countries: 臺灣 台灣

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A total of 101 Taiwanese employees of nine Taiwanese banks remain in China due to a lockdown, transport restrictions or other reasons, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday.

Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) and Taiwan Business Bank (臺灣中小企銀), which have branches in Wuhan the epicenter of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, have six and seven Taiwanese staff there respectively, Banking Bureau Deputy Director Sherri Chuang (莊琇媛) said.

Most of them chose not to return to Taiwan, as they were concerned that being quarantined for 14 days would prevent them from returning to Wuhan once their banks resumed operations, she said.

Three employees of Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) subsidiary Fubon Bank (China) Co Ltd (富邦華一銀行) returned to Taiwan before the Lunar New Year, she added.

In addition to Wuhan, the local governments of 33 Chinese cities have imposed total or partial lockdowns to contain the outbreak, including Nanjing, Fuzhou and Ningbo, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) reported on Wednesday.

There are 88 Taiwanese staff of six banks still in those cities, commission data showed.

Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) topped the list with 29 employees in Nanjing and three in Fuzhou, followed by Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) with 16 in Nanjing, Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行) with 13 in Fuzhou and Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行) with 11 in Ningbo, the data showed.

Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) and Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) also have eight employees each in Fuzhou, the data showed.

“The 101 are healthy and the banks have maintained contact with them,” Chuang said.

As most Taiwanese banks’ operations in China are concentrated on corporate banking services, their employees have less contact with local consumers than those of Chinese banks, she said.

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title: More than 100 workers of local banks still in China


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There were two interesting observations to be made from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) meeting with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Beijing on Tuesday last week.

First, Xi was sitting there like an emperor receiving tribute, while Tedros looked like a dog simpering at his master’s feet, desperate to please.

The WHO head hails from the poor African nation of Ethiopia, which is the recipient of a big whack of Chinese foreign aid, and is an “old friend” of China.

It is difficult to know exactly how adept he is at his job, or how much money he has received from China, but the man certainly knows the rules of court etiquette and how to shake hands with Xi, as anyone with any common sense would as the head of a WHO under China’s spell.

Second is the arrangement of the three tables, set side by side, separating the two men. Never before have we seen such an arrangement when a Chinese leader receives a foreign guest.

The visitor might as well have been seated on the other side of the world. Clearly, Xi was feeling a little fragile, scared for all the world that he might get infected with 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

His guest did not come from the epidemic-hit Wuhan region, but it did not matter: He was kept at a safe distance, regardless.

Xi is the great self-preserver, the sheep in wolf’s clothing, the inveterate coward. It is surely too much to expect him to make a personal appearance in Wuhan, to show how he loves all Chinese as he would love his own daughter, a little political street theater for the cameras.

During the meeting, Xi spoke of how he had personally orchestrated the response to the epidemic and had overseen the deployment of resources himself. He assured all who were listening that China has the confidence and ability to triumph over the virus, with its concerted efforts, scientific containment and targeted policies under the robust leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Here, he jerked back control over the anti-epidemic efforts and thrust them firmly into his own lap, as if the work of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強), who has been entrusted with the fight against the outbreak, were nothing.

If Xi has been orchestrating the whole response, despite not officially being in charge of the efforts, then surely it will be his responsibility if the whole thing spirals out of control.

Xi’s rhetoric was replete with the lexicon of the battlefield, saying: “For the Chinese people, we are currently locked in a solemn struggle,” and “The strength of the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, developed under the leadership of the CCP, is our precision tactics, and we have the confidence and the capability to win this battle.”

On top of this, the CCP issued an official “Notice on Strengthening Party Leadership, and Providing Staunch Political Guarantees for Winning the Battle of Prevention and Control against the Epidemic,” calling on party committees throughout the land to encourage and lead all party members and cadres to put their all into the battle against the outbreak, to fight with courage and to persevere until the battle is won.

This choice to use military metaphors can be interpreted in several ways.

First, Xi had come to the conclusion following discussion with his inner circle that the outbreak in China was far more serious than the state media reports had tried to make us to believe, and that the situation was comparable to a nation at the brink of war.

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title: WHO has become China’s lapdog


title: Ghosts of SARS haunt Lam’s HK

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Today’s Hong Kongers are still haunted by the tragic experience and memory of the deadly SARS epidemic that hit the territory in the spring of 2003, which infected hundreds and killed nearly 300 people.

SARS was transmitted from southern China into the territory on Feb. 21, 2003, by a retired doctor and professor, Liu Jianlun (劉劍倫), who was infected with the virus after treating patients in Guangzhou, when he checked into the Metropole Hotel in Kowloon.

Before his death on March 4, Liu infected a handful of hotel guests who then carried the virus to Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Canada. This patient zero seeded the global SARS outbreak from a single hotel floor on a single day.

That month, the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, swiftly responded to the regional SARS outbreak, issuing a global travel warning for Hong Kong and other Asian countries. In April, a number of consulates withdrew their nonessential personnel from the territory. Normalcy did not return until May and June.

Ever since the SARS epidemic, Hong Kongers have recognized the need to maintain a high standard in personal hygiene during flu season. Through widespread public health education, they listen attentively to the opinions of international and local medical experts, and adhere to the government’s guidelines on hygiene, such as wearing masks and using alcohol-based sanitizers to clean hands.

Against this historical backdrop, it is logical to understand the public panic about an increase in confirmed cases of Wuhan coronavirus infections in the territory. Hong Kongers of all political stripes are urging Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) to step up her leadership to prevent a potential epidemic.

Severely handicapped by the months-long governance crisis that started in June last year, the Lam administration is incapable of seizing this historic moment to reclaim credibility and integrity in the eyes of Hong Kongers.

If a large-scale outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus occurs, this would collide with the pre-existing governance crisis that has disrupted the territory since last summer, thereby exposing three major structural problems that are crippling the administration from within.

First, Lam’s reluctance to impose travel restrictions from China to the territory appears to derive from socioeconomic and political rather than medical considerations. Such restrictions might have dire social and economic consequences for daily cross-border activities, including countless families who reside in Shenzhen and travel to Hong Kong for work.

People would be less willing to disclose their travel information inside China, making it difficult for Hong Kong customs officials to track cases of infections and identify speedy medical treatment.

In the worst scenario, the travel restrictions might even stigmatize hundreds of thousands of mainland Chinese in a seemingly polarized Hong Kong society that has been troubled by the escalation of subethnic tensions between Mandarin-speaking outsiders and Cantonese insiders in the post-1997 era.

However, what remains unsaid officially is that Lam has to offer an exit route for senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party and their families to flee the infected areas, such as Wuhan and nearby townships.

A notorious example is former Wuhan Iron and Steel chief executive Deng Qilin (鄧崎琳), who in 2016 stepped down to face trial under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) anti-corruption campaign. This high-profile fugitive allegedly fled the country last month, staying at several 5-star hotels in Hong Kong before being hospitalized. His escape to Hong Kong has made a mockery of Xi’s nationwide anti-corruption efforts.

