content_text:
Cricket is barely on the radar in Japan, where baseball, soccer and sumo wrestling dominate the sporting landscape, but all that could be about to change after its under-19 team qualified for the World Cup in South Africa.

Of course, it is early days yet, as the Japanese Cricket Association (JCA) was founded in 1984 and only made an International Cricket Council member in 1995. The U-19 side were founded in 2017 and took part in last year’s East-Asia Pacific qualifying tournament to get some practice.

However, after a 170-run win over Samoa in their opener, they went undefeated to book their place in the U-19 World Cup, which starts today. Five players of Indian origin and several with mixed heritage play on the side, reflecting Japan’s slowly increasing cultural diversity.

“Cricket is an international sport and with the changing Japanese domestic demographic, this is what the future is going to be,” said JCA chief executive Naoki Alex Miyaji, who has a Japanese father and Scottish mother.

Miyaji pointed to the success of Japan’s rugby union team at last year’s Rugby World Cup, in which a squad featuring 16 players born outside the country reached the quarter-finals for the first time.

“We need to change and see that traditional Japanese thinking is not going to help Japan in the future. Japan needs to open up a bit,” Miyaji said.

In a bid to increase the number of people playing cricket from the current 3,000, the JCA have targeted two “Cities of Cricket”: Sano, which is 80km north of Tokyo, and Akishima, which is to the west of the capital.

“Rather than throw a massive blanket over Tokyo and capture everyone we can, we have gone for a more targeted approach,” JCA cricket operations head Alan Curr said. “We got cricket into the schools and set up the junior Cricket Blast program. It is six-a-side, fun cricket where everyone gets a bat, everyone gets a bowl. It is all about being inclusive and having a laugh.”

The program has produced 11 of the 14 players in the U-19 squad.

Curr took the squad on a whirlwind 10-day, five-match tour of Australia to prepare for the World Cup and vice captain Neel Date said he was living the dream.

“Playing international cricket in some form was always a huge dream for me, and the U-19 World Cup is making that dream a reality,” the 18-year-old said.

Date — who has Indian heritage, but has lived in Japan since he was an infant — said that his love for cricket has begun to rub off on his Japanese school friends.

“For them, my name has almost become synonymous with cricket,” Date said.

Regardless of how they perform in South Africa, the players hope that this is just the beginning for cricket in Japan.

“It will be a matter of utmost joy to see not just expats, but also Japanese kids playing cricket in the park, like we did when we were 10,” Date said.

“If I get to see this sight 20 years from now and know that I contributed a tiny fraction to make the situation of cricket in Japan that way, it would be a boundlessly satisfying experience,” Date added.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

title: Japan hoping U-19 World Cup debut is just the start


title: Hsinchu Zoo inks sister accord with Japan’s Tobu Zoo

content_text:
From left, Hsinchu City Deputy Mayor Shen Hui-hung, Hsinchu Zoo director Yang Chia-min and Tobu Zoo director Mitsuo Ban attend a ceremony at Hsinchu Zoo on Tuesday.Photo: CNA
Hsinchu Zoo and Tobu Zoo in Japan’s Saitama Prefecture on Tuesday established sister relations to cooperate on animal care and protection.

Hsinchu Deputy Mayor Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) said she hopes that through the agreement, Hsinchu Zoo would learn from the outstanding wildlife conservation efforts of Tobu Zoo.

The two zoos are to conduct regular exchanges on animal care and conservation, with the Hsinchu facility seeking to boost its soft power and upgrade its animal breeding expertise, she said at a ceremony in the city.

The agreement was signed by Hsinchu Zoo director Yang Chia-min (楊家民) and Tobu Zoo director Mitsuo Ban, and witnessed by Shen.

Hsinchu Zoo reopened last month after two years of renovations with a goal to be a facility for life education and animal protection.

Tobu Zoo, which opened in 1981 as the 80th anniversary project of Tobu Railway, is a popular hybrid theme park, comprising a zoo, an amusement park and swimming pools.

It has about 1,200 animals, with some allowed to be fed by visitors.

It is one of the few places where white tigers are displayed and has plans for an observatory area modeled on Hsinchu Zoo’s tropical rain forest gallery to allow people to see them close up, Yang said.

Tobu Zoo has the Heartful Garden, with 410 plant species that grow all year round, and the Palette Garden, which has flowers and fruit trees, including 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees, Ban said.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


title: Asia’s IPO market hottest since 2007

content_text:
Companies are raising money in Asian-Pacific equity markets at the fastest pace since the global financial crisis.

Just 15 days into the new year, initial public offerings (IPOs) have reached US$5.9 billion, the most since 2007 for the period, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

Chinese companies are leading the fundraising, accounting for 97 percent of the proceeds raised, the data showed.

The Chinese dominance is no surprise with Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway Co (京滬高鐵) clinching the biggest deal in Asia this year, raising US$4.3 billion in China.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s (阿里巴巴) second listing in Hong Kong last year has set the stage for other Chinese companies that are considering doing the same, which bodes well for Asia-Pacific IPO volume this year.

The e-commerce giant’s Hong Kong shares have surged about 25 percent since its listing in November last year.

Trip.com Group Ltd (攜程) and Netease Inc (網易), both of which are trading on the NASDAQ, are said to be in preliminary discussions with the exchange for a potential second listing in Hong Kong

A secondary listing is seen as a hedge by Chinese companies listed in the US, as the administration of US President Donald Trump is looking at various ways to curb their access to US funding.

There are 196 Chinese companies listed on major US exchanges with a combined market value US$1.2 trillion, Bloomberg’s data showed.

Among those firms, BeiGene Ltd (百濟神州) and Alibaba are the only two with a second listing in Hong Kong.

In other IPO news, UK drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC has not made plans to pursue an IPO of the consumer-health company it set up with Pfizer Inc last year, a top executive said on Wednesday, rowing back remarks made by Pfizer’s chief executive on Tuesday

The comments could expose a lack of communication between the two partners.

Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla on Tuesday said that he expected Glaxo to pursue an IPO in three to four years.

“This is the time that we will be able to exit from this partnership, and I’m sure that this business will have a fantastic IPO,” Bourla said at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.

However, Glaxo chief strategy officer David Redfern said in an interview at the meeting on Wednesday that an IPO is not the only option.

Glaxo said at the time of the deal that it would separate and list the company within three to five years.

“Actually, we haven’t decided anything,” Redfern said. “When we announced the deal, we said we expect it to separate within three years, but actually up to five years. And it’s entirely our decision.”

Glaxo, the majority owner, and Pfizer, which has about a third of the business, are looking to focus on drug development.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


title: Safety must be building priority: Lai

content_text:
First responders search the collapsed Weiguan Jinlong complex in Tainan on Feb. 6, 2016, looking for survivors.Photo: CNA
Safety must be the top priority in building construction, vice president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after the Tainan District Court ordered NT$730 million (US$24.37 million) in compensation be paid to 170 residents and surviving family members of the Weiguan Jinlong (維冠金龍) complex, which collapsed following a 2016 earthquake.

Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) hailed the ruling as a successful class-action lawsuit, which together with an earlier ruling for punitive punishment brought the total compensation for the victims to more than NT$800 million.

That is the highest amount ever awarded in a civil class-action lawsuit in Taiwan, he said.

The Weiguan Jinlong complex fell after a magnitude 6.4 quake rocked southern Taiwan, with its epicenter in Kaohsiung’s Meinong District (美濃), on Feb. 6, 2016, killing 115 people.

The court ordered five defendants, Lin Ming-hui (林明輝), former chairman of the now-defunct Weiguan Co; company architects Chang Kui-pao (張魁寶) and Cheng Chin-kui (鄭進貴); company designer Hung Hsien-han (洪仙汗) and Da Ho Infrastructure Construction structural engineer Cheng Tung-hsu (鄭東旭) and Da Ho to pay the compensation.

“We hope the case can restore some justice to the victims and their families, and that companies should learn a lesson — that they have responsibility to society, and must make safety their top priority when constructing buildings. This kind of tragedy must not happen again,” said Lai, who was mayor of Tainan at the time of the quake.

Lai supervised the city’s rescue and relief efforts, and he also coordinated the building of a new apartment complex at the site to house the survivors and family members of the victims.

Huang said that while the compensation order would punish the defendants, it “cannot compensate for the pain and mental anguish the victims had suffered.”

The Consumers’ Foundation had filed the case on behalf of 170 residents and surviving family members, the mayor said.

Yang Ning-ting (楊寧廷), who heads the association to rebuild housing for victims, said: “The residents lost many of their loved ones, so any amount of compensation cannot address such painful loss, or the injuries suffered by the survivors.”

The most serious injured of the survivors was Hung Chia-yi (洪家益), who almost died after he was pulled from the rubble, and had to have both legs amputated and spent nearly a year in a hospital afterward.

“The compensation money is just a number, even if the defendants had to pay NT$50 billion, it is not sufficient, given the suffering and bodily harm that was caused,” Hung said. “I cannot get back to the life I had before.”

The court ruling said the defendants were deemed liable because they were in charge of the project, which had been poorly designed, but then they altered the design and the construction process to save money, skimmed funds and took shortcuts by using inferior materials, all of which affected the complex’s structural integrity.

