High school ers found political party
High school ers found political partyBy Hung Jui-chin and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerTainan First Senior High School on Wednesday is to inaugurate its first political party, the TNFSH Full-Sugarism Party, to help support students’ democratic literacy. “A group has more influence.”The entrance to the main building of Tainan First Senior High School in Tainan is pictured on June 27, 2018. Lastly, the party promised to connect the all-boys school to Tainan Girls’ Senior High School through an underground tunnel. The Full-Sugarism Party is not the first student party in Taiwan. The Taichung First Senior High School student council last year became the first in the nation to pass a “student political party act.”Three parties were established, although one is at risk of dissolution after it failed to nominate any candidates for party office.
Source:Taipei Times
December 27, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taiwan in Time: The first Truku convert
This portrait of Ciwang Iwal can be found at the entrance to the cave next to the Ciwang Memorial Church. Ciwang died the following year, and is still revered today as the first Truku convert to Christianity and an influential figure by the large number of Truku who still follow the religion today. THREE HUSBANDSCanadian missionary James Dickson encouraged Ciwang Iwal to attend Bible college in Tamsui since he was banned from entering the mountain areas to convert the Truku. When she realized that Truku who married Han Taiwanese enjoyed a better standard of living, she spurned the advances of young men in her village. But her fate changed when she met Canadian missionary James Dickson, who was frustrated that he couldn’t enter the mountains to convert the Truku.
Source:Taipei Times
December 27, 2020 11:01 UTC
Home selected to be museum for 228 Incident
Home selected to be museum for 228 IncidentMARCH OPENING: The house of Tang Te-chang is to open on March 13, the date of his death in 1947, also known as Justice and Courage Memorial DayBy Hung Jui-chin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe former home of a victim of the 228 Incident is to open as a museum in March, the Tainan Cultural Heritage Protection Association said yesterday. It is to open as a museum commemorating Tang on March 13, the date of his death in 1947, also known as “Justice and Courage Memorial Day.”The Tainan residence of lawyer and 228 Incident victim Tang Te-chang is pictured yesterday. Tang lived in it for less than four years before he died in the 228 Incident,” association director Huang Chien-lung (黃建龍) said, adding that the building had also served as an office for Tang, who ran a law practice. “This will not only be a place to commemorate Tang Te-chang, but will also be an important place of learning about democracy and human rights,” he said. On Monday, the association posted on Facebook an unfinished graphic story of Tang’s experiences up to and including the 228 Incident, produced by author and artist Nisin Sheep (蠢羊與奇怪生物).
Source:Taipei Times
December 27, 2020 10:52 UTC
Officials ready for UK flight: CECC
Officials ready for UK flight: CECCLONDON CALLING: Today’s flight with 120 passengers is the first to arrive from England since measures were put in place in response to the UK’s new virus variantBy Wu Liang-yi and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerHealth officials have already made preparations for a China Airlines (中華航空) flight that is bringing 120 passengers to Taiwan from the UK today, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday. Today’s flight from London, which is to arrive at 6:15pm, is the first from the UK to arrive since the new measures were put in place, the center said. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, center, and Premier Su Tseng-chang, right, yesterday inspect a COVID-19 quarantine center in New Taipei City’s Wulai District. Anyone who has recently traveled to the UK would be subject to the same regulations, he added. Over the past few days, 26 people who have recently been to the UK were placed in a quarantine facility, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 26, 2020 18:56 UTC
NT$23.9m may not satisfy former death row inmate
NT$23.9m may not satisfy former death row inmateBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterFormer death row inmate Hsieh Chih-hung (謝志宏) and his lawyers were yesterday considering whether to appeal the Tainan branch of the High Court’s decision to compensate him NT$23.919 million (US$838,058) for spending more than 18 years in prison. Former death row inmate Hsieh Chih-hung, right, and his lawyer Tu Hsin-cheng are pictured in Tainan on May 15. The High Court on March 14 last year accepted the petition and ordered that Hsieh’s sentence be temporarily suspended. The retrial was held in May, and the High Court acquitted Hsieh of all charges. However, the High Court did not agree and reduced the amount to NT$3,500 per day, as the judges did not find wrongdoing by the police.