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Wuhan Coronavirus Outbreak: ‘Prisoner’ of virus on cruise asks for whisky

People stand on balconies on the cruise ship Diamond Princess moored at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, Japan, yesterday.Photo: Reuters
One banana a day, washed down with neat whisky. That is the humble request from a British passenger on a 2019 novel coronavirus-stricken cruise ship off Japan whose Facebook posts have made him an online star.

Resplendent in a magnificent holiday flowery shirt, David Abel has informed and entertained the world with a unique British humor as he delivers regular updates from the Diamond Princess, where thousands are being held in strict quarantine.

Ten additional people were reported sick with the disease on the Diamond Princess, Japanese health officials said yesterday, in addition to 10 others who tested positive on Wednesday

The latest infections included one Taiwanese, four Japanese, two Americans, two Canadians and one New Zealander.

“I know that room service are also getting these messages ... so can I just give you a message ... could someone on room service just bring me a fresh banana, every day? Just one banana, that’s all I’m asking,” he said in a post.

“If the captain is listening to this: You needn’t get involved on the banana — the room service will sort that, I’m sure — but it would be really good to have a glass of whisky to wash it down,” he wrote.

“I take Talisker, 10-year-old single malt, no ice, no water. It would be fantastic if that could be arranged,” he said.

Abel said he had been inundated with requests from the global media desperate for inside information from the cruise ship.

“I’m not bragging, it’s just the way it is,” he said.

He himself has proved a valuable source of information on life onboard the ship, where passengers are bracing for 14 days of quarantine after cases of the coronavirus were discovered.

“It’s a horrible situation for most passengers onboard, being stuck here, confined to the cabin. We are not allowed outside the room,” he said, sympathizing especially with those with inside cabins. “It must be almost unbearable for them.”

Abel said there was a dearth of information from the crew and captain — passengers had not yet been informed about the 10 new cases revealed yesterday — and he worried that this could extend the quarantine period.

“Hopefully, we’ll be home before Christmas,” he said.

In an earlier post, Abel said that the food had taken a decided turn for the worse since the quarantine measures were imposed — “we are definitely not on a luxury cruise” — and said the trip of a lifetime had turned into a “floating prison.”

However, his upbeat demeanor and positive messages won him a torrent of messages on Facebook.

“Come on folks, have a wonderful day wherever you are in the world. Keep smiling, make the best of every circumstance. Don’t live under the circumstances, live above them. Make the most of whatever life throws at you,” he said.

He could not resist some tongue-in-cheek advice for those trapped in inside cabins.

“No natural light. No fresh air. Thank goodness we do have a balcony and somebody commented this morning: They’ve learned a lesson from this, pay a bit extra to have a balcony. Oh wow, it’s so worth it,” he said.

Without fresh air, some people were developing cough from the air conditioning and then being terrified it was an early symptom of the coronavirus, he said.

Abel finished his latest message with a plea for information from the captain — and wedding stories from his latest followers to pass the time.

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FBI warns of developing Russian information war

NO TAPERING OFF:US FBI Director Christopher Wray said Russia’s use of social media to interfere in elections has injected ‘steroids’ into its disinformation campaigns
Russia is engaged in “information warfare” heading into the this year’s US presidential election, US FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Wednesday, although law enforcement has not seen ongoing efforts by Russia to target the US’ election infrastructure.

Wray told the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee that Russia, just as it did in 2016, is relying on a covert social media campaign aimed at dividing US public opinion and sowing discord.

That effort, which involves fictional personas, bots, social media postings and disinformation, might have an election-year uptick, but is also a round-the-clock threat that is in some ways harder to combat than an election system hack, Wray said.

“Unlike a cyberattack on an election infrastructure, that kind of effort — disinformation — in a world where we have a First Amendment and believe strongly in freedom of expression, the FBI is not going to be in the business of being the truth police and monitoring disinformation online,” Wray said.

The FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security are on alert for election-related cyberactivity such as what occurred in 2016, when Russians probed local election systems for vulnerabilities and hacked e-mails belonging to US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

However, Wray said: “I don’t think we’ve seen any ongoing efforts to target election infrastructure like we did in 2016.”

His appearance came two days after Democratic presidential caucuses in Iowa were marred by a malfunctioning app that caused a delay in the reporting of results.

Although local and federal officials have stressed that the problems were not caused by a foreign intrusion, the error played into existing unease surrounding election security and risked amplifying concerns among Americans about the integrity of the voting process.

Even without signs of election system targeting, Wray said that Russian efforts to interfere in the election through disinformation had not tapered off since 2016.

Social media had injected “steroids” into those efforts, he said.

“They identify an issue that they know that the American people feel passionately about on both sides and then they take both sides and spin them up so they pit us against each other,” Wray said.

“Then they combine that with an effort to weaken our confidence in our elections and our democratic institutions, which has been a pernicious and asymmetric way of engaging in ... information warfare,” he added.

Asked by US Representative Jerrold Nadler if US President Donald Trump had asked him to investigate former US vice president Joe Biden or Biden’s son, Hunter, Wray said: “No one has asked me to open an investigation based on anything other than facts, the law and proper predication.”

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By Liu Pei-fen and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Dog owners should pay special attention to the behavior of their canine companions while riding in vehicles, because they can experience car sickness just like people, a Taipei veterinarian said.

Car sickness in dogs occurs for the same reasons it does in humans: a parasympathetic nervous system imbalance, Da’ai Animal Hospital veterinarian Huang Kuo-lun (黃國倫) said.

Dogs experiencing car sickness might drool, vomit, appear unable to focus their eyes or seem lethargic, he said.

“When this occurs, the owner must stop the vehicle and let the dog drink some water and rest,” he said. “However, they must not feed the dog right away.”

While car sickness is not life-threatening, there is a chance dogs could choke on their vomit in severe cases, Huang said.

As dogs sometimes swallow their vomit rather than letting it out, owners should pay close attention to the animals’ breathing if they tend to get car sick, he said, adding that these dogs should not be given too much food or water before traveling by car.

Owners should help their dogs adapt gradually to riding in the car, first by taking them into the vehicle with the engine off to adjust to the space inside, and then while it is on to get used to the engine’s vibrations, he said.

After that, owners should drive short distances with their dog while monitoring their condition, he said.

If a dog is unable to adapt to riding in moving vehicles, owners could use over-the-counter car sickness medication, Huang said.

Small dogs should be given one-fourth of a tablet, medium-sized dogs half a tablet and large dogs a full tablet, he said, adding that owners should never exceed this dosage.

Dogs that are pregnant or have a heart condition should not be given car sickness medication, he said.

During trips with a dog, owners should open windows for ventilation, without leaving enough room for the dog to jump or fall out of the vehicle, Huang said, adding that dogs should sit in the front passenger seat of the vehicle whenever possible.