The complex’s building designs were largely the responsibility of Lin and Hung, while Chang and Cheng Chin-kui oversaw the construction and Cheng Tung-hsu was responsible for designing the complex’s structure, the ruling said.

The ruling can be appealed.

All five are currently serving five-year prison terms after the High Court in July 2017 found them guilty of professional negligence resulting in multiple deaths.

people: 黃偉哲 賴清德


content_text:
The number of retail investors on the Taiwan Stock Exchange increased to a record-high 2.38 million last quarter as the TAIEX continued to rise and topped 12,000 points last month, exchange data showed.

That exceeded the third quarter last year when there were 2.23 million retail investors — investors who trade less than NT$100 million (US$3.34 million) shares in a single quarter — and surpassed the previous record of 2.32 million in the third quarter of 2011, data showed.

The number of mid-sized investors, who trade between NT$100 million and NT$500 million in shares in a single quarter, expanded from 9,535 to 10,428, the data showed.

The number of “big players,” who trade more than NT$500 million in shares in a single quarter, grew from 1,115 to 1,274 last quarter, the highest in five quarters, the data showed.

With the rising number of investors, total turnover on the exchange increased 10.07 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$8.36 trillion last quarter, data showed.

Hua Nan Securities Investment Management Co (華南投顧) chairman David Chu (儲祥生) said that there were more investors entering the market seeking targets with good returns.

Big players and mid-sized investors favored large-cap stocks in the technology sector, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), while retail investors preferred small-cap stocks with good potential, such as 5G-related companies, Chu said by telephone.

Investors are expected to stay in the market this quarter on the expectation that the TAIEX would continue to climb this year, he said.

The TAIEX yesterday closed down 0.21 percent at 12,066 points on turnover of NT$138.66 billion, data showed.

Separately, the combined number of initial public offerings (IPO) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange is expected to rise to 52 this year, from 37 last year, the Financial Supervisory Commission said on Tuesday.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

title: Number of investors hit record high last quarter


title: Alex Tsai probe urged

people: 李俊俋 王定宇 蔡正元 徐永明

content_text:
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Deputy Secretary-General Alex Tsai speaks at a news conference in Taipei on Thursday last week.Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Lawmakers and legal experts yesterday called for an investigation into the involvement of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Deputy Secretary-General Alex Tsai (蔡正元) in the case of self-confessed Chinese spy William Wang Liqiang (王立強), saying that Tsai breached the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) by allegedly collaborating with China to interfere in the recent presidential and legislative elections.

New Power Party Chairman Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said he asked the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to initiate an investigation into Tsai, as he believed the evidence showed that China was using its “representative in Taiwan” to meddle in the spy case and influence the outcome of the elections.

The act prohibits people from acting on the instructions of “infiltration sources” or receiving funding from them for illegal lobbying or disrupting elections, “so our judiciary must find out in this case, whether China provided instructions or funding” to Tsai and whether he used threats or money to make Wang recant his story and framed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for it, Hsu said.

DPP legislators Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) and Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) echoed the call, with Lee saying that Tsai appears to have contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法), as well as laws governing elections and referendums.

“Prosecutors only have to find out the role played by Alex Tsai, whether he was acting on behalf of the Chinese government. If so, then he broke the law and this can be prosecuted under the Anti-infiltration Act,” Lee said.

“This case has clear indications of the KMT collaborating with China to work out a deceptive scheme and it tried to falsely accuse the DPP of orchestrating the whole thing,” Wang Ding-yu said in media interviews and on Coco Hot News (辣新聞152), a political affairs program on Formosa TV..

Australian Strategic Policy Institute researcher Alex Joske reported that Tsai worked with Chinese businessman Sun Tianqun (孫天群) to prepare a scripted statement that William Wang Liqiang was requested to read aloud, with Joske presenting screen grabs showing that it was sent out via WeChat and other messaging apps.

According to Joske’s report, Tsai and Sun reportedly said that they represented that KMT and they promised William Wang Liqiang that China would no longer prosecute him and that businesspeople would pay his debts if he recanted the spy claims and followed their instructions.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


content_text:
US-China deal could boost nation’s exports

MAKING A RETURN:The economic affairs minister said companies would continue to invest in Taiwan despite the agreement, which would have a limited impact here
The “phase one” trade deal signed on Wednesday by the US and China would dispel some of the uncertainty shrouding the global economy, helping to increase Taiwan’s exports, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said yesterday.

Shen said he is confident that the trend of Taiwanese companies returning home to invest would continue, as a number of US tariffs remain in place despite the agreement.

“This will undoubtedly contribute on the domestic front through improved market demand,” he said.

China has committed to purchase US$77.7 billion in additional US-made goods over two years, but Shen said that the impact on Taiwan’s manufacturing sector would likely be limited, as most products manufactured locally do not compete with US-made products.

China has agreed to purchase an additional US$200 billion of manufactured goods, energy and agricultural products, and services from the US.

“However, we must keep a close watch on how both parties continue the talks as the trade deal continues into its second phase,” Shen said. “There are a lot of variables with difficult-to-predict outcomes.”

Asked about rumors that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is considering relocating some production lines to the US, Shen said that the company, which does not yet have any concrete US plans, would continue to invest in Taiwan, citing TSMC’s plan to mass-produce chips locally this year using 5-nanometer technology.

Meanwhile, the ministry said that significant barriers remain before the US and China can reach a more comprehensive “phase two” agreement.

The inclusion of intellectual property protections — covering patents, copyrights and trade secrets — in the phase one agreement reflect the seriousness with which the US treats such issues, while China, in many cases, would need to make legislative changes to fulfill these commitments, which could take a long time, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said in an interview with the Central News Agency.

As China has pledged to purchase a substantial amount of US goods in two year, it remains to be seen how much of the phase one agreement China can implement before the US elections in November, or when the US has said it would be open to signing a phase two agreement, she said.

Additional reporting by CNA

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


title: Bids surpass NT$138bn in first phase of 5G auction

content_text:
An attendee holds a Galaxy Fold 5G phone at the Samsung booth during the CES tech show on Jan. 7 in Las Vegas.Photo: AP
The first phase of the nation’s first 5G auction ended yesterday after 27 days and 261 rounds of bidding, with the total bids topping NT$138.08 billion (US$4.61 billion), the National Communications Commission (NCC) said.

The amount, which was about 4.6 times more than the floor price, was the world’s third-highest, the commission said.

Italy raised 6.55 billion euros (US$7.31 billion) in its first 5G auction in 2018 and Germany obtained 6.5 billion euros in its auction last year, it said.

The frequency bands on auction were 1.8 gigahertz (GHz), 3.5GHz and 28GHz.

However, all of the telecoms targeted the 3.5GHz frequency band, of which a total of 270 megahertz (MHz) of bandwidth was placed on auction. The floor price for bandwidth in the 3.5GHz band was NT$24.3 billion.

Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信) secured 90MHz of bandwidth in the 3.5GHz band, followed by Far EasTone Telecommunications (遠傳電信) with 80MHz. Taiwan Mobile (台灣大哥大), Taiwan’s second-largest telecom, only secured 60MHz of bandwidth in the band and Taiwan Star Telecom (台灣之星) obtained 40MHz.

Asia Pacific Telecom (亞太電信) yesterday withdrew its bid for bandwidth in the band.

Bids for 3.5GHz bandwidth totaled NT$136.43 billion.

There was a total of 2.5GHz of bandwidth available in the 28GHz frequency band, but carriers only bid for 1.6GHz.

Chunghwa Telecom secured 600MHz and Taiwan Mobile obtained 200MHz, while Far EasTone and Asia Pacific Telecom garnered 400MHz each. Taiwan Star did not bid for the bandwidth in this frequency band.

Bids for bandwidth in the 28GHz frequency band totaled NT$1.65 billion.

The 1.8GHz frequency band failed to attract any bids, the commission said.

All five carriers are to participate in the second phase of the auction on Feb. 21, when they would negotiate for their preferred portions of the frequency bands in the morning, it said.

Should they fail to reach an agreement, they would enter one final round of bidding in the afternoon before the auction is concluded, it added.

The bids far exceeded the projected goals set by the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan of NT$40 billion and NT$44 billion respectively, NCC Acting Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) said.

However, the government has administrative measures to ensure that consumers enjoy “high-quality and affordable” 5G services, he said.

The Cabinet would hold an interdepartmental meeting to discuss the distribution of the excess proceeds from the auction, such as upgrading telecom infrastructure and developing innovative services, he added.

Asked about Asia Pacific Telecom withdrawing its bid for 3.5GHz bandwidth, which allowed the first phase to end yesterday, Chen said that the commission respects the company’s decisions, adding that telecoms would be able to flexibly form partnerships with each other after the agency starts enforcing the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法) in July.

The act, which was promulgated by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in June last year, only states the principle that resources should be used efficiently and that there is fair competition in the telecom service market, NCC Department of Platforms and Businesses Director Wang De-wei (王德威) said.

