Taiwan in Time: The conflicted historian
“Taiwan is no longer livable,” he wrote to his son Lien Chen-tung (連震東), who was already working in China. Lien Heng moved to Shanghai and died there three years later. Lien Chen-tung’s son, Lien Chan (連戰), was also a prominent KMT member, serving as vice-president from 1996 to 2000. Although it has been criticized for its biases, factual errors and questionable references, Lien Heng’s General History of Taiwan is considered the first comprehensive publication on the nation’s past. That same year, he drafted an outline of what would be his most famous work, The General History of Taiwan.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: Theater shows suffer from COVID-19
The National Theater Concert Hall (NTCH) yesterday morning announced that two dance troupes, Michael Keegan-Dolan’s Teac Damsa from Ireland and the London-based Candoco Dance Company, had been unable to obtain the necessary overseas performance insurance to cover their trips to Taipei. Given concerns that sharing food has a high risk of viral transmission, organizers decided to postponed the production until the fall. It lost the Hong Kong show when the entire month-long Hong International Art Festival was scrapped on Feb. 10 due to the COVID-19 outbreak in China, with the territory’s government postponing most of its large performance venues. The NTCH and Weiwuying said that tickets for the canceled shows are refundable. Information on the resumption of shows will be posted on its Web site and Facebook page, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Five-year-old saves his family from house fire
AP, KINGSTON, GeorgiaA five-year-old boy who saved his family from a house fire received special recognition from officials in northwest Georgia on Friday. Noah Woods woke up on Sunday last week to flames in the room he and his two-year-old sister, Lilly, shared. On Friday, Noah was presented with a proclamation from Bartow County Commissioner Steve Taylor honoring him with his very own day, WXIA-TV reported. “I proclaim today, Valentine’s Day, February, 14, 2020, as Noah Woods Day in Bartow County,” Taylor said at the ceremony. The Bartow County Fire Department also presented Noah with his own badge, certificate, helmet and firefighter pajamas.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taichung hall not to become fine art museum branch
Taichung Prefectural Hall was one of five major prefectural halls constructed during the Japanese colonial era. Turning over the building to the central government without any compensation is unacceptable, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said, adding that such a decision belittled the hall. The city government had received multiple complaints regarding the decision, which was made under former Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Lu said. Lin had previously signed an agreement with the Ministry of Cultural Affairs to turn over the hall and “upgrade” it to a national-level museum. By maintaining the hall’s historic status, the municipality hopes to draw more tourists to West Central District (中西), Lu said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Pelosi warns Europe against Huawei
“Nations cannot cede telecommunications infrastructure to China for financial expediency,” Pelosi said. “In terms of some of these issues like Huawei, we have bipartisan agreement on that,” Pelosi said. “I always say to members: Don’t be against something because President Trump might be for it. Pelosi said that Republicans and Democrats in the US agree that Huawei poses a threat to democratic values. “If you want a free flow of information, if you want to build a collective conscience of values and respect for human rights, don’t go with Huawei,” Pelosi said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Oil climbs despite Goldman’s gloomy outlook on demand
The optimism outweighed Goldman Sachs Group Inc slashing its crude demand growth forecast for this year almost in half and lowering its first-quarter oil price estimate by 16 percent. “There’s no doubt this rally will inspire more confidence for oil markets,” KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc analyst Leo Mariani said. The past two weeks have been rife with uncertainty for oil markets as Riyadh’s push for an early meeting this month and fresh production cuts face an impasse with Russia. The outbreak has intensified concerns about crude demand, prompting technical experts from the coalition to propose deepening supply cuts by 600,000 barrels per day to relieve excess inventories. Gold rose US$7.60 to US$1,582.70 per ounce and silver rose US$0.12 to US$17.72 per ounce, while copper fell US$0.01 to US$2.61 per pound.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Man runs 66km in home during virus lockdown
Pan Shancu has easily won the unofficial gold medal, saying he jogged 66km in a loop at home in six hours, 41 minutes. “I felt a little dizzy at first, but you get used to it after you circle many times,” Pan said from Hangzhou, near Shanghai. They have been ordered by education authorities not to simply lounge about playing computer games and fiddling with their phones. Like hundreds of millions of others, his movements have been severely restricted by the Chinese authorities in an attempt to stop the deadly virus spreading. To make up for the lack of exercise, he twice runs up and down the emergency stairwell of his 17-floor apartment tower three times a day.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taiwan’s Jung downs defending champ in NY
AP, UNIONDALE, New YorkReilly Opelka was knocked out of the New York Open on Friday by Taiwan’s Jason Jung, who has beaten both of the tournament’s past champions en route to his first career semi-final. Jung won only two matches on tour last year — both at this tournament — and then qualified for the main draw this week. Opelka, who won his lone career title last year at Long Island, was the highest-seeded player remaining. 6 Miomir Kecmanovic, who came back to beat fourth-seeded Ugo Humbert 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. 8 seed Kyle Edmund, who edged Kwon Soon-woo 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: Taiwan mask output to triple by month’s end: Motex