Dogs experience more movement in the rear seats of a vehicle, which could make it easier for them to become sick, he said.

Making frequent rest stops is also important during longer drives, he added.

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title: Dogs experience car sickness, too, vet says


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Digital savings accounts’ popularity growing: FSC

SAFE AND CONVENIENT:Digital accounts are expected to continue to increase with the launch of virtual banks and as people turn to such services amid a virus outbreak
Digital savings accounts have become more popular among local consumers due to convenience and additional banks are launching programs to compete with the nation’s three Web-only banks, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.

The number of digital savings accounts opened at the nation’s 30 banks totaled 3.38 million as of the end of last year, a surge of 124 percent from 1.5 million at 25 banks a year earlier, commission data showed.

The rapid growth could be attributed to more banks launching digital services to cultivate a customer base that favors using online services over visiting brick-and-mortar branches — the target customers of the three virtual banks, Banking Bureau Deputy Director Sherri Chuang (莊琇媛) told a news conference in New Taipei City.

The three Web-only banks are scheduled to open later this year, starting with Rakuten International Commercial Bank Co (樂天國際商銀) in June, followed by Line Bank (連線商業銀行) and Next Bank (將來銀行) in the third quarter, commission data showed.

Given the intense competition, most banks offer interest rates of more than 1 percent on digital savings accounts, which is tempting compared with interest rates of 0.1 to 0.2 percent for demand deposits at banks, Chuang said.

For example, Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) in June last year launched its DAWHO digital account service, which offers interest rates of up to 1.1 percent for demand deposits and no handling fees for fund purchases, she said.

By the end of last year, Bank SinoPac’s digital savings accounts grew to 225,000, fourth among the nation’s banks, she added.

Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) remained in first place with 1.79 million accounts for its Richart online service, followed by Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) with 465,000, O-Bank (王道商業銀行) with 424,000 and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) with 135,000, commission data showed.

“The number of digital savings accounts is expected to continue growing this year with the launch of the virtual banks and as people favor online services” due to an outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus, Chuang said.

There are three types of digital savings accounts, the commission said.

The first is open to new clients at a bank, but requires a Citizen Digital Certificate; the second is only available to people who already have a savings account with a bank; and the third requires no Citizen Digital Certificate and anyone with a credit card at a bank can apply, but it has the most restrictions on fund transfers, it said.

The third type is the most popular, with 1.3 million accounts, while there are 1.04 million type-one accounts and 1.03 million type-two accounts, commission data showed.

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title: Virgin Australia axes HK flights as demand slumps

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Virgin Australia Group yesterday said that it is canceling its flights between Sydney and Hong Kong, just 18 months after launching the route, due to reduced demand caused by the pro-democracy protests and the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.

The airline began flying from Australia’s biggest city to Hong Kong in 2018, calling its China expansion a “key pillar” of its international strategy, but now admits the route proved “challenging.”

Virgin Australia chief commercial officer John MacLeod said that demand had declined following months of sometimes violent protests in Hong Kong that have been followed by the coronavirus outbreak in China, which has spread to the territory.

“While the decision to withdraw from the Hong Kong market has been a difficult one, it demonstrates our strong focus on driving greater financial discipline through our network,” MacLeod said in a statement. “Current circumstances demonstrate that Hong Kong is no longer a commercially viable route for Virgin Australia to continue operating, however international tourism remains an important part of our strategy through our other international routes and partner airlines.”

The route is to cease operating on March 2.

Australian Department of Transport data showed that Virgin Australia’s outbound Sydney to Hong Kong flights were operating at just 64 percent capacity in November last year, compared with 80 percent for Qantas Airways Ltd and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空).

The announcement came as the airline faces wider financial troubles, posting an underlying pretax loss of A$71.2 million (US$48.1 million) last year after achieving an underlying profit of A$64.4 million the previous financial year.

Virgin Australia in November last year announced that it would suspend services between Melbourne and Hong Kong from Tuesday next week.

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title: CPI rises to 21-month high of 1.85%

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Shoppers browse through socks labeled as being made in South Korea on a vendor’s table in Taipei’s East District yesterday.Photo: CNA
The consumer price index (CPI) last month climbed to a 21-month peak of 1.85 percent, as recreation, food and miscellaneous item costs increased over the Lunar New Year holiday, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

The inflation gauge after seasonal adjustments increased a fractional 0.11 percent, suggesting stable consumer prices, the agency said.

“It is common for goods and services to become more expensive, in keeping with tradition over the Lunar New Year holiday,” DGBAS Senior Executive Officer Chiou Shwu-chwen (邱淑純) told a media briefing in Taipei.

The pickup was most evident for prices of miscellaneous items, which rose 3.3 percent year-on-year, as consumers paid extra for babysitters and hair stylists, Chiou said, adding that stronger demand for jewelry also pushed up prices.

Education and recreation expenses increased 2.99 percent as travel agencies and hotels raised group tour charges and room rates, the monthly report showed.

Food costs advanced 2.57 percent, mainly due to a 14.91 percent increase in fruit prices and a 13.01 percent increase in vegetable prices, it showed.

Healthcare and medical expenses rose 0.96 percent on the back of increased registration and copayment fees. Transportation and communication costs rose 0.31 percent, as oil prices grew 6.68 percent, muting a 6.55 percent decline in telecommunications charges, it said.

Core CPI, a more reliable inflation tracker as it excludes volatile items, increased 1.33 percent, lending support to the outlook for stable prices, Chiou said.

Chiou dismissed concerns about potential deflation as people avoid going out due to fears about the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in China.

The SARS outbreak in 2003 significantly cooled consumer activity, but authorities are better prepared to restrict any outbreak as evidenced by the small number of confirmed local cases, Chiou said.

The wholesale price index, a measure of production costs, stayed in negative territory by posting a 3.11 percent decline, a report showed.

Prices of base metals, plastics and chemical products remained cheaper than a year earlier, while prices of mineral products staged a rebound, it showed.

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UK eyes free-trade deal with Australia following EU exit

BACK TO THE FUTURE?Brexiteers say that ‘family ties’ with Commonwealth nations could compensate for the partial loss of the EU’s 444 million customers
British Secretary of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab yesterday said that he hopes a free-trade deal with Australia would be one of the first such pacts to be secured now that the UK has left the EU.

After leaving the EU on Jan. 31, the UK entered a transition period that allows it to negotiate future ties with Brussels and to begin talks with other major economies, such as the US and Japan.

“We have a trade relationship already worth 17 billion pounds [US$22.1 billion], but we have the potential to do so much more,” Raab told reporters in Canberra.

“Australia hopefully will be part of that first wave of high-priority deals that we are pursuing,” he said after meeting Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne.

Neither Raab nor Payne gave any timetable for the start of free-trade talks.

Australia is already in talks with the EU on a trade deal, but Payne said the talks with Brussels would not slow the progress of a deal with the UK.