Under this principle, telecoms are allowed to share their frequency spectrum or lease it from other carriers, Wang said, adding that they must first indicate such details in their business plans.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


content_text:
After the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) landslide victory in the elections on Saturday, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have been expected to let the dust settle before calmly reflecting on where it went wrong. Instead, after just four days, the party released a report on the causes of its poor electoral performances.

Calling Wednesday’s report a rushed job would be an understatement.

The report listed seven reasons for the KMT’s drubbing: a failure to control the discussion on cross-strait relations; an incorrect campaign strategy; “malicious Internet armies” running smear campaigns against its presidential candidate, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜); internal conflict; a lack of unity; failing to win over young voters; and a weak list of legislator-at-large nominees.

As would be expected from such a hastily prepared report, it provides a generic and superficial analysis.

While Han was certainly a poor choice for a presidential candidate — a figure of fun among young Taiwanese, relentlessly mocked as a caobao (草包, “country bumpkin”) for his frequent gaffes — the KMT’s problems run far deeper than its candidates, its strategy or a failure to control the narrative.

The crux of the problem is that its roots are planted firmly in China. Its raison d’etre is to govern China, which it did from 1928 to 1949 in the form of the Republic of China (ROC).

In 1949, after a series of military setbacks during the Chinese Civil War, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was forced to beat a hasty retreat to Taiwan. Like a houseguest from hell, the KMT, along with the entire ROC government, moved to Taiwan, lock, stock and barrel.

The “generalissimo” initially viewed Taiwan as a temporary home from which he could launch an operation to retake China, but by the early 1970s, he and the party realized that the game was up.

Yet to this day, dyed-in-the-wool KMT members and supporters still identify as Chinese, not Taiwanese, and resent being forced into asylum in this “backwater of the Chinese empire.”

It is a feeling that runs deep throughout much of the party.

Although defeated militarily, the KMT never gave up on its spiritual home, which explains why it favors unification with China and fought Saturday’s election as a pro-unification party. If you cannot beat them, join them.

If the DPP can demonstrate over two terms of majority government that it can govern at least as effectively — if not more — than the KMT, then what is the point of the KMT?

By supporting a negotiated surrender to China, the party has reneged on the most fundamental duty of government: to protect the safety of its people.

Another problem for the party is that young Taiwanese feel no tangible connection to China. As a consequence, the majority identify as Taiwanese, not Chinese — and favor independence. As older voters gradually die off, the KMT’s support base could become eroded to the point that it becomes unelectable.

However, the party’s younger generation might still be able to wrestle control from the old guard and set in motion dramatic reform. Some are already arguing that the KMT must jettison the so-called “1992 consensus” to survive.

For the time being, though, the party remains culturally and psychologically wedded to China. It might prove impossible for the KMT to hold itself together as competing factions pull it in different directions.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

title: EDITORIAL: KMT needs to reform to survive


title: European firms cut from Belt and Road Initiative

content_text:
European companies have been largely excluded from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) due to the dominant role of China’s state-owned enterprises and opaque bidding processes, a survey said, raising questions about the nation’s commitment to opening the program to the world.

A small number of European companies in China are involved in BRI, the EU Chamber of Commerce in China said in a survey of its members released yesterday in Beijing, with transparency topping the list of challenges European companies face.

A slightly larger number of European companies have seen positive knock-on effects through access to new logistics options and increased trade flows with countries hosting projects, it said.

“One of the most notable aspects about BRI-related projects is that they are rarely transparent,” the report said, adding that the businesses had come up against challenges to participation since the program’s inception.

Given the initiative’s scale, most respondents referred to their level of involvement as “crumbs from the table,” the report said.

Of 132 respondents to the chamber’s survey, just 20 indicated they had bid on at least one BRI-related project, with seven bidding as direct contractors and 13 as subcontractors.

Most of them participated after being pulled in by Chinese business partners or the government. All but a scant few have played niche roles, such as providing certain technology, it said.

More than half of respondents said there was insufficient information available to European companies seeking to make bids, and nearly 40 percent said that procurement systems for BRI-related projects were not transparent enough.

“China’s colossal national champions — boosted by state aid and cheap financing — are securing an unusually large proportion of contracts when compared to multilateral development schemes,” chamber president Joerg Wuttke said. “Europe needs to determine how to respond to this export of the China model to shield itself from market distortions and stay competitive in third-country markets.”

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) said that Chinese and foreign companies participating in the BRI followed market rules “based on the principle of fairness.”

“They participate in specific projects in an open and transparent way. The bidding process is transparent,” Geng told reporters in Beijing. “Whether companies participate or not is entirely companies’ own choice.”

The report comes as BRI has attempted to clean up its image after criticism that it is a debt trap for poor countries and allegations of corruption.

While it has advocated for the program to be more open, the chamber said it was not yet an inclusive, open global initiative.

Improving the quality of the projects is critical to “prevent ‘promise fatigue’ from once again becoming endemic in the international community,” it said.

The Chinese government clearly took note of some negative perceptions of the BRI during the initiative’s first half decade and “took corrective action,” the report said.

About a quarter of respondents indicated that the BRI was changing, trending toward improvement rather than worsening across various aspects of the initiative.

Italy became the first G7 nation to sign up for BRI in March last year.

As of June last year, China had established third-party market cooperation mechanisms with 14 developed countries, including France and Japan.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


title: Teachers tout benefits of phone rules

content_text:
Teachers tout benefits of phone rules

COST CONCERNS:Some schools want a centralized phone management system using special boxes, but budget worries arise, as each costs more than NT$1,000
By Hung Mei-hsiu, Chang Hsuan-che and Dennis Xie  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer
Phones are stored in a box at National Hsinchu Senior Industrial Vocational School in an undated photograph.Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
Teachers have reported improved classroom environments after a policy to manage students’ use of mobile phones was implemented, National Hsinchu Senior Industrial Vocational School student affairs division head Liao Tsang-hsiang (廖倉祥) said on Sunday.

Following years of advice from parents, the school in August last year approved regulations to limit students’ use of mobile phones, tablets and cameras.

The 42 classrooms at the school are equipped with special boxes to store electronic devices, dubbed “chicken farms” — a play on the Chinese word for “mobile phone,” as one of the characters has the same pronunciation as “chicken” in Chinese, Liao said.

Students are required to put their devices in the boxes during school hours, otherwise holiday work or demerits would be handed out, he said.

After about a semester of the policy being implemented, most teachers have reported positive feedback, with students paying more attention in class, while they no longer worry that photographs or videos would be taken without permission, school principal Lee Heng-lin (李恆霖) said.

“Any effect on academic performance has not been determined, but the improved classroom dynamics would undoubtedly benefit students in the long term,” Lee said.

Students spend more time playing basketball or solving Rubik’s cubes outside classtime without their devices, while there is more chatting and laughter on campus, Liao said.

In Taichung, several junior-high and high schools have implemented similar policies, with students only allowed their phones to contact their parents before and after the day’s classes.

However, some students still break the rules, some principals said.

While schools want to install a centralized phone management system using special locked boxes, they do not have enough funds, with one box costing more than NT$1,000, they said.

Some schools leave decisions about phone restrictions to each classroom, while allowing phone use under specific circumstances.

With approval from the student affairs division, students can bring a phone to school that is marked with a sticker, Dahua Junior High School principal Hsu Hsiu-ching (徐秀青) said.

The student can use such a phone to contact their parents or for academic purposes with their teacher’s permission, Hsu said.

Affiliated Senior High School of National Chung Hsing University requires students to turn off their devices at school, unless a teacher says otherwise.

Taichung Municipal Chang-Yie Senior High School keeps its junior-high students’ phones for them and requires senior-high students to turn off devices. Both groups have 30 minutes during their lunch break.

The Ministry of Education said schools have autonomy to define phone use regulations, as long as decisions are made through a democratic process involving teachers, parents and students.

Additional reporting by Chen Chien-chih and Wu Po-hsuan

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


content_text:
Questions remain after US-China ‘phase one’ deal

ROUGH ROAD AHEAD:Analysts said the next phase would not be done soon, after the first deal left tariffs in place and failed to address US complaints over subsidies
The “phase one” trade deal between Washington and Beijing was the result of long, fraught negotiations. “Phase two” is likely to be just as bumpy and unpredictable.

The agreement signed on Wednesday marks a ceasefire in the nearly two-year-old trade dispute, but many questions remain. Here are some of them:

WHO WON?

The deal “makes both countries look good,” Moody’s Analytics economist Xu Xiaochun (徐曉春) said.

US President Donald Trump, who faces an impeachment trial, can point to the pact as a success in his campaign to win a second term in office this year.

For Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it removes a thorn in his side as he already has to deal with other pressing issues including political unrest in Hong Kong and a slowing economy.

Under the deal, Beijing agreed to import US$200 billion of US goods, including US$32 billion of farm products and seafood — a win for Trump as he will seek support from agricultural states in his election battle.

However, Xu said that much of China’s other concessions — such as improvements in intellectual property protection and financial liberalization — were already in the works.

“China doesn’t seem to have made any concessions that it was not willing to in the first place,” he said.

CAN PHASE ONE HOLD?