Source:Taipei Times
December 26, 2020 18:56 UTC
Mislabeling triggers doubt over ‘Taiwan Pork’ label
Mislabeling triggers doubt over ‘Taiwan Pork’ labelA TRIAL MONTH: National Animal Industry Foundation executive director Wang Chung-shu said Formosa Chang was approved as its Spanish pork supply finishes this weekBy Yang Yuan-ting / Staff reporterMembers of the public yesterday called into question the credibility of the government-certified “Taiwan Pork” label after braised pork rice chain Formosa Chang (鬍鬚張) was found to use the label for some products containing Spanish pork. The promotion of local pork through the “Taiwan Pork” label is a government measure designed to mitigate the effects of lifting restrictions on US pork imports. Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung, right, and the winner of a competition to design the “Taiwan Pork” label, Lin Lee-hsun, stand next to the label at an awards ceremony in Taipei on Oct. 6. Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei TimesThe Council of Agriculture (COA) in October launched the label, saying that businesses selling local pork could apply to use it from last month. Formosa Chang said it was approved to use “Taiwan Pork” labels throughout the nation, but customers reported that one of its lunchboxes, braised pork with anka, contained pork from Spain.
Source:Taipei Times
December 26, 2020 18:56 UTC
New CPBL head eyes expansion
New CPBL head eyes expansionLOVE FOR BASEBALL: Finding a corporation with the money and passion to sponsor a team would not be easy, but interest was brewing in Kaohsiung, Tsai saidBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterDeputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), who is to takeover as head of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), on Thursday said he would add a sixth team to the league. Tsai made the remarks after he was tapped to head the organization when CPBL commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) finishes his second term next month. Tsai outlined his vision for the league, saying that finding corporate backers to start a sixth team was a top priority. “Then the CPBL can grow more vigorously, and have different combinations for game matchups.”However, Tsai said he knows it would not be easy. “The CPBL in the past decade has operated with four teams, and waited a long time to welcome the Wei Chuan Dragons back.
Source:Taipei Times
December 26, 2020 18:56 UTC
Painting the sky
CECC reports four new imported COVID-19 casesCHECKING IT TWICE: All four people presented negative COVID-19 test results before boarding their flights, but all but one reported experiencing symptoms after arriving The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported four imported cases of COVID-19, bringing the nation’s total to 780. The new cases involve people arriving from Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and the US, who all presented a negative COVID-19 test result issued within 72 hours of boarding their flight, the center said in a statement. The case from the Philippines is a woman in her 30s who arrived in Taiwan to work on Dec. 10 and was quarantined at a government-designated center, the center said. The woman on Wednesday was tested prior to leaving mandatory 14-day quarantine and the result came back positive
Source:Taipei Times
December 25, 2020 15:56 UTC
Caroling in the Truku mountains
My artist friend had spent time here through the Tree Tree Tree Person Residency Project (森人藝駐計劃) and we were invited up to celebrate Christmas — a week early since the actual festivities are held in Tmbarah. “Christmas to Truku people is like the Lunar New Year [for Han-Taiwanese],” says Hayu Yudau, pastor of the Skadang Church in Tmbarah. Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei TimesSTUNNING VIEWSThe Japanese forcefully relocated most Truku off the mountains to better “govern” them in 1933. More songs are sung — usually three verses in Truku and one in Mandarin, and prayers are made in both languages. After breakfast, Hayu and the Tree Tree Tree Person crew head down a steep and slippery overgrown path for about 30 minutes until they reach the foundations of the ruined original Skadang church.