Although Australia has strong ties with the UK as a former colony, the trading relationship has waned significantly over the past 50 years.

The UK takes just 3 percent of Australia’s exports, while China takes nearly 40 percent.

The UK’s entry into the Common Market in 1973 was widely considered a betrayal in Australia, upending decades of tradition and a host of tariff deals.

Supporters of the UK’s exit from the EU have argued that “family ties” with Commonwealth members, such as Australia, could compensate for the partial loss of the EU’s 444 million customers.

During his two-day visit to Australia, Raab was also due to meet Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham.

The talks were expected to focus on trade, but London’s decision to allot a limited role for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) in building its 5G network could also be discussed.

The world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment faces intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government and accusations of enabling state espionage, with the US urging its allies not to use the firm’s technology.

Although Huawei has denied the claims, the accusations have prompted several Western nations, including Australia, to curb the firm’s access to their markets.

The UK last month said that high-risk vendors would be excluded from the sensitive core of its networks and there would a 35 percent cap on their involvement in the non-sensitive parts.

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taiwan-subdivisions: 大肚 鳥松 高雄

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Highways & Byways: Kaohsiung’s heavenly wetland

Niaosong Wetland Park is an urban birdwatchers paradise, with 96 avian species regularly spotted, and is also home to many aquatic plants, various turtles, squirrels, insects, amphibians
Birdwatchers in Taiwan are used to driving up into the mountains, or standing at windswept spots along the coast. Yet the big cities are not totally lacking in places where you can get in a decent afternoon of birding.

In the north, Taipei Botanical Garden (台北植物園) is probably the best location for urban birdwatching. In the built-up core of Kaohsiung, Niaosong Wetland Park (鳥松濕地公園) is the go-to for birders who have just a few hours to spare.

The 3.6-hectare park, named for and located in Kaohsiung’s Niaosong District (鳥松), was the first wetland in Taiwan planned and deliberately brought into existence. Of course, humans have inadvertently created others, such as Gaomei Wetlands (高美濕地) in Taichung.

Until the mid-1990s, this parcel of land was occupied by the state-run water utility. After they stopped using it, conservationists lobbied the government to turn it into a wetland education park. The water company dropped its initial objections, and work got underway. In September 2000, the park was ready for its grand opening. Admission is free, the park is open 24/7, and getting there isn’t difficult even if you’re depending on public transportation.

According to the website of Kaohsiung Wild Bird Society (www.kwbs.org.tw/wetland/english/Bird.html) — the NGO selected by the government to manage and maintain the park — 96 avian species are regularly seen around the wetland. The park is also home to up to 30 types of aquatic plants, various turtles, squirrels, insects, amphibians, and piscine species such as Mosquitofish (which Taiwanese call 大肚魚, “big-bellied fish”).

BIRDWATCHING

Over the space of a couple of hours on a recent Sunday afternoon, my wife, my son and myself identified more than a dozen different birds. We’re occasional and minimally-skilled birders, but we had a decent pair of binoculars and favorable weather.

GETTING THERE

The nearest railway station is Jhengyi TRA Station (正義火車站), 2.3km south of the wetland park, where only local commuter trains stop. City bus #30 connects Jhengyi TRA Station with Cheng Shiu University (正修科技大學), a couple of minutes’ walk from the wetland. Also stopping at the university is the #60 (one service every 30 to 40 minutes), which can be boarded at Kaohsiung Main Station (高雄火車站). Around the wetland, finding somewhere to park your car or a motorcycle isn’t difficult.

We weren’t surprised to see Little and Intermediate egrets. Nor were we especially excited: These white birds are found wherever there’s some greenery and some water.

We were a little too early to find any Great Egrets, but if you go to the wetland between now and May, you’ve a good chance of seeing one or two. To tell these three species apart, look at their beaks. That of the Little Egret is black; its Intermediate counterpart has a short, thick yellow beak that turns red or black during breeding season; the Great Egret’s beak is longer and thinner, and changes from yellow to a darker hue in the breeding season.

The Common Moorhen is another year-round resident. Its beak, which is mostly red with a yellow tip, is its most colorful feature. The body is almost entirely black.

In the bamboo on the southern edge of the wetland, several Japanese White-eyes (sometimes called Warbling White-eyes) were hopping around. In the same patch of semi-woodland, there were at least three Taiwan Scimitar-Babblers. This species is endemic, meaning it isn’t seen in other countries. It’s also a particularly handsome bird, thanks to the red-brown around its shoulders.

The Black-Crowned Night Herons were almost as numerous as the egrets. A few had positioned themselves on the banks of the main pond, while others stood on posts or floating branches. An adult specimen can weigh up to 800g, so a good amount of food is required each day. Like some other herons, they have been seen to throw tiny scraps into the water, to lure fish to within striking distance.


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Privacy activists don ‘dazzle’ makeup to beat Met surveillance

Wearing makeup has long been seen as an act of defiance, from teenagers to New Romantics. That defiance has taken on a harder edge, as growing numbers of people use it to try to trick facial recognition systems.

Interest in so-called dazzle camouflage appears to have grown substantially since London’s Metropolitan Police on Jan. 24 announced that officers would be using live facial recognition cameras on the city’s streets — a move described by privacy campaigners and political activists as “dangerous,” “oppressive” and “a huge threat to human rights.”

Unlike fingerprinting and DNA testing, there are few restrictions on how police can use the new technology, and some of those who are concerned have decided to assert their right not to be put under surveillance by using makeup as a weapon.

Members of the Dazzle Club have been conducting silent walks through London while wearing asymmetric makeup in patterns intended to prevent their faces from being matched on any database.

“There was this extraordinary experience of hiding in plain sight,” said Anna Hart, of Air, a not-for-profit art group, who founded the club with fellow artists Georgina Rowlands and Emily Roderick.

“We made ourselves so visible in order to hide. The companies selling this tech talk about preventing crime. There is no evidence this prevents crime. It might be sometimes used when crime has been committed, but they push the idea that this will make us safer, that we will feel safer,” she said.

Facial recognition works by mapping facial features — mainly the eyes, nose and chin — by identifying light and dark areas, then calculating the distance between them. That unique facial fingerprint is then matched with others on a database.

Makeup attempts to disrupt this by putting dark and light colors in unexpected places, either to confuse the technology into mapping the wrong parts of the face or concluding there is no face to map.

The concept was created by an artist, Adam Harvey, who coined the term “computer vision dazzle,” or “cv dazzle,” to mean a modern version of the camouflage used by the British Royal Navy during World War I.

Many other artists, designers and technologists have been inspired by his attempts to hide without covering the face.

Liu Jingcai, a design student, created a wearable face projector, while Dutch artist Jip van Leeuwenstein made a clear plastic mask that creates the illusion of ridges along the face.

Others have used hats and T-shirts with patterns that are designed to trick cameras into not recognizing part of an image as a human at all.