Although China has committed to importing more, in areas from manufactured goods to energy goods, analysts noted that domestic demand might be a limiting factor.

Analysts say the nation’s economy is expected to have slowed to 6.1 percent last year, the worst performance in 30 years.

“Unless Chinese demand for US agricultural goods and energy rises drastically, China would have to use state policy to substitute agricultural and energy imports from other exporting nations with imports from the US,” ING Bank NV economists Timme Spakman and Iris Pang (彭藹嬈) said in a note.

The analysts also said that the agreement “does not include an enforcement clause addressing the purchasing commitments by China.”

The text of the deal makes clear that purchases would be based on commercial considerations and “that market conditions, particularly in the case of agricultural goods, may dictate the timing of purchases within any given year.”

PHASE TWO BY NOVEMBER?

Trump on Wednesday said that he planned to visit China in the “not too distant future.”

While tariffs on hundreds of billions of US dollars of Chinese goods remain in place for now, the US leader said he would be willing to take them off “if we’re able to do phase two.”

However, the next round of talks is already looking complicated, with Trump distracted by the November election and an impeachment trial in the US Senate.

The president said earlier this month that a deal might have to wait until after the vote.

“We are not certain that the US has an incentive to continue quickly,” Xu said.

Beijing does not have a reason to drag things out as it is likely to face a tough stance from Washington, whether Trump or a Democrat is president, Xu said.

THE END OF TENSIONS?

The short answer is no.

The deal largely leaves tariffs in place and it fails to address US complaints about China’s huge subsidies to state enterprises.

“While it’s a start, the deal fails to cover the significant issues that prompted the war in the first place,” Stenn Group president Kerstin Braun said.

The trade fight has also proved to be a battle for high-tech supremacy, which is likely to continue intensifying.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


content_text:
European auto sales last month jumped to a record high, fueled by an end-of-the-year buying frenzy ahead of tough new emission penalties for automakers and changes in consumer incentive programs.

Passenger-vehicle registrations rose 21 percent to 1.26 million, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said yesterday.

The double-digit percentage gain was enough to push annual sales 1.2 percent higher to 15.8 million, reversing the previous year’s slight drop.

The “exceptional” growth last month was fueled by a 28 percent increase in registrations in France and a more than 50 percent rise in Sweden, where governments have changed emissions-based taxes on new vehicles for this year, the association said.

Sales more than doubled in the Netherlands ahead of an increase in the tax rate for electric company vehicles to 8 percent from 4 percent.

The latest European figures show how volatile the regulatory environment has become in the region and its effects on the industry, as governments push policies aimed at lowering carbon emissions.

This year ushered in stiff EU penalties for manufacturers on the sale of the most polluting models, while individual nations, including Germany, put in place subsidies toward the purchase of electric vehicles.

The big gain in registrations last month was also due to a low comparison base in 2018, when sales were crimped in the last months of the year by another set of rule changes on the way emissions were measured.

The modest growth in Europe came as China — the world’s biggest market — ended the year with a second consecutive annual decrease. A slowing economy and trade tariffs took their toll on the region.

Volkswagen AG’s global vehicle deliveries edged higher last year as the world’s largest automaker eked out a small gain in China, and improved its results in Europe and South America.

There were also bright spots in the premium market, with Porsche AG shrugging off widespread industry malaise to report record deliveries for last year and predicting that its first all-electric model, the Taycan, would foster further growth this year.

BMW AG, Volkswagen’s Audi and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz also reported higher sales last year.

Overall, the global industry has eliminated tens of thousands of jobs, data compiled by Bloomberg News showed.

Opel, the German brand of PSA Group, on Tuesday said that it plans to cut as many as 4,100 positions.

The industry is focused on reducing costs after facing a slump in some regions at the same time it must make huge investments to develop electric and self-driving vehicles.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

title: European auto sales surge


title: DPP lawmakers confident of pushing policy goals

content_text:
By Hsieh Chun-lin and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said they are confident in the party’s ability to push through implementation of policies, both old and new, that would better the nation, following President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) re-election.

DPP Chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) will serve until May 20 and there is no reason for him to leave the post earlier, given his good leadership, Tsai told reporters at the Presidential Office in Taipei who asked about expectation that she would become the party’s chair again.

DPP legislators were unanimous that Tsai’s second term should focus more on strengthening the economy, defense and foreign diplomacy.

Tsai’s first term has “improved governmental constitution” and the administration can now focus on policy implementation for the New Southbound Policy, the Long-term Healthcare 2.0 and the “five plus two” innovative industries, Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said on Tuesday.

The “five plus two” innovative industries refers to the plans to develop an Asian Silicon Valley, biomedical tech, green energy, industry 4.0 [robotics], defense and aviation, as well as innovative agriculture and a “circular economy.”

Obtaining entry to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the resumption of the US-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement are goals to pursue, Wang said.

Significant government effort are required to persuade the public that Taiwan’s interests are kept in mind when it seeks overcome key obstacles — such as imports from five Japanese prefectures or imports of US pork — and smoothing Taiwan’s way to participating in region-wide economic organizations, he said.

The strengthening of the national defense sector in 2023, the year in which the US has agreed to deliver all of the F-16 jets it has sold Taiwan, and when the indigenous submarine program is scheduled to deliver its first submarine, would help stimulate the economy, Wang said.

These developments would help the public see that the economy and social welfare are improving, he added.

Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that Tsai’s campaign platforms for her re-election bid should take priority, with the order of the platforms and promises to be discussed by the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the DPP and the DPP caucus.

In second place should be legislation regarding judicial reforms, national security and amendments to the Mining Act (礦業法) left over from the previous legislative session, she added.

Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said the DPP continued legislative majority means that the government must take full responsibility.

A single party cannot satisfy the demands of a pluralistic society and instead of asking what to reform or change next, it is better to focus on the process of change and how to soothe the conflicts over profits, Chung said.

The government’s reforms are not without basis, from autocracy to pluralism to further transition of values, it is a process of managing and adjusting the focus and degree of the reforms, he said.

How to make adjustments and designate resources or administrative positions to balance the old and new is a choice that the DPP has to face and ultimately make, he said.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

people: 蔡英文 卓榮泰 鍾佳濱 吳思瑤 王定宇


content_text:
CDC announces travel alert for Wuhan

GROUND ZERO?While Huanan Seafood City is suspected to be the epicenter of the pneumonia outbreak, some patients had not had direct exposure to the market
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang, center, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday concerning an outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, China.Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday issued a level-2 travel alert for Wuhan, China, following a field survey in the city by two Taiwanese experts, as well as Japan and Thailand confirming cases linked to a pneumonia outbreak.

The cause of the outbreak has been identified as a new type of coronavirus, with Chinese authorities saying that as of Wednesday, 41 people had been infected, including six in critical condition and one fatality.

CDC Communicable Disease Control Medical Network commander Chuang Yin-ching (莊銀清) and epidemic prevention doctor Hung Min-nan (洪敏南), who conducted the survey in Wuhan from Monday to Wednesday, yesterday told a news conference in Taipei that 30 percent of the Wuhan patients had no direct exposure to the Huanan Seafood City market, the suspected epicenter of the outbreak.

During clinical visits, they observed that patients who are obese or have previously undiagnosed illnesses seemed to be at higher risk of serious complications, Chuang said.

The CDC hopes to clarify whether human-to-human transmission is possible, Hung said, adding that “limited human-to-human transmission” was possibly identified during their visit.

Limited human-to-human transmission generally means that people within 1m of an infected person for about 10 minutes could contract a disease, meaning members of the same household or medical professionals treating infected patients are at higher risk, the CDC said.

In the cases of a married couple infected in Wuhan, the husband worked at the market, but the wife, who had not recently been to the market due to limited mobility, might have contracted the illness from her husband, Hung said.

Of the 41 cases in Wuhan, nearly 70 percent had direct exposure to the market, but 13 patients did not, meaning the source of the outbreak remains a mystery, he said.

Possible explanations provided by China include limited human-to-human transmission, a two-week latent period and an unknown source of infection, Hung said, adding that Chinese authorities have stepped up efforts to collect animal specimens for research.

Chinese authorities have prohibited people who have had close contact with patients from leaving Wuhan, hoping to curb the spread of the disease, Chuang said.

Taipei would not prohibit Taiwanese in Wuhan from returning to Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said, adding that people traveling to Wuhan should avoid traditional markets and hospitals, as well as contact with wild animals or livestock.

As the Lunar New Year is approaching, the agency said that it has intensified border inspections, while Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that as it is the high season for influenza, people should get vaccinated as early as possible.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

title: CDC announces travel alert for Wuhan


title: TSMC posts record profit on 5G demand

content_text:
TSMC posts record profit on 5G demand

MAKING MONEY WORK:The chipmaker said it plans to spend up to US$16 billion on advancing its processes to meet growing customer demand for 5G technology
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies chips for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday posted a record-high net profit for last quarter, driven by strong demand for chips made using advanced technologies for 5G-related and high-performance computing applications.

During the final quarter of last year, TSMC’s net profit jumped 16.1 percent to NT$116.04 billion (US$3.87 billion), compared with NT$99.98 billion in the same period the previous year. That represented a quarterly increase of 14.8 percent from NT$101.07 billion.

