Government to reopen representative office in Guam
Government to reopen representative office in GuamBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday announced that it is to reopen a representative office in Guam, citing the growing strategic importance of the Pacific region and a strong Taiwan-US partnership. Preparations for reopening the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Guam were already under way, the ministry said yesterday in a statement. Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei TimesDue to budget and personnel considerations, the government in 2017 deemed it necessary to temporarily halt operation of the office in Guam, the ministry said. Re-establishing the representative office in Guam would facilitate economic and trade cooperation, and exchanges between Taiwan and the greater western Pacific region, deepen relations with its Pacific allies and increase multilateral exchanges, it said. After the reopening of the Guam office, the number of representative offices in the US would increase to 13: Washington, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Chicago, Honolulu, Denver, Miami and Guam, the ministry said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 03, 2020 15:56 UTC
Ministry orders Tatung to submit minutes of meeting
Ministry orders Tatung to submit minutes of meetingBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Economic Affairs on Thursday asked Tatung Co (大同) to submit the minutes of a controversial shareholders’ meeting within five days as a dispute over the legality of its board election on Tuesday raged on. The ministry on Thursday told Tatung to submit supplementary documents within five days or the ministry would return its application, Lee said. Tatung could apply again, but it is supposed to complete the registration within 15 days after the board election, she said. While Wang’s lawyer, Chuang Cheng (莊正), on Tuesday said that shareholders would apply to the ministry to hold a special shareholders’ meeting to defend their rights, Lee said the ministry has not received their application. “While Tatung claimed some shareholders used money from other Chinese investors to buy Tatung shares, no shareholder would admit that,” Lee said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 03, 2020 15:56 UTC
Doctor tells parents to keep kids away from small objects
Doctor tells parents to keep kids away from small objectsBy Tsai Shu-yuan and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerA Taichung doctor on Thursday advised parents to keep children away from small objects after he treated a five-year-old boy who swallowed a metal ornament. Swallowing foreign objects is common among children aged six months to six years, with the most commonly swallowed objects being coins, he said. In most cases, objects are passed within four to six days, but there have been cases where it took three to four weeks, he said. Parents should keep small items out of reach of young children and should remain calm if items are swallowed, Lin said. The first thing a parent should do if their child swallows something potentially harmful is to check that the they are breathing normally.
Source:Taipei Times
July 03, 2020 15:56 UTC
Legislature passes bill to nationalize irrigation groups
Legislature passes bill to nationalize irrigation groupsBy Huang Hsin-po and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the third reading of a bill to convert Taiwan’s 17 irrigation associations into a government body, despite strong opposition from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and some farmers. There are 17 irrigation associations nationwide and one joint association in Taichung, a Council of Agriculture Web site showed. When the legislature passed amendments to the Act of Irrigation Association Organization (農田水利會組織通則) in 2018 requiring the entities to be legally defined as public juridical persons, the government was already seeking “illegitimate ways” to “infringe upon assets belonging to irrigation associations,” KMT Legislator Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉) said. DPP caucus secretary-general Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said that if irrigation associations are non-governmental entities, they cannot enforce the law or crack down on people involved in illegal activity related to agricultural irrigation and drainage and their funds for irrigation and drainage come from the council. Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said that the council would establish a new irrigation and water conservancy department, with 17 divisions, that would replace the 17 associations.
Source:Taipei Times
July 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Rights advocate Chen Wen-chen honored in Taipei
Rights advocate Chen Wen-chen honored in TaipeiBy Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterA memorial event for democracy advocate Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) was held in Taipei yesterday on the 39th anniversary of his death. Vice President William Lai, center, places a flower at Dr Chen Wen-chen Incident Memorial Square at National Taiwan University in Taipei yesterday during a service to commemorate the 39th anniversary Chen’s death. The evening memorial had been scheduled for the Dr Chen Wen-chen Incident Memorial Square (陳文成事件紀念廣場) at NTU, but was moved inside the First Student Activity Center due to rain. It was co-organized by the NTU Student Association, the NTU Graduate Student Association, the Dr Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation and the Professor Chen Wen-Chen Memorial Foundation. Vice President William Lai (賴清德), Transitional Justice Commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠), Dr Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation chairwoman Yang Huang Maysing (楊黃美幸), Professor Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation board member Huang Ching-chih (黃靜芝) and National Human Rights Museum Director Chen Chun-hung (陳俊宏) were among the attendees.