Researchers at the University of KU Leuven in Belgium managed to avoid recognition by holding a large photograph of a group of people. Yet few people used these countermeasures on any regular basis until the Dazzle Club began last year as a response to the installation, later scrapped, of technology at King’s Cross, London.

“It was very annoying and made us quite angry. There are a lot of issues with bias,” Roderick said, referring to research that showed black people were more likely to be misidentified.

The group meets once a month to walk through different parts of London and it has been inundated with inquiries over the past few days.

“It would be interesting to wear it day to day and for it not to be too outrageous, for it to be more commonplace,” Roderick said. “But the speed that facial recognition algorithms learn means that you can’t find one design and use it for the rest of your life. At some point, it will learn that you are a face with cv dazzle. It’s a classic arms race.”

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title: Taiwan gets itself lumped with China

content_text:
Italy on Friday last week banned all flights from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and China, stranding 768 Taiwanese passengers in Italy. Soon after this, completely out of the blue, Vietnam announced a ban on all incoming flights from those same places.

However, following talks between the governments of Taiwan and Vietnam, Hanoi lifted the ban on Taiwan three hours after it was announced, but not before an EVA Airways flight had been forced to turn back in midair, while China Airlines passengers headed to Vietnam had to disembark after boarding their flight and a StarLux Airlines flight preparing for takeoff was told to taxi back to the apron.

China is the source of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, and Hong Kong and Macau are its special administrative regions. The coronavirus has spread beyond China and people are fearful. It was appropriate for the beleaguered Italy and Vietnam to ban incoming flights from Hong Kong, Macau and other parts of China.

Taiwan has also been busy defending itself from the outbreak, but now has been lumped together with China in Italy and Vietnam’s flight bans.

Above and beyond the protestations of innocence, the feelings of helplessness, the frustration and even the anger, Taiwanese should perhaps take a moment to reflect on what led to this. Such reflection might show a way to prevent such a thing from happening again.

Did this happen because Taiwan has been hard hit by the epidemic? Not really.

As of Monday, Japan had reported 20 confirmed cases, Thailand 19, Singapore 18, South Korea 15 and Australia 12, all of which were higher than the 10 cases reported in Taiwan. Why, then, were bans not equally applied to Japan, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea and Australia?

Taking a step back and looking at this objectively, Taiwan can be blamed at least in part for how others perceive it.

Italy and Vietnam should not be blamed for associating Taiwan with China. With the topic of the outbreak on everyone’s lips, people around the world — especially in the US and Europe — only see and hear names such as the Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and China Airlines.

Can they really be faulted for confusing the distinctions between the Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China? Is it so far-fetched for someone to assume that China Airlines might be a Chinese airline? Is it not entirely forgivable if people confuse China Airlines with the Chinese airline Air China?

If the nation refuses to use a more distinctive name such as Taiwan or to call its national carrier Taiwan Airlines — names not automatically affiliated with China the country — but continues to use the Republic of China in referring to itself and emblazon “China Airlines” on its airplanes, then who is to blame but Taiwanese when people in other countries get confused? What right do Taiwanese have to direct their anger elsewhere?

Chang Kuo-tsai is a retired associate professor at National Hsinchu University of Education.

Translated by Paul Cooper

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content_text:
By Tsai Ssu-pei and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
A Taipei doctor warned against excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco after treating a 35-year-old man for esophageal cancer, a disease that disproportionately affects men.

Wei Yi-shen (魏亦伸), a gastroenterologist at Taipei City Hospital’s Renai branch, said the patient, who smoked one-and-a-half packs of cigarettes per day and consumed a bottle of whiskey per week, sought medical assistance when he experienced trouble swallowing.

Initially, the man managed by chewing solid food into small pieces, but later resorted to only consuming liquid food, Wei said.

An examination found a tumor in the man’s esophagus, which testing showed to be malignant, he said.

In 2018, esophageal cancer was the ninth-leading cause of death from cancer in Taiwan, and for Taiwanese men it is consistently ranked as the fifth-leading cause of death, he said.

The ratio of men to women who develop the condition in Taiwan is 13:1, and men aged 60 and older are particularly at high risk for developing the condition, he added.

People who develop this cancer might feel a sensation of a foreign object in their throat, have difficulty swallowing, experience weight loss and develop anemia, Wei said.

However, because the disease does not exhibit symptoms in its early stages, people might not be aware of it until a tumor has already developed, he said.

Common factors that contribute to developing esophageal cancer include smoking, and consumption of alcohol, betelnut and foods high in nitrites, he said.

People with a family history of the condition, or who are overweight or have acid reflux, are also at risk of esophageal cancer, he said.

The cancer is primarily categorized as either squamous cell epithelioma or glandular epitheliomia, with the squamous cell variant accounting for about 90 percent of all cases, he said, adding that the variants are also typically found in different regions.

Squamous cell epithelioma is commonly found in China, Turkey, Iran and throughout Central Asia, while glandular epitheliomia is more commonly found in the US and western Europe, he said.

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title: Doctor warns of risks from heavy drinking, smoking


content_text:
Will ‘Parasite’ make history at the Oscars on Sunday?

《寄生上流》能否創歷史？奧斯卡獎週日將揭曉

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, third left, and the cast of Parasite cheer after winning the biggest award at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Jan. 19.
南韓導演奉俊昊（中後），和《寄生上流》的演員們，歡慶他們贏得第二十六屆演員工會獎最大獎，於一月十九日攝於美國洛杉磯。Photo: EPA
照片：歐新社
The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday US time; here are some fun facts about the nominees: Parasite becomes the first South Korean film to be nominated for both Best International Feature Film and Best Picture. According to AFP, it is the sixth non-English language movie to achieve a double nomination, but none of the previous five have managed to clinch the biggest award.

It has been a bumpy award season for the world’s streaming giant Netflix, which led the Golden Globe nominations and walked away with just two awards. After spending billions to recruit the industry’s top filmmakers, while actively launching award season campaigns, Netflix bagged an impressive 24 Oscar nominations this year.

Last, Star Wars: the Rise of Skywalker may not be the film critics’ favorite, but its movie score earned legendary composer John Williams his 52nd Oscar nomination, drawing him even closer to film producer Walt Disney’s record of 59 nods. Williams has already won five Oscars during his career.