As growth momentum is expected to extend into the next few years, the chipmaker this year plans to budget for capital expenditure of between US$15 billion and US$16 billion, mainly on 7-nanometer (nm), 5nm and 3nm technologies.

That surpasses TSMC’s capital spending of US$14.9 billion last year.

TSMC expects strong customer demand to boost the sector’s revenue by 17 percent year-on-year this year, with its own growth outperforming the sector and reaching its highest level in about six years.

That prompted the company to raise its long-term revenue growth estimate, saying that growth would approach the high end of a 5 to 10 percent compound annual growth rate in the long run.

“We are confident that we can outperform the foundry sector’s revenue growth by several percentage points in US dollar terms,” TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told an investors’ conference in Taipei.

Growth would be supported by chips used in mobile phones and for high-performance computing platforms, which are to grow more than 20 percent annually this year, Wei said.

“We need to increase capital spending as we are working closely with customers to fulfill their demand,” he said.

TSMC plans to ramp up production of chips using its 5nm technology by the end of this year and expects the newest technology to contribute 10 percent to its total wafer revenue this year.

Though the US government is expected to tighten its curbs on technology exports to Huawei Technologies Co (華為), TSMC does not expect the restrictions to dampen 5G momentum, it said.

“Whatever export controls are coming, we think 5G momentum will continue, as the disruption would be short term going through the supply chain,” TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) told investors. “I think the momentum will be just as strong.”

However, TSMC denied market speculation that it is facing mounting pressure from Washington to build new capacity in the US, given ongoing geopolitical tensions.

The chipmaker has been evaluating the feasibility of building fabs outside Taiwan, including in the US, but no substantial decision has been made, it said.

Earnings per share rose to NT$4.47, from NT$3.86 the previous year and NT$3.9 a quarter earlier.

Gross margin climbed to 50.2 percent, compared with 47.7 percent the previous year and 47.6 percent in the previous quarter.

TSMC said it saw greater revenue contribution from 7nm technology, which accounted for 35 percent of total revenue last quarter, up from 23 percent the previous year and 27 percent a quarter earlier.

For the whole of last year, revenue rose 3.73 percent from NT$1.031 trillion in 2018.

Despite the effects of seasonal factors on demand for mobile products, TSMC’s business is expected to be better than seasonality this quarter compared with previous years, thanks to demand due to new 5G smartphones, TSMC chief financial officer Wendell Huang (黃仁昭) said.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


content_text:
Formosa International Hotels Group (FIH, 晶華酒店集團) yesterday called on the government to assign more importance to the tourism industry, saying it could develop into a growth driver like the technology sector.

Leisure and hospitality operators are like exporters in that they make money from serving foreigners and can play a significant role in supporting GDP growth if the industry grows big enough, FIH chairman Steve Pan (潘思亮) told a news conference.

Pan, who is also a standing board member of the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce (工商協進會), said a turning point is taking shape as Taiwan benefits from the US-China trade dispute.

“Taiwan may see the return of a golden age if the government would be more open and flexible in dealing with investment and labor policies,” Pan said.

Pan said that top-ranking business travelers — senior executive officers and university principals — had been dwindling for the past three decades as local firms moved operations to China and other emerging markets to save costs.

However, that trend has somewhat reversed in the past two years, as local firms shifted partial production home, while global technology titans expanded research and development facilities in Taiwan, Pan said.

In addition, top-tier universities are asked to take sides and Taiwan appears a favored partner as the trade dispute evolves into a technology competition, he said.

The changes are favorable for Taiwan if policymakers can ensure healthy infrastructure, including sufficient labor supply, Pan said, adding that FIH has had difficulty finding housekeeping and cleaning staff.

Taiwan should learn from Japan, where authorities have allowed the service sector leeway in hiring foreign laborers to meet a rapid increase in foreign tourists that reached 30 million last year, he said.

“Opening markets and deregulation do not require funding in the pursuit of growth,” Pan said, adding that the government is on the right track in shifting its focus to pro-growth measures rather than equitable redistribution of sources.

The local market might see more new hotels in the next four to five years, despite a supply glut, Pan said.

FIH’s core businesses, including its flagship property Regent Taipei, would continue to grow this year, thanks to its leadership position and successful business model, he said.

Regent Taipei managing director Simon Wu (吳偉正) said the facility aims for an occupancy rate of 85 percent this year, up from 81 percent last year.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

title: FIH urges government to shift focus toward tourism


content_text:
US growth ‘modest’ and outlook similar, Fed says

SLOWED PACE:Although holiday sales were ‘said to be solid’ last year, tourism was ‘mixed’ and manufacturing was ‘flat,’ while labor remained scarce, the Fed reported
The US economy showed less-than-stellar growth in the final weeks of last year, but produced solid holiday sales and enters the new year with a “modestly favorable” outlook, the US Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.

On the day the US and China signed a long-awaited partial trade truce after months of conflict, the Fed said tariffs continued to weigh on the economy in some regions.

The Fed’s “beige book” survey of conditions nationwide painted a mixed picture, with circumstances improving in the Richmond, Virginia; and Dallas, Texas; regions, but lackluster in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; St Louis and Kansas City, Missouri; regions.

“In many districts, tariffs and trade uncertainty continued to weigh on some businesses,” the report said.

However, “expectations for the near-term outlook remained modestly favorable across the nation,” it said.

US President Donald Trump last month relieved some of the pressure on US businesses by canceling a planned round of tariffs on Chinese goods and slashing some others as part of a partial trade deal with Beijing, ending nearly two years of escalating conflict.

The two sides signed the deal on Wednesday.

However, many of the China tariffs remain in place — costs borne by US businesses and consumers, which are weighing on investment and growth — and Trump has also slapped tariffs on European exports, including wine, and threatened to do more.

In the Philadelphia region, the looming wine tariffs “prompted an area merchant to stock up with over 35,000 cases” to beat the sanctions and minimize price hikes, the report said.

Overall economic growth in the area “slowed to a slight pace,” it said.

Across the nation, “holiday sales were said to be solid” in the crucial annual shopping period, while tourism was “mixed” and manufacturing — a sector hit badly by Trump’s trade disputes — was “essentially flat” in most areas.

Labor remained scarce, with employers struggling to fill open positions, a trend that now dates back more than a year.

However, in the manufacturing, transportation and energy sectors, there were job cuts and reduced hiring.

The Kansas City region was mixed, with strong retail sales and solid performance in the professional and high-tech services industries — but manufacturing and transport “continued to decline.”

Fed policymakers cut interest rates three times last year, but said toward the end of the year that they did not expect to do so again unless circumstances changed substantially.

The report was prepared in advance of the Fed’s next policy meeting on Jan. 28 to 29.

Markets overwhelmingly expect policymakers to leave interest rates untouched until November at the earliest.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


title: Ministry of Labor says overtime rate more than 46%

content_text:
More than 46 percent of employees worked overtime in a one-year period ended in May last year, while the monthly average was 15.9 hours of overtime, the Ministry of Labor said in a report on Tuesday.

The ministry conducted the survey on living and employment conditions from June 2018 to May last year, with 4,116 valid samples collected.

The survey found that 70.3 percent of respondents were largely satisfied with their jobs, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous survey, while only 3.1 percent were dissatisfied.

Gender equality at work and good working relationships were the top two issues that respondents said were satisfactory, with both cited by more than 96 percent of those who expressed overall job satisfaction, while 94.8 percent were satisfied with supervisors’ concern for employees, the report said.

Employee performance appraisal and promotion systems were the major causes of job dissatisfaction, cited by 71.7 percent of respondents, followed by workload (68 percent).

The survey showed that 46.3 percent worked overtime during the survey period, down 1.5 percentage points from the previous survey, while they worked an average of 15.9 overtime hours per month, up 0.3 hours.

The professional, scientific and technical services sector had the highest rate of overtime, with 65.4 percent of respondents from the sector reporting it, followed by the electricity and gas supply sector (61.7 percent), the survey said.

It showed that 90.5 percent of employees were paid for overtime or given paid time off in lieu, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the previous survey.

Asked whether working hours of eight per day and 40 per week should be maintained, 78.8 percent of respondents said yes, while 13 percent wanted fewer hours, the survey said.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


content_text:
Chunghwa secures piece of 5G band, eyeing July launch

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) plans to launch 5G services in July after securing 90-megahertz (MHz) of the 3.5-gigahertz (GHz) band for NT$45.68 billion (US$1.52 billion) during the prolonged and pricey 5G spectrum auction, it said yesterday.

In addition to the “golden 5G band” of 3.5MHz, the nation’s biggest telecom also secured 600MHz of the 28GHz band for NT$618 billion.

“We will follow our schedule and commercially launch 5G services in the middle of this year,” Chunghwa Telecom president Harrison Kuo (郭水義) told a media briefing. “The company’s 5G launch and network deployment are not affected by the high bidding prices.”

Kuo declined to provide details about its 5G rates, but said they would be diverse, given the spectrum of 5G services the company plans to offer.

Chunghwa Telecom urged the government to allocate part of the proceeds from the bandwidth auctions to expanding the 5G ecosystem nationwide.

