Police arrest 674 suspects, seize weapons in Taoyuan
By Jason Pan / Staff reporterTaoyuan police have arrested 674 suspected gang members, and seized illegal weapons and drugs, Taoyuan police chief Chen Kuo-ching (陳國進) told a news conference on Saturday. In other news, Keelung police yesterday captured a man surnamed Hsieh (謝), 47, who is suspected of strangling his wife surnamed Tseng (曾), 45, to death with electrical cord. Su met the woman surnamed Hoang, 22, at an eatery where she was working, but their relationship soured when she began to take on other jobs, including working as a masseuse, police said. Su told police that Hoang had deceived him, as she had not told him that she was married. Su bought two containers and filled them with gasoline before pouring it on Hoang and allegedly setting her alight, police said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Three books document 228 Massacre
Staff Writer, with CNAThe Memorial Foundation of 228 yesterday launched three books documenting different aspects of the 228 Incident to mark the 73rd anniversary of the massacre. The 228 Incident refers to a crackdown launched by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime against civilian demonstrators following an incident in Taipei on Feb. 27, 1947. The Puzzle of the 228 Incident, by Academia Historica President Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深), is a compilation of major research findings and theses pertaining to the Incident. It focuses on the battle between revolutionaries and KMT troops in Wuniulan, today’s Ailan (愛蘭) in Nantou County, shortly after the massacre. Speaking at a launch event at the National 228 Memorial Museum, Lin said he encountered difficulties when conducting the interviews, as many survivors and witnesses were still afraid to talk even 73 years after the massacre.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taipei Zoo names top five intruding snakes in the city
Four of the snakes are known to consume rodents, the zoo said, adding that only the pointed-scaled pit viper is venomous. The zoo urged people to avoid places that snakes frequent when the weather is warm, as winter in Taiwan is not cold enough to send snakes into hibernation. Hikers should use a stick to stir the bushes or long grass before walking in to scare off snakes, the zoo said. In related news, two cotton-top tamarins that were born at the zoo have turned one month old, the zoo said. Prior to the birth, the parents were the only two cotton-top tamarins at the zoo, it added.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Millions of Chinese firms face collapse due to virus
“If China fails to contain the virus in the first quarter, I expect a vast number of small businesses would go under,” Beijing Zhonghe Yingtai Management Consultant Co (北京中和應泰財顧) analyst Lu Changshun (呂長順) said. Support from China’s banking giants in response to the outbreak has so far been piecemeal, mostly earmarked for directly combating the virus. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC, 中國工商銀行), the nation’s largest lender, has offered relief to 14,000 small businesses, or about 5 percent of its small business clients. “We approve qualified small businesses’ loan applications as soon as they arrive,” the bank said. To put that into perspective, China’s small businesses typically face interest payments on about 36.9 trillion yuan of loans every quarter.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Overseas fulfillment falls, shifts home
By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterThe ratio of orders fulfilled by Taiwanese manufacturers overseas has consistently declined over the past several months as they shift operations back home, government statistics showed. Last month, 48.8 percent of all export orders received by Taiwanese firms were produced in their overseas factories, down from 53.7 percent in the previous month and compared with 50.8 percent a year ago, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Thursday. The information technology and communications industry and the mechanical engineering sector led others by reporting that 91.2 percent and 74 percent of their export orders respectively were fulfilled by their overseas production bases last month. However, those figures also fell for the fourth consecutive month, the data showed. “A temporary decline in external demand may cause a downward revision, but the trends are still intact,” Yen added.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: Taipei deputy says Ko out of the loop on COVID-19
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporterTaipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said she is the director of the city government’s COVID-19 prevention response team, so she has the best overall grasp of the virus situation in Taipei, and that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has not been informed of all the details. Huang was responding to a series remarks Ko and Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), head of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), had made on whether more details about a confirmed COVID-19 case should be publicized. Ko has repeatedly called for the area in which the woman lives to be revealed to the public to prevent further panic. Ko on Saturday said that he had not been informed of the details. Whether the nation’s 24th case is locally transmitted or not, the city government would enhance disease prevention and control measures to prepare for possible local transmission of COVID-19 in Taiwan, she said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Flawed law curriculum harming citizenry
The excessive triviality and fragmentation of law-related education has been a problem for years in junior and senior-high school teaching materials. These teaching materials are hard to comprehend for teachers without a legal background and ruin students’ interest in studying law, a key social mechanism. The Criminal Code chapter includes the three-stage theory of crime — which haunted me for a long time during my freshman year at law school. These kinds of teaching materials confuse teachers and students who are unable to digest the information. This shows that there is a serious lack of will to follow the spirit of the rule of law.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Han recall petition approaches goal