(Eddy Chang, Taipei Times)

第九十二屆奧斯卡頒獎典禮將於美國時間本週日登場，以下為入圍名單的幾個小趣聞：據法新社報導，《寄生上流》成為首部同時入圍最佳國際影片及最佳影片的南韓電影，亦是第六部拿下雙料入圍的非英語片，但前五部均未奪得最佳影片殊榮。

對全球串流影音巨擘網飛（Netflix）來說，今年頒獎季一路走來十分顛簸。雖然先前風光入圍多項金球獎，最終卻只抱回兩座獎。不過靠著砸下數十億美元網羅頂尖電影人才，同時積極推出頒獎季宣傳活動，Netflix今年入圍二十四項奧斯卡獎，令人印象深刻。

《Star Wars : 天行者的崛起》或許並未受到影評人青睞，其電影配樂卻為傳奇作曲家約翰威廉斯贏得第五十二次提名，逼近電影製作人華特迪士尼的五十九次紀錄。威廉斯在電影生涯中，已榮獲五座奧斯卡獎。

（台北時報張聖恩)


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Virus Outbreak: Drop ‘Chinese Taipei,’ political party says, after Mongolia bars Taipower FC

The leader of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party has called for the “outdated Chinese Taipei designation” to be discarded and urged the government to use “Team Taiwan” and “Taiwanese athletes” for all sports competitions after Mongolia barred the Kaohsiung-based Taipower FC soccer team from entering the country due to China’s coronavirus outbreak, leading to a cancelation of the team’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup match against Ulan Bator City on Wednesday.

The AFC on Wednesday announced that it was canceling that day’s preliminary round of the AFC Cup at the MFF Football Centre in the country’s capital, Ulan Bator, as well as a return leg of the two sides scheduled for Wednesday next week in Kaohsiung.

The move was decided at an AFC emergency meeting, where executives talked to both teams about rescheduling the matches, Taiwan’s governing body, the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA), said in a statement.

On Sunday, the team was prevented from boarding a flight to Ulan Bator at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport after the Mongolian government banned Taiwanese from entering the country.

CTFA secretary-general Fang Ching-ren (方靖仁) said at the time that Mongolia, in a bid to prevent the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus, imposed strict border restrictions, barring all travelers to the country from the “Chinese area,” which it interpreted to include not only China, Hong Kong and Macau, but also Taiwan.

From Sunday to Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and CTFA communicated with Mongolian authorities through Taiwan’s trade representative office in Ulan Bator to convince them that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign nation, not part of China.

The Mongolian government was informed by the CTFA that the coronavirus outbreak occurred in Wuhan, China; that Taiwan has contained any spread of the virus locally; and that the Taipower team would not make any stopovers in China, association officials said.

However, despite the diplomatic assurances, along with the CTFA’s push for the AFC to get involved, Mongolia would not change its stance, and the match cancelations stood.

Taiwan Statebuilding Party Chairman Chen Yi-chi (陳奕齊) said that the match cancelations were likely due to Mongolia being pressured by China to bar the Taiwanese team.

“Their government mistakenly thought ‘Chinese Taipei’ was under China’s jurisdiction,” Chen said.

“The Mongolian government is also working hard to prevent the spread of the ‘Wuhan virus’ in their country, but it is Taiwan’s own use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ that has caused so much confusion in the international community,” Chen said. “It is time for us to discard the outdated and incorrect ‘Chinese Taipei,’ and to start to use ‘Taiwan’ and officially refer to our national squad as ‘Team Taiwan’ on the world stage.”

The government and the nation’s sports teams have belittled themselves by using “ROC” and “Chinese Taipei,” which confuses people from other countries into thinking that they are part of China, Chen said.

“This is the right time to start the change and for our people to be proud of our country as ‘Taiwan,’ and let the world know that we are a separate and sovereign country — that we are not part of China,” Chen said.

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People shop at the Nintendo store in Tokyo’s Shibuya District on Jan. 23.Photo: AP
Nintendo Co yesterday said that shipments of its Switch console and related peripherals, such as Joy-Con controllers, have been delayed by the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in China.

The affected gadgets, including the Ring-Con required to play its popular Ring Fit Adventure, are made in China for Japanese customers, the Kyoto-based company said in a statement, without giving further details.

Shipments to the US and Europe would be unaffected, the company added.

The company also said that it would delay taking domestic preorders for the Animal Crossing Switch bundle, though its March 20 release date would remain the same.

A Nintendo spokesman told Bloomberg News that the company could consider shipping hardware from its production site in Vietnam to Japan if the outbreak worsens.

The company is currently sending the majority of that inventory to the US.

Nintendo last week forecast full-year earnings that were short of expectations, sending its shares tumbling.

Analysts have expressed concern about Nintendo’s ability to keep Switch momentum going in a year when both Microsoft Corp and Sony Corp are planning to unveil new competing consoles.

The supply bottleneck also comes at an inopportune time for Nintendo, which was already struggling to keep up with Ring Fit Adventure demand in Japan.

The game, released on Oct. 18 last year, was the best-selling game in Japan last week, market researcher Famitsu said yesterday.

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title: Virus is delaying Nintendo Switch shipments to Japan


title: Mobile Mosque rolls in to help Muslims pray amid dearth of adequate facilities

content_text:
The Mobile Mosque is deployed in a parking lot in Tokyo on Wednesday.Photo: Reuters
For the thousands of Muslim athletes, officials and supporters arriving in Tokyo for the Olympic Games later this year, it might be a struggle for them to find an appropriate place to pray.

The answer might just be found roaming the streets of Tokyo on the back of a truck.

By the time the Games start in July, there are to be prayer rooms available at the Athlete’s Village, which is still under construction.

However, some venues might not have a designated space.

There is also a dearth of prayer spaces in hotels and public areas across the Japanese capital.

This is where the Mobile Mosque, a fully-equipped 48m2 prayer room that opens up in the back of a parked truck, comes in.

The back of the modified truck can be widened in seconds and the vehicle also includes Arabic signage and outdoor water taps for pre-worship cleaning.

The Yasu Project, the organization behind the enterprise, plans on setting up the vehicle outside venues during the Olympics, which run from July 24 to Aug. 9.

CEO Yasuharu Inoue hopes that athletes and supporters alike will use the truck.

“I want athletes to compete with their utmost motivation and for the audience to cheer on with their utmost motivation as well. That is why I made this,” Inoue said on Wednesday, pointing to the white truck parked next to Tokyo Tower.

“I hope it brings awareness that there are many different people in this world and to promote a nondiscriminatory, peaceful Olympics and Paralympics,” he added.

Tokyo organizers said that they were looking at various avenues to provide appropriate facilities for all religious groups.

“The organizing committee is preparing a list of religious or faiths centers that could be contacted or visited if requested by residents of the villages during the Games,” a spokesperson told reporters by e-mail.

“In the Games’ venues, multi-faith prayer spaces for athletes and spectators are under consideration in venue operations planning,” they added.

An investigation by Waseda University found that there were 105 mosques in Japan at the end of 2018.

However, as they are spread across the country, and many of them are small and on the outskirts of Tokyo, it might be difficult for Muslims, who need to pray five times each day.

Inoue said that he has already spoken to several Olympic committees, including most recently Indonesia, about helping their athletes.

Topan Rizki Utraden, an Indonesian who has lived in Japan for 12 years, prayed at the Mobile Mosque for the first time with his daughter.

