated photograph. Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times“This [bill] is something that’s going to lay very clear what our intent is,” Yoho said. “But when [Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has announced that he’s ready to draw blood over Taiwan and reunify them, they forgot to ask Taiwan,” Yoho said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 20, 2020 15:56 UTC