Source:Taipei Times
July 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Life insurers reduce declared interest rates
Life insurers reduce declared interest ratesBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterThe nation’s major life insurers this month are continuing to cut the declared interest rates for interest-sensitive products, due to falling bond yields amid a low-interest rate environment, the companies said yesterday. Life insurers release rates on a monthly basis, based primarily on their investment returns, which they use to calculate policyholders’ distributions. Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) and Yuanta Life Insurance Co (元大人壽) also lowered rates. Nan Shan Life kept the rates for its US dollar policies unchanged, but cut the rates for its NT dollar products by 10 basis points, driving the rates to 1.95 percent, corporate data showed. Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽), Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) and China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) did not adjust their rates.
Source:Taipei Times
July 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
Property transactions recovering
However, the latest data for commercial property deals, a gauge of investment interests, represented a 53.6 percent decline from the same period last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic sidelined buyers. Factory and office buildings constituted the bulk of transactions in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taichung during the April-to-June period, the company’s valuation and advisory services director Wendy Hsueh (薛惠珍) told a news briefing. The Taipei 101 and the Breeze Nan Shan building in Taipei’s Xinyi District are pictured on April 21. Wan Hai plans to turn the Chong Hong building into its new headquarters and use the other office space to accommodate future expansions. Land deals appeared unaffected by the virus downturn with transactions totaling NT$80.1 billion last quarter, Yen said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 02, 2020 15:56 UTC
KMT speaks out against security legislation for HK
KMT speaks out against security legislation for HKBy Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterPassage of the Hong Kong national security legislation by China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee is regrettable, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said in a statement yesterday. Passage of the legislation would inevitably add greater uncertainty to Hong Kong’s future, it added. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang speaks during a meeting of the party’s Central Standing Committee yesterday in Taipei. Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei TimesThe “characteristics of Hong Kong’s development” and its residents’ “space for autonomy” should not be sacrificed just for political reasons, it said. Hong Kong’s legislative and judicial bodies should “firmly defend Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, [and] uphold the tradition of freedom,” it said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
HPA warns against passing up follow-up colonoscopy
HPA warns against passing up follow-up colonoscopyBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterFailure to undergo a follow-up colonoscopy after testing positive in a colorectal cancer screening can increase the risk of death from colorectal cancer by 64 percent, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. About 16,000 people were diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2017, it said. The number of people who underwent a colonoscopy for diagnosis following a positive fecal occult blood test also fell by about 10 percent, as an estimated 10,000 people who tested positive did not undergo a colonoscopy, HPA data showed. Colorectal cancer usually does not show symptoms in its early stages, so regularly undergoing colorectal cancer screening is important for detecting early signs, Wu said. Among the about 500 possible colorectal cancer cases, about half might have only stage 0 or 1 colorectal cancer, which is highly curable and has a five-year survival rate of up to 95 percent, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
July 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taiwan, Somaliland to set up representative offices
The two nations have agreed to establish a “Taiwan Representative Office” and “Somaliland Representative Office,” Wu told a news conference in Taipei, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) a day earlier shared a foreign media report that Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi has appointed a representative to Taiwan. While the exact dates for the offices’ launches are still to be negotiated, Taiwan has since Feb. 6 sent officials to Somaliland to make preparations, he said. Somaliland also has representative offices in 22 countries, he said, adding that Taiwan’s measure is no different from that of other countries. Both sides would appoint a senior diplomat and four officers for each new office, Wu said, but withheld the officials’ names. Establishing a representative office does not necessarily lead to establishing formal ties, he added.
Source:Taipei Times
July 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Slow acceptance of 5G forecast: NCC officials
Slow acceptance of 5G forecast: NCC officialsBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterWhile the nation’s three main telecoms are launching 5G service this week, Taiwan is not going to see a large-scale migration from 4G to 5G, given the scarcity of smartphone models that can support the service, National Communications Commission (NCC) officials said yesterday. Photo: Wu Po-wei, Taipei TimesThe fees are the lowest in the world, compared with other nations where 5G service is available, NCC chief secretary Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭祈宏) said. A large-scale migration from the 4G to the 5G service would not happen until new 5G iPhones are launched, NCC officials said, adding that the estimation was made based on observations from the launch of 4G services. Meanwhile, an online poll by text messaging app Line on whether consumers would be motivated by the launch of 5G service to buy 5G smartphones found that more than 60 percent of respondents said they would not by a new phone to be able to access a 5G service. About 30 percent said they would consider changing their phones, and 10 percent said they would change their phones to access a 5G service.