It can be difficult to find a quiet place to pray in Japan, particularly outside of Tokyo, he said.

“It is really difficult to find mosques near your place,” Utraden said. “If you are in the city, there is no problem, but if you take a road trip outside Tokyo, it is difficult.”

“Sometimes I pray in a park, but sometimes the Japanese look at me like: ‘What are you doing?’” he added.

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content_text:
Chong Neng, MHI Vestas Offshore ink supplier agreement

The Chong Neng (中能) offshore wind farm project yesterday said that it had signed a preferred supplier agreement with MHI Vestas Offshore Wind A/S as it aims to meet its localization requirements.

Chong Neng is a joint venture between China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners K/S (CIP), with CSC holding a 51 percent stake and CIP the other 49 percent.

It is to develop a 300 megawatt wind farm off the coast of Changhua County, adjacent to CIP’s Chang Fang (彰芳) and Xidao (西島) wind farms, which are under construction and are set to have a combined capacity of 600 megawatts.

With construction scheduled for 2022, the Chong Neng farm is set to be integrated with the national power grid by 2024.

“We will develop this wind farm hand in hand with CIP, which will create bulk orders that in turn will stimulate the local supply chain,” Chong Neng chairman Wang Shyi-chin (王錫欽) told a media conference in Taipei yesterday.

Wang, also a CSC president, said that MHI Vestas would install about 100 9.5 megawatt wind turbines at the three farms.

Denmark-based MHI Vestas is the sole turbine manufacturer approved by the government due to its heavy reliance on local suppliers and Wang said that as a result the Chong Neng wind farm would be the most “localized” in the world.

“We aim to localize up to 27 of the multiple sections that constitute the project,” he said.

The construction of submarine foundations would see the participation of about 20 local firms, including CSBC Corp Taiwan (台灣國際造船), Wanchi Steel Industrial Co (萬機鋼鐵) and CTCI Machinery Corp (俊鼎機械), he said.

Installations would be carried out by CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering Co (台船環海) using its new main installation vessel, he added.

Meanwhile, China Ecotek Corp (中宇環保), Teco Electric and Machinery Co (東元電機), Fortune Electric Co (華城電機) and Star Energy Corp (星能) would remain Chong Neng’s preferred suppliers for the construction of its onshore substations, Wang said.

Chong Neng would use CSC’s steel plates in its construction process, Wang said, adding that the overall wind-power industry, with a combined capacity of 5.7 gigawatts, would generate demand for 1.6 million tonnes of steel plates by 2025.

CSC would ship about half of that amount over the next five years based on the company’s annual production of 1 million tonnes per year, he said.

CIP Taiwan project office chief executive Jesper Krarup Holst said that Chong Neng would grow its small team of 20 employees to between 50 and 80 local and overseas professionals in the next 18 months.

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title: PRC to cut tariffs on US imports

content_text:
PRC to cut tariffs on US imports

SOME GOOD NEWS:The announcement comes as Beijing seeks to bolster confidence as a 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak casts deep uncertainty over the economic outlook
China yesterday said that it is to halve punitive tariffs on US$75 billion of US imports from Friday next week, a month after Beijing and Washington signed a truce in their long-running trade dispute.

The reduction is to apply to levies of 5 percent and 10 percent that were imposed on more than 1,700 items in September last year, China’s Tariff Commission of the State Council said.

US products that had been targeted by the 10 percent Chinese tariffs included fresh seafood, poultry and soybeans.

The tariffs also applied to items such as tungsten lamps for scientific and medical purposes, as well as some types of aircraft.

The move is aimed at “promoting the healthy and stable development of China-US economic and trade relations,” the commission said in a statement.

It added that the reduction would begin at 5:01am GMT on Friday next week — the same day Washington is expected to halve tariffs on US$120 billion of Chinese products.

The commission added that it “hopes that both parties will be able to abide by their agreement, strive to implement its relevant content [and] boost market confidence.”

However, other retaliatory tariffs are to remain in place.

The latest tariff reductions come as China grapples with a shortage of resources in a fight against the 2019 novel coronavirus.

A top US trade official on Tuesday said that the outbreak would delay Beijing’s plans to buy goods from the US under the “phase one” trade deal.

However, Washington expects “minimal impact” from the coronavirus on the US economy, the official said.

The outbreak has caused Beijing to impose travel restrictions across its cities, with millions of consumers staying home. That is expected to hit the nation’s already slowing economy, as companies and factories delay the resumption of operations.

Over the weekend, Beijing announced that US imports that can be used in its fight against the coronavirus would also be exempted from retaliatory tariffs imposed in the trade dispute.

“Any move to de-escalate is always good. Especially when the market is overwhelmed by news about the virus, good news about tariffs is refreshing,” Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd (華僑銀行) Greater China research head Tommy Xie (謝東明) said. “The announcement shows China’s commitment to implement the ‘phase one’ trade deal, despite the disruptions from the recent virus outbreak.”

The news was positive for financial markets, and comes as Beijing seeks to shore up investor and business confidence as the outbreak casts deep uncertainty over the economic outlook.

The yuan yesterday hit its highest level in two weeks, while Asian shares and Wall Street futures also rallied after the announcement.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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content_text:
Xi has lots at stake as Chinese

officials point fingers over virus

Having made himself the ‘chairman of everything,’ Chinese President Xi Jinping
will have to take the blame if the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak worsens
Since taking power, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has effectively made himself “chairman of everything.” The 2019 novel coronavirus scare (2019-nCoV) is showing all the risks involved with that strategy.

Xi last week took direct control of the response to the outbreak, showing the high stakes in a crisis that has now killed more than 560 people in China and spurred panic across the globe. He has overseen extreme measures, including quarantining more than 50 million people — roughly equivalent to the population of Spain — and rapidly building two new hospitals.

While lower-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials are starting to admit they were slow to contain the virus, senior leaders very quickly realized the enormous political stakes.

On Tuesday last week, they issued a notice calling for cadres to think of the big picture, stay united and “resolutely uphold General Secretary Xi Jinping’s core position” in the party.

If all goes well, with a minimal hit to the world’s second-biggest economy, the benefits of Xi’s model of centralized control would be reinforced.

However, if the epidemic gets worse and the economic pain is deeper than expected, Xi “will deservedly take the blame,” said Scott Kennedy, an expert on the Chinese economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“There’s no second lieutenant to blame this on,” he said. “And so as goes the virus, so goes Xi Jinping.”

Xi has become China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong (毛澤東) in his eight years running the country, engineering constitutional changes to make himself the “core” of the CCP and scrapping presidential term limits. Along the way he has also accumulated a number of enemies, particularly through a corruption purge that resulted in jail time for several senior party officials.

In China’s top-down system of government, much of the political intrigue takes place behind closed doors — stability and control are cherished among top leaders. Worried that they might end up being scapegoats, local officials in the firing line are publicly pointing fingers at each other.