Reset Kaohsiung Headquarters said that as of Saturday night, it had received about 363,000 signatures from Wecare Kaohsiung, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and other petition locations before Citizens Mowing Action delivered its signatures. Along with Wecare Kaohsiung and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party’s signatures, the campaign is now “very close” to reaching the 580,000 signature threshold needed to launch a recall vote against Han, he said. The campaigners will likely submit the signatures by the middle of next month, Wecare Kaohsiung founder Aaron Yin (尹立) said. The petition has not ended, he said, adding that he hopes people would continue to sign the petition to reach the threshold. Supporters of the campaign said the commission was “nitpicking.”Reset Kaohsiung Headquarters is just a venue that accepts signatures, not Chen’s office, they said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
EDITORIAL: Opportunity in China crisis
Over the past 20 years, China has developed into the world’s factory through its low labor, land and raw material costs. The outbreak could also spell good news for Taiwan, because it might help speed up the return of investment and jobs from China. It might become a tipping point in the decoupling process for companies considering moving their supply chains out of China. Some businesses have started to shift production out of China in response to the US-China trade dispute, and more are expected to follow suit. Together with government incentives that aim to boost domestic investment amid the trade row, the outbreak might prove to be a crisis as well as an opportunity for Taiwan.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Turning democracy against itself
However, the absence of any restrictions on speech might pose a threat to a democratic society. Advocating for Taiwan’s annexation by force is in and of itself anti-democratic, as it supports replacing a democratic society with an authoritarian one. A democratic society is the foundation of all freedoms, including freedom of speech. Without a democratic society, there are no grounds to talk about guarantees for freedom. Allowing a statement that denies the continuation of a democratic society would ultimately undermine that society and, in turn, destroy freedom itself.
Source:Taipei Times
February 23, 2020 15:56 UTC
Another NT$4.11bn spent in 5G auction
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterChunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (FET, 遠傳電信) yesterday spent an additional NT$4.11 billion (US$135.2 million) combined to secure optimal 5G bandwidth, boosting the nation’s 5G auction total to NT$142.19 billion. The auction price was the world’s third-highest after Germany and Italy, which raised 6.55 billion euros each through 5G bandwidth auctions. The nation’s biggest telecom has spent NT$48.37 billion to win bandwidth in the 5G auction, company data showed. FET plans to launch 5G service in the third quarter. Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star spent NT$30.65 billion and NT$19.7 billion respectively in the two phases respectively, companies data showed.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
Two detained over alleged link to counterfeit money
By Jason Pan / Staff reporterTwo men have been taken into custody for their alleged ties to a money counterfeiting ring, police said yesterday. “The seized US$100 bills are of very high quality owing to a high-level counterfeiting production process,” Lee said. The evidence eventually led to Hsieh, Lee said, adding that police in November last year conducted a search that uncovered 1,200 fake US$100 bills in his temple and detained him for questioning. “The counterfeits Kao sold were then locally resold to Southeast Asian migrant workers, who could remit US currency home,” Lee said, adding that Hsieh had sold about US$30,000 of fake bills. Kao and Hsieh face charges of counterfeiting valuable securities, the bureau said, adding that an investigation is under way to verify links with Liao’s operation.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
COVID-19 fears turn yen from haven to liability
BloombergFear of the spreading COVID-19 outbreak in China has turned the yen from a haven asset to a liability. As new cases of the virus mount, the impact of COVID-19 on supply chains and demand is pummeling Japan’s economy, already under pressure after last year’s sales-tax hike. The benchmark 10-year US yield fell to a five-month low this week, but the US dollar-yen’s move in the opposite direction suggests little haven demand for Japan’s currency. “And the economy is expected to get even weaker.”Currency sell-offs were not limited to the yen in Asia. “The dollar is reclaiming its original status of a haven currency,” Matsunami said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus on G20 agenda as cases increase
As international authorities attempt to stop the outbreak in China from becoming a pandemic, finance leaders at the G20 meeting in Saudi Arabia this weekend are set to discuss risks to the global economy. “COVID-19 anxiety has risen to a new level amid concerns of virus outbreaks in Beijing and outside of China,” National Australia Bank Ltd senior foreign-exchange strategist Rodrigo Catril said. “If we give in to blind self-confidence, the epidemic could rebound and the virus exploit us when we are off guard,” the People’s Daily said. As G20 finance ministers prepare to meet, the IMF said it was too early to tell what impact the virus would have on global growth. “We are still hoping that the impact will be a V-shaped curve” with a sharp decline in China and sharp rebound after the containment of the virus, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2020 15:56 UTC
China auto sales slump 92% in first half of month
BloombergChina auto sales fell 92 percent during the first two weeks of this month in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. The situation is expected to improve in the third week of this month, Cui said in an interview yesterday. The numbers underscore the extent by which sales have been affected in the world’s largest auto market. ADDING TO A TRENDEven before the outbreak, auto sales in the country were heading for an unprecedented third straight annual decline because of a slowing economy and trade tensions. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Thursday said it would work with other government departments on more measures to stabilize auto sales and reduce the impact of the outbreak.
Source:Taipei Times
February 21, 2020 15:56 UTC