The company is open to sharing its 5G bandwidth with other telecoms in accordance with National Communications Commission rules, it said.

Most telecom operators would offer 5G services on the 3.5MHz band, based on the results of the spectrum auction, which garnered bids reaching NT$138.08 billion, 3 times higher than the floor price of NT$44 billion.

Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信), which yesterday withdrew from the final bidding, said it would seek cooperation with other companies that obtained the 3.5GHz band to build a high-speed 5G network.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


content_text:
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu visits children at a hospital in the city yesterday.Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
Wecare Kaohsiung and other groups are pressing ahead with their efforts to recall Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), despite his loss in the presidential election and Han’s pledge on Wednesday to work hard for the city’s residents.

Wecare Kaohsiung said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that it would not cease campaign to recall the mayor in the wake of Saturday last week’s elections.

Although Han on Monday returned to work in Kaohsiung and apologized to the city’s residents, it was merely for not “having been around” and not for his lies, discriminatory remarks and breaching the public’s trust, Wecare Kaohsiung said.

“What Kaohsiung needs is a responsible mayor and a hardworking government team, not your mere presence,” it said.

More than half the city’s residents are in favor of recalling Han, the groups said, citing a survey released by news network TVBS earlier in the day.

A total of 1,030 residents were interviewed on Monday and Tuesday and 53 percent said they support the campaign to recall Han, while 32 percent said they do not.

Several civil groups last month submitted 30,000 petition papers to the Central Election Commission in a bid to launch a recall vote on Han.

For the vote to be held, they must collect at least 228,134 petition papers to clear the second-stage threshold.

If they succeed, a recall vote could be held in May or June.

Han on Wednesday wrote on Facebook that “I will remain in Kaohsiung to be with all of you.”

After the Lunar New Year holiday, he would find time to visit supporters to thank them for backing him, he added.

Asked about the recall campaign, Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), who ran against Han in the 2018 Kaohsiung mayoral election, said that Han had made his decision when he chose to run for president just months into his term.

Now that Han has returned to Kaohsiung, the recall campaign is something he must face, Chen said.

When Han was away on a three-month leave for his presidential campaign, many important city affairs could not be completed, Chen said.

“That was very unfair for the city’s residents,” he said.

Additional reporting by CNA

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

people: 韓國瑜 陳其邁

title: Han recall campaign to press ahead: groups


title: World News Quick Take

content_text:
FIJI

Authorities brace for cyclone

Disaster response teams were yesterday on standby as the nation faced a second cyclone threat in less than three weeks. Gale and heavy rain warnings were in place on northern Rotuma Island, with the Fiji Meteorological Service saying that the storm was expected to be fully fledged Tropical Cyclone Tino by the evening. It was forecast to pass over the second-largest island, Vanua Levu, today. “We are monitoring the situation closely and ready to help every affected Fijian,” the government said in a statement after being briefed by the National Disaster Management Office. “There is a cyclone alert in place. Please be prepared and take every precaution to keep yourselves and your families safe.” There were concerns for an interisland ferry with more than 100 passengers and crew on board, which was drifting in the path of the storm after developing mechanical problems. However, the rescue coordination center said that repairs had been made and the vessel had safely reached harbor in Suva.

JAPAN

Scores apply to be girlfriend

Applications to become billionaire Yusaku Maezawa’s girlfriend have topped 20,000, streaming service AbemaTV said yesterday, ahead of its documentary on his search for a “life partner” to take on his moon voyage. Maezawa — who is to be the first private passenger on Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, commonly known as SpaceX — has already generated a huge social media buzz with a US$9 million giveaway to his followers that secured his position as the nation’s foremost Twitter celebrity. The show’s application site now includes a “love diagnostic test,” through which potential entrants can test their compatibility with the entrepreneur, who last year sold his online fashion business Zozo to SoftBank Group Corp. Multiple-choice questions include: “If you rode in a private jet where would you go?” and “If Maezawa farted in front of you, what would you say,” with users presented with a photograph of the billionaire varying from happy to sad depending on their score. AbemaTV, backed by online ad agency CyberAgent and broadcaster TV Asahi, is one of Japan’s foremost proponents of reality dating shows. Securing Maezawa for Full Moon Lovers is a coup for the service, which aims to generate social media traffic and is targeting younger viewers who are turning off TV. Current and upcoming AbemaTV shows include one in which Japanese-speaking female contestants are paired with foreign men who do not speak their language and another in which women go on dates with “princes” several years their junior.

PHILIPPINES

Volcano remains dangerous

The threat of the Taal Volcano unleashing a potentially catastrophic eruption remains high, authorities warned yesterday, saying that it was showing dangerous signs, despite a “lull” in spewing ash. Scores of earthquakes rattle the region daily and large fissures are opening up in the ground, which means the magma that would fuel a major eruption is still flowing beneath. Authorities are struggling to keep evacuees, about 50,000 of whom fled to shelters after Taal burst to life on Sunday, away from the danger zone around the volcano. People are trying to get back to homes they left in a hurry to get a change of clothes, feed livestock and pets, and check on properties damaged by the fissures or covered with a thick layer of ash. Taal’s last eruption was in 1977, but it has a long history of activity. In 1965, an eruption at the volcano killed about 200 people.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


title: Highlight: Taipei Dangdai 2020

content_text:
Visitors peruse artwork at last year’s Taipei Dangdai.Photo: Ella Csarno

 1

 2

Following the success of last year’s inaugural event, Taipei Dangdai (台北當代) is back for its second edition today through Sunday. The contemporary art fair presents renowned and young galleries, as well as solo exhibitions from the likes of Christopher Le Brun, recent president of the Royal Academy of Arts. The fair is complete with a salon section, where collectors can choose from artworks starting from US$8,000.

During this time, contemporary art will take over many sites in Taipei, including a light show at Taipei 101, designed by Tokyo-born Taiwanese artist Michael Lin (林明弘), from 6:30pm to 7pm every evening. Other off-site highlights include a major installation by Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei (艾未未) at Chambers Fine Art and Zhao Gang’s (趙剛) exhibition presented at Each Modern.

Ticket holders may attend talks with artists at Dangdai’s Ideas Program, focusing on the fair’s central themes: technology, ecology, pop and tradition. Highlights include a talk with Colombian artist Oscar Murillo, whose works focus on universal human experiences in an increasingly globalized world. Guided tours are also available in Chinese and English. Pre-booking is essential due to the limited number of participants per tour.

■ 1am to 6pm today and tomorrow, 11am to 5:30pm Sunday, Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall (台北世界貿易中心南港展覽館), 1 Jingmao 2nd Rd, Taipei City (台北市經貿二路1號)

■ Advance tickets are NT$550 for today and NT$625 for tomorrow and Sunday, NT$750 at the door. For more information, visit /taipeidangdai.com

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


content_text:
US environmental groups file lawsuit over permits given to Formosa Plastics

Conservation and community groups on Wednesday sued the administration of US President Donald Trump, challenging environmental permits for a Taiwanese company’s planned US$9.4 billion plastics complex in Louisiana.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington accuses the US Army Corps of Engineers of failing to disclose environmental damage and public health risks, and of failing to adequately consider environmental damage from the Formosa Plastics plant.

“The corps is unable to comment on pending litigation,” said Ricky Boyett, a spokesman at the agency’s New Orleans office.

The US Department of Justice is reviewing the lawsuit, spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said.

“The army corps is fast-tracking the permits for Formosa Plastics, a company found guilty in 2019 of dumping billions of plastic pellets into Texas’ waterways and the Gulf [of Mexico]. This is absolutely unacceptable,” Cyn Sarthou, executive director of New Orleans-based environmental group Healthy Gulf, one of the plaintiffs, said in a news release.

The state should at least “require a thorough analysis of this company’s potential impact on our water, our air, our drainage and our communities,” Sarthou added.

The lawsuit said that members of Healthy Gulf and other groups worry that destroying wetlands would hurt wildlife and leave neighborhoods more vulnerable to flooding; that toxic emissions would hurt their health and the environment; and that increased truck and barge traffic would increase noise, pollution and danger.

A Texas judge called the plant a “serial offender,” the lawsuit said. “Federal documents show that another Formosa Plastics Group facility in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has been in violation of the Clean Air Act every quarter since 2009.”

In addition to Healthy Gulf, plaintiffs are the Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson, Arizona-based environmental group; the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, a New Orleans-based environmental group; and Rise St James, a community group based in St James Parish, where the 14-plant complex would be built.

Rather than preparing a full environmental impact statement, the corps put together “a deeply flawed and inadequate” assessment that failed to meet requirements to take a “hard look” at the plant’s direct, indirect and cumulative impacts, the lawsuit said.

Plant construction would destroy and degrade wetlands where rare animals live and which protect water quality, avert erosion and buffer local communities from the worst effects of flooding, it said.

Nearly 25 hectares of wetlands would be affected, Center for Biological Diversity attorney Emily Jeffers said in an e-mail.

The plant “is expected to emit and discharge a variety of pollutants, including carcinogens and endocrine disrupters, into the air and water; discharge plastic into the Mississippi River and other waterbodies,” the lawsuit said.