Source:Taipei Times
July 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taiwan opens office to aid Hong Kongers wanting out
Taiwan opens office to aid Hong Kongers wanting outBy Chung Li-hua / Staff reporterThe Taiwan-Hong Kong Services and Exchanges Office yesterday officially began operations, marking a milestone in the government’s support for Hong Kongers in their pursuit for democracy and freedom, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said. The office is tasked with helping Hong Kongers who plan to study, work, invest, start a business or settle in Taiwan. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei TimesIt would also aid Hong Kongers whose security and freedom are at risk due to political factors on a case-by-case basis, as stipulated in Article 18 of the Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau (香港澳門關係條例). The office’s name plaque uses a font often seen on Hong Kong’s shop signs, showing the government’s expectation of fostering positive interactions with Hong Kongers, Chen said during the ceremony. The legislation would apply to people without permanent residency in Hong Kong if they are found to have committed crimes defined in the act outside Hong Kong, the article states.
Source:Taipei Times
July 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
TWSE changes Tatung to full-delivery stock
TWSE changes Tatung to full-delivery stockBAD RAP: The exchange said Tatung had seriously breached shareholders’ rights and failed to give a satisfactory explanation of its board election disputeBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterTatung Co (大同) shares yesterday plunged by the maximum daily limit of 10 percent to NT$18.90, the lowest in three months, after the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) on Tuesday evening changed the company’s classification to a full-delivery stock effective tomorrow. Under the exchange’s regulations, investors are not allowed to engage in margin trading of a full-delivery stock, TWSE spokeswoman Rebecca Chen (陳麗卿) told the Taipei Times by telephone. The punishment for Tatung reflects the exchange’s observation that it had seriously breached shareholders’ rights, she said. Vivian Tsai (蔡玉真), a Tatung shareholder and a media personality, led a group of 30 Tatung shareholders at a rally outside the Securities and Futures Bureau yesterday. The group was petitioning the Financial Supervisory Commission to order Tatung to hold a new board election.
Source:Taipei Times
July 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Gogoro showcases its first electric bicycle
Gogoro showcases its first electric bicycleBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterGogoro Inc (睿能創意) yesterday launched its first electric bicycle, the Gogoro Eeyo 1, in Taiwan, after unveiling the bike in New York in late May and in France on Tuesday. “The electric bike market is much larger than that of electric scooters,” Luke said. In Germany, 1.8 million electric scooters were sold last year, but sales of electric bikes were two to three times that number, he said. Gogoro has packed all of the bike’s electric components — including a motor, battery and sensors — inside its rear hub. Gogoro said it does not plan to launch sharing services for its electric bikes in the short term.
Source:Taipei Times
July 01, 2020 15:56 UTC
Senhwa aims NT$1.5bn via 15 million shares
Senhwa aims NT$1.5bn via 15 million sharesEXPERIMENTAL DRUG: While news about a COVID-19 vaccine is more eye-catching, developing a treatment would be more viable, the Senhwa boss saidBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterSenhwa Biosciences Inc (生華科) aims to raise NT$1.5 billion (US$50.57 million) by issuing 15 million new common shares in the third quarter of this year to fund the research of new drugs, including the experimental drug Silmitasertib for the treatment of COVID-19, the company said on Monday. The price of the new shares would depend on the firm’s average share price over the five days before the secondary offering, Chang said. As Senhwa Biosciences shares have stayed above NT$100 in the past few months, the company expects to raise at least NT$1.5 billion from the issuance of 15 million new shares, Chang said. Senhwa Biosciences shares advanced 9.96 percent to NT$139.5 in Taipei trading yesterday, after an international team led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, identified Silmitasertib as one of the several drugs that could disrupt the viral takeover of cells. The company’s shares have risen 120 percent from NT$63.5 in March, when the company began focusing on exploiting the experimental drug to treat COVID-19.
Source:Taipei Times
June 30, 2020 15:56 UTC