Source:Taipei Times
December 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
HK tycoon unlikely to get residency: source
Hong Kong entertainment tycoon Charles Heung, center, and his wife, Tiffany Chan, left, attend an exhibition in Kaohsiung on July 12 last year. Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei TimesHowever, national security officials believe that Heung is a potential security risk, the source said. When China’s National People’s Congress promulgated the National Security Law in Hong Kong, Heung was one of 3,000 celebrities to sign a public statement supporting the controversial legislation, the source said. Being eligible for residency does not mean the application will be granted, the source said, adding that the evaluation process protects national security and the interests of Taiwanese. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) said that Taiwan must look to its national security as the nation extends its friendship to Hong Kong.
Source:Taipei Times
December 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
Contacts of domestic case test negative: CECC
Contacts of domestic case test negative: CECCREBUTTING RUMORS: While the contacts of Taiwan’s COVID-19 case No. 771 have tested negative, those who spread rumors would be held legally liable, the center saidBy Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter176 people who came in close contact with Taiwan’s COVID-19 case No. 771 have tested negative for COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, rebutting rumors about possible activity history with links to the nation’s first domestic case of the novel coronavirus since April. The CECC on April 1 published guidelines for the release of information about confirmed COVID-19 cases, Chen said. As the center could identify contacts associated with the case’s other activities, it would not release that information, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
DPP passes ractopamine directives
DPP passes ractopamine directivesCHRISTMAS SPIRIT? Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang, front row, center, leads KMT lawmakers in a protest of government plans to import US pork containing ractopamine at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei TimesOpposition lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted against the directives. Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) and independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) sided with the DPP. KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said: “DPP legislators have castrated themselves by going against the public will.”“They are a rubber-stamp team and the party has become a ‘ractopamine pork’ entity,” she said.
Source:Taipei Times
December 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
HTC to roll out more 5G smartphones, VR devices: Wang
HTC to roll out more 5G smartphones, VR devices: WangBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterHTC Corp (宏達電) chairwoman and CEO Cher Wang (王雪紅) yesterday said that the company is planning to roll out more 5G mobile phones and virtual-reality (VR) devices next year. “Prepare to be amazed,” Wang told reporters, referring to the upcoming VR product releases. HTC launched its first 5G smartphone, code-named HTC U20 5G, in September, giving a boost to its revenue. “The advancement of 5G would be beneficial to HTC, and we have leveled up our VR technology,” she said. HTC and VIA Technologies have suspended their year-end parties after Taiwan on Tuesday reported its first domestic COVID-19 transmission since April.
Source:Taipei Times
December 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
KMT to launch signature drive for pork referendum
KMT to launch signature drive for pork referendumAN EATER’s CHOICE? Lin spoke to reporters in front of the Legislative Yuan’s Chun-hsien Building (群賢樓) in Taipei, where KMT lawmakers spent the night to demonstrate their “firm” opposition to the importation of pork with traces of ractopamine. The Referendum Act stipulates that referendums from next year are to be held once every two years on the fourth Saturday of August. The KMT was scheduled to hold a rally outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday, with former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) expected to participate. The KMT livestreamed the voting on Facebook, with KMT Chairman Office director Yeh Hsu-hung (葉旭鴻), KMT Youth Department director Chen Kuan-an (陳冠安), and KMT spokeswoman and New Taipei City Councilor Chiang I-chen (江怡臻) among those providing live commentary.
Source:Taipei Times
December 24, 2020 15:56 UTC
Property market needs broad fix
Property market needs broad fixBy Chang Chin-oh 張金鶚On Dec. 7, and without prior warning, the central bank proposed four targeted financial control measures that went into effect the next day. However, can these measures achieve the result of curbing property speculation and fixing the housing market? We are now being told that house-hoarding tax reform needs to be discussed for another two years. The only way to thoroughly correct the housing market is by establishing a long-term system of laws and regulations. Hopefully, the government’s plan for improving the housing market can make it more rational and give young people hope for their future housing needs.
Source:Taipei Times
December 23, 2020 16:07 UTC