The permits would allow for 725 tonnes of hazardous air pollutants per year, but Formosa Plastics has asked to double that.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


content_text:
Russian lawmakers to review Putin’s PM nominee

‘DEMAND FOR CHANGE’:The president called for reforms to the country’s political system, which experts said could be part of preparations for him to remain in power
Russian lawmakers were yesterday to begin reviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nomination of a little-known tax chief as the new prime minister after his announcement of a sweeping constitutional shake-up fueled speculation about his future plans.

The Russian State Duma, the Russian Federal Assembly’s overwhelmingly Kremlin-loyal lower chamber, is likely to approve Russian Federal Tax Service Director Mikhail Mishustin for the role, following the shock resignation of the government in the wake of Putin’s call for reforms to reshape Russia’s political system.

The series of bombshell announcements made during and after Putin’s state-of-the-nation speech triggered speculation about his role past 2024, when his presidential term expires.

Some suggested that 67-year-old Putin, who is two years into his fourth presidential term and has steered the country since 1999, could be laying the groundwork to assume a new post or remain in a powerful behind-the-scenes role.

It is also unclear whether Mishustin, a relatively obscure technocrat disengaged from political debate whose career has revolved around Russia’s tax service, is a temporary figure or could be groomed as Putin’s successor.

The State Duma said on its Web site that Mishustin would hold “consultations” with the four parties represented in the legislature prior to a plenary session starting at 10am, at which his candidacy would be formally reviewed.

In his speech, Putin said that he wanted more authority transferred to the legislature from the president, including the power to choose the prime minister and senior Cabinet members.

Outlining the proposals, which would be the first significant changes to the country’s constitution since it was adopted in 1993, Putin noted the “demand for change” among Russians.

Frustration has been building in Russia, where ordinary people have seen their incomes stagnate or decrease over the past five years, while a key reform hiking the pension age has led to anger and a fall in Putin’s ratings.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in office since 2012, announced the resignation of his government soon after Putin’s speech on Wednesday, saying that the constitutional proposals would make significant changes to the country’s balance of power.

Independent political analyst Maria Lipman said all of the announced changes indicate that Putin wants to “stay on as No. 1 in the country, without any competitors.”

He could be deliberately weakening the presidency before relinquishing the role, she said.

Russia’s opposition also said that the proposals indicate Putin’s desire to stay in power.

“To remain the sole leader for life, who took over the whole country as his property ... is the only goal for Putin,” opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Twitter.

If 53-year-old Mishustin is appointed, he would have a week to propose a new government and ministers.

The former head of an investment group trained as an engineer and has a doctorate in economics, and has led the tax agency since 2010.

He also shares Putin’s love for ice hockey and has reportedly been seen at matches with security services officials.

Former opposition lawmaker Gennadiy Gudkov called Mishustin “a new faceless functionary without ambition” who embodies a system that is “detrimental for the economy.”

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


countries: 美國 加拿大

content_text:
Singer Justin Bieber reveals he is fighting Lyme disease

小賈斯汀自爆：罹患難以根治「萊姆病」

Singer Justin Bieber stands in the ring as a guest after a fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, US, on Nov. 9, last year.
歌手賈斯汀畢柏去年十一月九日某場比賽後，站上拳擊場擔任來賓，攝於美國洛杉磯的史坦波中心。Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
Fans around the world were shocked when Canadian singer Justin Bieber revealed last week that he has Lyme disease. “I’ve been recently diagnosed with Lyme disease, not only that but had a serious case of chronic mono which affected my skin, brain function, energy, and overall health,” Bieber wrote on his Instagram page.

According to AFP, Lyme disease is transmitted to humans through infected ticks, and symptoms may include fever, chills, headache, fatigue, joint aches and even a “bull’s-eye” rash. “It’s been a rough couple years but [I’m] getting the right treatment that will help treat this so far incurable disease and I will be back and better than ever,” the 25-year-old superstar wrote.

Despite the illness, Bieber released the single Yummy on Jan. 3, and his upcoming new album was listed one of the most anticipated pop albums of this year by Forbes. He will address his struggle with the illness in a YouTube documentary, which is set for a Jan. 27 release.

(Eddy Chang, Taipei Times)

加拿大歌手賈斯汀畢柏上週自爆罹患「萊姆病」，讓全球歌迷大感驚訝。小賈斯汀在Instagram上寫道︰「我近來被診斷出罹患『萊姆病』，另外還引發嚴重的『慢性單核白血球增多症』，我的皮膚、大腦機能、精神和整體健康都受到影響。」

據法新社報導，「萊姆病」是經由受感染的壁蝨叮咬傳染給人類。症狀可能包括發燒、發冷、頭痛、疲勞、關節疼痛，甚至俗稱「牛眼疹」的圓形皮疹。這位二十五歲的超級巨星寫道：「這幾年很難熬，但我接受了正確治療，來對抗目前仍難以根治的疾病，我將以比從前更好的狀態回歸。」

儘管疾病纏身，小賈一月三日才剛發行單曲《Yummy》，即將推出的新專輯也被《富比士》評選為今年最受期待的流行專輯之一。他還預計一月二十七日在YouTube頻道發表紀錄片，來訴說自己和疾病奮戰的歷程。

(台北時報張聖恩)


content_text:
Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, left, scores against AS Monaco in their Ligue 1 match at the Stade Louis II in Monaco on Wednesday.Photo: AFP
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice to take his season tally to 20 in Paris Saint-Germain’s 4-1 rout of his former club AS Monaco.

The victory kept PSG eight points clear at the top of the Ligue 1 table. They also registered their 50th goal of the campaign from 20 league matches.

Last weekend, Monaco came away from PSG with a point in a thrilling 3-3 draw in Paris, but they posed no similar threat just three days later.

Mbappe was on target in the 24th and 90th minutes, with Neymar tucking away a penalty in first-half stoppage-time.

Pablo Sarabia added another in the 73rd minute, just seconds after coming on as a substitute.

Striker Ibrahima Bakayoko grabbed a late consolation for Monaco.

“In every area, we were better than on Sunday,” PSG coach Thomas Tuchel said. “It’s a deserved victory. We had lots of possession.”

Tuchel decision to field his “Fab Four” attacking stars — Mbappe, Neymar, Mauro Icardi and Angel di Maria — paid dividends when Di Maria floated over a cross for Mbappe to score the opener.

Monaco goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte denied Mbappe on two other occasions in the first half.

Neymar made it 2-0 from the penalty spot in stoppage-time after Kamil Glik fouled Layvin Kurzawa.

Sarabia’s goal was set up by fellow substitute Marco Verratti before Mbappe completed the rout of the club that he had joined in 2015.

“With our four attackers, we can carry out our plan,” Tuchel said. “We have the best players, but I also want to have the best team in each match.”

For Monaco coach Robert Moreno, the defeat was a sobering experience coming after Sunday’s encouraging draw.

“I am very happy and proud of my team,” Moreno said after his first home game in charge saw Monaco’s six-match win streak at Stade Louis II end. “At 3-1, we took risks, but had we scored a second, then the mental situation would have changed and the last few minutes would have been interesting.”

Stade Rennais are third in the table, five points behind Olympique de Marseille and 13 off PSG after a 1-0 win over Nimes Olympique.

Adrien Hunou scored the winner in the 64th minute to ensure a sixth win in the past seven games.

Nimes are second bottom, three points behind Amiens SC, who drew 1-1 at home to Stade de Reims.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

title: Mbappe haunts Monaco, scores 20th goal of season


content_text:
A South Korean quarantine official uses a thermal camera to measure the temperatures of travelers arriving from China at an international ferry terminal in Incheon on Tuesday.Photo: EPA-EFE
Japan has confirmed a case of a mystery virus that first emerged in China and is from the same family as the deadly SARS pathogen, authorities said yesterday.

It appears to be only the second time the novel coronavirus has been detected outside China, after the WHO confirmed a case in Thailand.

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said that a man who had visited the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the apparent epicenter of the outbreak, was hospitalized on Friday last week, four days after his return to Japan after he reported a persistent fever.

Tests on the patient, who was released from the hospital on Wednesday, confirmed that he was infected with the new virus.

“This is the first domestic discovery of a pneumonia case related to the new coronavirus,” the ministry said in a statement. “We will continue active epidemiological research while also coordinating efforts with the World Health Organization and related agencies to conduct a risk assessment.”

The outbreak has caused alarm because the new virus is from the same family as the pathogen that causes SARS, which killed 774 people worldwide, including in Taiwan.

Authorities in Wuhan said that a seafood market was the center of the outbreak.

It was closed on Jan. 1.

Japanese authorities said that the man had not visited the market and that it was possible he had been in contact with a person infected with the virus while in Wuhan.

The risk of the disease spreading from the patient was considered low and there have been careful checks on those who had been in close contact with him, ministry official Eiji Hinoshita told reporters.

“At this point, we feel it is unlikely this will lead to a dramatic outbreak [in Japan],” he said, adding that the patient no longer had a fever and was recuperating at home.

Officials declined to give further information on the man, including his nationality, citing privacy concerns.