It would not normally raise production to meet short-term demand, but the masks are easy to produce and only NT$3 apiece, he said. People only have a few options when buying a mask — such as surgical masks, dust masks, industrial masks and respirators — but masks are likely to become more comfortable, closer fitting and more effective, Hsu added. Companies such as Motex keep production local, because they recognize the importance of having a local source for something as important as masks, he said. Hsu praised the government’s vigorous response to COVID-19, saying that NT$200 million (US$6.7 million) was invested into mask production, administrative procedures were expedited and military personnel were offered as additional labor for mask production. “The government is also working with manufacturers to ensure an uninterrupted supply of non-woven fabric,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Singapore orders Web site to warn its readers of ‘communicating falsehoods’
AFP, SingaporeSingapore yesterday ordered the Facebook page of an anti-government Web site to warn readers it regularly posts falsehoods, the first time authorities have taken such action under a tough law against misinformation. This means it is required to carry a notice warning readers that it “has a history of communicating falsehoods,” the statement said. In the past weeks, its Facebook page also spread falsehoods about COVID-19 in Singapore, it said. The Web site is run by Alex Tan, who says he is an Australian citizen based overseas. Singapore’s government, which regularly faces criticism for curbing civil liberties, insists the legislation is necessary to stop the spread of damaging falsehoods online.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Satellite data help remote Zimbabwe farms survive
Ngwenya’s farm — in Ntabazinduna, 40km north of Bulawayo — is so remote that he can go a year or more without seeing the agriculture extension officers who are sent by local charities to assist small-scale farmers like him. Many still rely on traditional weather-predicting systems and occasional visits by on-the-ground extension officers to get crucial information and advice. However, using satellite data, groups like TMG can access weather information that is more accurate than the general forecasts supplied by the meteorological department, said Lwazi Mlilo, an agronomist working with TMG. With mobile phone technology, they can get that information to farmers faster than they would by sending people out to hard-to-reach farms, he added. Last year, the UN agency said that satellite data had the potential to help Africa’s farmers “be better prepared for drought and increase agricultural production with less water use.”
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Europe lives on after Brexit by cherishing Britons’ liberalism
To be sure, saving the English realm is all the Brexiteers ever cared about, but what sort of realm has a prime minister who lies to its queen, as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did when he suspended the British Parliament last year? However, if he were around today, De Gaulle would point out that Johnson’s Britain has neither Europe nor the open sea. Still, it is painfully clear that Brexit is a defeat for the idea of Europe — that metaphysical chimera, that geopolitical Harlequin’s coat of many colors. Without the UK, Europe will become more stifling. It will have the ruins of Rome, the splendor of Athens and the ghost of Bohemian novelist Franz Kafka.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: Group letter urges WHO to abolish wildlife markets
By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterA joint letter by the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan and foreign groups is calling on the WHO and other global bodies to close wildlife markets to reduce human and animal health risks, citing the COVID-19 outbreak in China as an example. Wildlife markets have also been associated with other epidemics, such as the global outbreaks of SARS in 2002 and 2003, and Ebola epidemics in Africa in recent years, it said. While China has announced a temporary ban on wildlife trade and wildlife markets across the country, the measures should be made permanent, it added. Stopping wildlife trade also safeguards biodiversity, as 1 million animal and plant species are on the verge of extinction, the letter said. Wildlife sales in Taiwan have declined significantly since a 1994 amendment to the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) banned the trade of protected wildlife, but some eateries still sell wildlife, such as the Formosan Reeves’ muntjac and civets, Lin said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 15, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: Ban on Chinese children inhumane: Ma
“It is not that they did not choose Taiwan; it is that even if they had chosen, they must wait a long time,” Ma said. “We cannot just let children who have lived in Taiwan for so many years roam the streets,” he added. “Let them come home and be united with their families, President Tsai. Chinese children of Taiwanese and Chinese couples who hold residence or visitor permits, but not ROC passports, would not be allowed into the country, he said. While such children have equal rights to healthcare in Taiwan, priority must be given to ROC citizens in the face of a fast-spreading epidemic, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
February 14, 2020 15:56 UTC
Woes deepen for China tech champion
Developers have been selling US dollar bonds, despite property sales having come to a halt due to the shutdown of large parts of China’s economy as a result of the outbreak. Unigroup also faces as much as 8.3 billion yuan (US$1.19 billion) in domestic bond redemptions next month. The company suffered a net loss of 3.2 billion yuan for the first half of last year. It had 165.6 billion yuan in interest-bearing liabilities as of the end of June last year, according to its half-year financial report. The group and its subsidiaries also have a combined 54.6 billion yuan of onshore and offshore bonds outstanding, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
Source:Taipei Times
February 14, 2020 15:56 UTC