Japan would need to raise its guard ahead of the Lunar New Year, a popular travel period in China, Hinoshita said.

“It is expected that Japan will see many visitors from China,” he said.

The woman diagnosed in Thailand, who is in a stable condition, also said that she had not visited the Wuhan seafood market.

In Vietnam, two Chinese visitors from Wuhan who arrived at Da Nang International Airport on Tuesday have been put in isolation and are under observation for the disease.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health, which sent a team to the coastal city, said that it on Wednesday held an emergency meeting on prevention efforts for the new coronavirus.

Additional reporting by Bloomberg

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

title: Japan confirms case of Wuhan coronavirus


people: 習近平 蔡英文

content_text:
US President Donald Trump prides himself on going where none of his predecessors dared to go, taking actions that he believes serve the US’ national interests where other presidents’ passivity failed.

Trump did it most dramatically when he ordered the elimination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, a serious security threat to the US. In doing so, he consciously weighed the risk of war with Iran, correctly assessing it as minimal, and outweighed by his strong message against Iranian terrorism and aggression.

After his election in 2016, Trump showed his proclivity for doing the unorthodox in foreign affairs when he accepted a congratulatory call from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Foreign policy experts in and out of government tut-tutted that he was offending Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and disrupting carefully constructed US-China relations.

Trump said he could talk to anyone he chooses, but agreed to give Xi a heads up before the next conversation with Tsai. Now that Tsai has achieved a sweeping re-election victory in the face of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence operations against her, it is time for him to make those two calls.

There are those who would warn Trump against calling Tsai as US-China trade talks continue, but the US has always held the stronger hand in those negotiations, and that will not change as long as Trump remains firm in his basic demands for transparency and reciprocity.

Trump could simply take a page from Beijing’s playbook by insisting that trade and Taiwan be kept separate. Beijing knows how to compartmentalize issues, as it regularly does when it talks of win-win on trade even as it militarizes the South China Sea.

For that matter, the only reason trade talks are still going on is that Beijing reneged on the original agreement that the parties reached several months ago, so Trump should have no qualms about doing the right thing on Taiwan — especially given the deterrent effect it would have on Xi’s urge toward adventurism.

Just as he displayed with Iran, Trump should demonstrate his same vision of US national interests with China. He could also suggest that Xi show some strategic vision of his own by starting to move China away from its unsustainable authoritarian trajectory. He could remind Xi that Taiwan has shown the way for Chinese society to accomplish a peaceful transition to democratic governance.

After 50 years of Japanese colonial rule and four decades of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime, Taiwan has conducted seven successful presidential elections. The nation has seen three peaceful transfers of power: from the reformed, but still China-oriented KMT, to the independence-minded Democratic Progressive Party for two four-year terms; back to the KMT for another two terms; and now back again to the DPP with the re-election of the nation’s first female leader. Throughout the changes, Taiwan has demonstrated democratic stability.

Beijing has expressed its displeasure during the run-up to each election that Taiwan presumes to choose its own national leader rather than accepting the rule of the CCP, which follows the teaching of Mao Zedong (毛澤東) that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

Taiwanese see it differently. They have dared to express their preference for a system that produces leaders chosen with the consent of the people. Resisting Chinese intimidation and extensive influence operations, they have demonstrated once again that a Confucian culture is as compatible with democratic governance as it would be in the US or in any European society. The CCP rightly fears that idea as subversive and views it as a threat to its cultish mind-controlling dictatorship.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

title: Trump should set China straight


content_text:
Thirteen local teams win innovation awards at CES

RISING NUMBERS:Eighty-two Taiwanese teams attended the tech show in Las Vegas, up from 44 last year, and won five more awards, the science and technology minister said
Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee, front row fourth right, yesterday in Taipei poses with members of a delegation of Taiwanese start-ups that attended this year’s CES from Tuesday to Friday last week in Las Vegas, Nevada.Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Science and Technology
Thirteen Taiwanese teams won innovation awards at this year’s CES, up from eight last year and four in 2018, Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) said yesterday.

The annual tech extravaganza took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, from Tuesday to Friday last week.

This was the third year that the ministry had organized a national delegation to join the show, with the number of participating teams growing from 32 in 2018 to 44 last year and 82 this year, Chen said.

The growing participation showed that Taiwan’s innovative technology sector is benefitting from government patronage and moving from regional and smaller markets onto the global market, he added.

Show organizer the Consumer Technology Association said that Taiwan has increased its presence and is, along with South Korea and Japan, one of the top three competitors from Asia.

By contrast, the number of participating Chinese teams dipped 6 percent this year, the association said.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Hsu Yu-chin (許有進) told reporters during the event that Taiwan has benefited from the US-China trade dispute, with an increasing number of Taiwanese semiconductor companies relocating to Taiwan.

“More manufacturers returning to Taiwan is allowing better integration of software and hardware in the areas of innovative technology, artificial intelligence [AI] and the Internet of Things,” Hsu told the US TV channel CNBC.

“Taiwan is among the leaders, globally, in regards to AI technology,” Taipei Economic and Cultural Office San Francisco branch Science and Technology Division Director Yeh Chih-cheng (葉至誠) told the Central News Agency.

The 13 winning teams were LuluPet, AgriTalk Tech, AuthenTrend, Taiwan User-friendly Sensor and Tech, Ible Technology, Brilliant Optronics, Nestech, Maxon Creative, Happy Island, Yun Yun AI, Jarvish, Ganzin and Rice Ear, the ministry said.

In addition, Yallvend secured a contract to set up vending machines for the main grounds of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, while YoKai Express’s ramen machines landed contracts with San Francisco International Airport, the ministry said.

FaceHeart received an invitation from Sony Corp to jointly develop healthcare products, the ministry said.

Additional reporting by CNA

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.


content_text:
Halep ousted in Adelaide quarter-final

UPHILL START:The 71-minute defeat to Aryna Sabalenka leaves Wimbledon champ Simona Halep standing 1-1 with the first Grand Slam of the year starting on Monday
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus serves to Simona Halep of Romania during their Adelaide International women’s singles quarter-final at Memorial Drive Park in Australia yesterday.Photo: AFP
Two-time Grand Slam winner Simona Halep is to head into the Australian Open with room for improvement after being upset 6-4, 6-2 by Aryna Sabalenka yesterday at the Adelaide International.

The reigning Wimbledon champion and former world No. 1 from Romania dropped serve five times and was flattened in the second set by her opponent from Belarus.

The 71-minute rout leaves Halep standing 1-1 for the season with the first Grand Slam of the year starting on Monday in Melbourne.

Today, Sabalenka faces Dayana Yastremska of the Ukraine for a place in the final after the 19-year-old beat a second top-20 opponent this week when she put out Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-3.

Sabalenka won her first match against Halep after racking up two losses.

“It feels great. We had a tough match and she played well,” Sabalenka said. “I tried to stay focused on each point. I stayed in the moment and that helped me to win.”

In the first set, Halep twice lost a break advantage, with Sabalenka coming through with a third break of serve in the final game on a double fault from Halep.

Although Halep drew applause as she finally won a game in the second set, Sabalenka fired a winning return to seal match point.

Yastremska, ranked 24th, was thrilled to get past Vekic.

“It’s nice to be in the semi-finals just in the beginning of the year,” she said. “I’m just getting my form. I have a big goal for Australia.”

In men’s play, South Africa’s Lloyd Harris beat fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals.

Alex de Minaur pulled out of the Adelaide International and the Australian Open with an abdominal tear, describing it as “really serious.”

“It’s not great — not going to lie. Obviously it’s a week of the calendar that I really look forward to ... so it’s pretty devastating to miss out on my home Slam,” said De Minaur, the world No. 21 and Australia’s top player.

HOBART INTERNATIONAL

Two-time major winner Garbine Muguruza yesterday withdrew from her quarter-final match at the Hobart International with a viral illness. Second-seeded Muguruza was to play Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova, who is to receive a walkover and advance to the semi-finals.

ASB CLASSIC

World No. 13 Denis Shapovalov of Canada yesterday crashed out of the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, beaten in straight sets by qualifier Ugo Humbert of France.

There was only one break in each set of the evenly contested clash, with Humbert clinching the victory with Shapovalov’s sixth double fault to win 7-5, 6-4.

“I’m really, really happy. It’s one of the biggest wins of my career,” the 57th-ranked Humbert said as he advanced to a semi-final showdown with big-serving John Isner of the US. “I tried to play each ball. I tried to stay focused and my plans were working.”

Isner survived on his thunderous serve with an impressive 25 aces to overcome Kyle Edmund of Britain in the opening quarter-final.

While Edmund had the better of the fourth seed for much of the match, Isner served his way out of trouble when it mattered. Edmund was unable to convert any of his nine break points.

Both sets went to a tiebreak before Isner won 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5) and expressed relief at making the final four.

“I know I was a bit fortunate to win today. That’s how tennis goes, but I’m happy I’m in the semi-finals,” the two-time Auckland champion said. “That match point, I played it very aggressively and very well. Winning a match like this can give me a lot of confidence going forward.”

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

title: Halep ousted in Adelaide quarter-final