The mayor of Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the virus originated, said he had to wait for “authorization” before he could release information on the outbreak to the public.

The chief epidemiologist of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the local government failed to recognize the problem from a scientific point of view, and probably had some “executive issues.”

“While no one person may be responsible for the fast spread of the coronavirus, it has resulted in a blame game within the bureaucratic system,” said Zhao Suisheng (趙穗生), executive director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of International Studies. “The accelerated spread of the virus is also the result of political incompetence and a tightened control on ideology and information.”

In Xi’s China, lower-level officials must constantly weigh whether they are saying too much or too little.

Since Jan. 24, more than 30 local officials have been dismissed or scheduled for disciplinary review for allowing informal public gatherings, repeating misinformation via official channels and failing to provide superiors with detailed updates, Eurasia Group, a New York-based consultancy, said in a note on Friday last week.

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Virus Outbreak: KMT nixes public hearing on relief measures draft

Although a public hearing proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to cover a draft of a special prevention and relief measures act, was canceled after drawing fire, progress on the draft would continue, KMT caucus secretary-general Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday.

The KMT, after requiring representatives from almost every Cabinet-level agency to participate in the hearing planned for today, drew harsh criticism from the public, who said that the meeting was a waste of time and resources, as officials had been working against the clock every day in efforts to prevent the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus.

The party has postponed the public hearing, Chiang told reporters after a caucus meeting.

Despite the delay, the KMT would introduce the draft, hoping that it could pass the third legislative reading as soon as possible, Chiang said.

The purpose of the hearing was to expedite progress on the draft by discussing the details of supportive measures, resources and subsidies that the government can offer in this prevention period, KMT caucus convener Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said.

The hearing would not only benefit society, but also provide government agencies with a legal basis for executing policies, Lin added.

However, as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) disagrees, the KMT would not push for it, Lin added.

“The public hearing should not be politicized,” said KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), who is running in the party’s chairperson by-election.

“The KMT stands with the public and is placing prevention efforts at the top of the list,” Chiang added.

In addition to the special act, the caucus on Tuesday urged the government to set up a special fund of NT$50 billion (US$1.66 billion) dedicated to efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, especially as the registration system for buying of surgical masks began yesterday.

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people: 江啟臣 蔣萬安 林為洲


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Ever since the 2008 financial crisis, Chinese leaders have touted their hybrid model of authoritarian capitalism as a superior form of government to liberal democracies. Suffering from a collective loss of confidence, many outside observers, particularly in the West, concurred: Liberal democracies appeared to be no match for the unstoppable juggernaut of China’s state-led economic machine, which emerged relatively unscathed from the global economic meltdown.

Many assumed that China had been able to buck the trend of history by successfully grafting the branches of a quasi-free market economy onto the trunk of a Leninist-style dictatorship.

The 2019 novel coronavirus has blown a crater-sized hole into this misguided line of thought.

As more information leaks out from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, it is clear that Beijing was unable to prevent the virus from spreading out of control precisely because it lacks the accountability, freedom of speech and free flow of information that form the bedrock of democracies.

Proponents of the “Chinese century” thesis have long argued that since it rules in perpetuity, the Chinese Communist Party is able to make long-term strategic decisions that allow it to leapfrog the development cycles of democratic nations and exploit a supposed inherent flaw in their design: the myopic exigencies of the electoral cycle. In short: China’s lack of democracy is its strength.

They fretted that China had discovered the Holy Grail of statecraft: a political and economic model far more efficient, robust and responsive than the increasingly incontinent, self-absorbed and dysfunctional democracies of the “free world.”

It is remarkable how short some people’s memories are. Of course, the world has been here before: The iron fist of international communism, spearheaded by the Soviet Union, was once destined to sweep all that came before it.

Reporting by Chinese and foreign media has painted a deplorable picture of cover-ups and wasted opportunity in Wuhan and thrown into sharp relief the weakness of China’s authoritarian model of governance, characterized by extreme paranoia, an obsession with secrecy and a reliance on the suppression of information to maintain a grip on power.

According to China’s Caixin Media, the first known case of the virus was discovered on Dec. 8. The mysterious new infectious disease quickly spread through the city and attracted the attention of local health officials. Yet, as soon as the central government got whiff of the problem, its knee-jerk reaction was to smother the truth, detain whistle-blower doctors and enact draconian censorship laws.

On Jan. 20, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) belatedly issued official instructions to deal with the outbreak after renowned epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan (鍾南山) was wheeled out to prepare the ground by announcing that human-to-human transmission had occurred.

In the intervening six-week period, vital time was squandered when basic prevention and control measures should have been implemented. Wuhan residents were left wholly in the dark about the virus in their midst.

It is the bitterest of ironies that the fundamental building blocks of democratic societies — government accountability, press freedom and freedom of speech — which China’s leaders and intellectuals have long scorned, are precisely the medicine that was needed to save the country from its present calamity.

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title: EDITORIAL: Virus exposes China’s Achilles’ heel


title: Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas dies at the age of 103

content_text:
US actor Kirk Douglas is pictured in a still shot taken on Dec. 31, 1959, for the movie Spartacus.Photo: AFP
Kirk Douglas, one of the last superstars of Hollywood’s golden age of cinema, who was renowned for his intense, muscular performances in Spartacus and Paths of Glory, on Wednesday died at the age of 103.

The US leading man, producer and director came to prominence in the late 1940s and never lost his popularity, taking on nearly 100 movies over a six-decade career that endured beyond a severe stroke in his later years.

His death at his family home in Beverly Hills, California, was confirmed by his son, Michael, the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker.

“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” Michael Douglas said on Facebook. “To the world he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years.”

Tributes poured in from across Hollywood and around the world on social media, with many declaring: “I am Spartacus,” in a nod to Douglas’ legendary role as a rebellious Roman slave.

Director Steven Spielberg said that Kirk Douglas “retained his movie star charisma right to the end,” while actor Danny DeVito tweeted: “103 years on this earth. That’s got a nice ring to it! Great hanging with you, man.”

Seinfeld star Jason Alexander praised him as “an absolute legend of a star and human,” saying that “we could use a true Spartacus.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, tweeted: “Goodbye to a Hollywood legend.”

Not unlike his title character in Spartacus, Kirk Douglas was known throughout his life for his fiercely rebellious streak.

In his early movie days, he would clash with studio heads over his choice of roles, before ultimately splitting off to form his own production company, Bryna — one of the first major post-war stars to do so.

“It was pretty rare then,” Variety senior vice president Tim Gray said. “Kirk Douglas was very stubborn, but he wasn’t self-indulgent — he wasn’t a party boy wasting people’s time showing up late, things like that.”

On Spartacus, Kirk Douglas hired Dalton Trumbo — one of the “Hollywood Ten” blacklisted as a suspected communist under the [Joseph] McCarthy era — to write the screenplay.

Unlike many producers during the time, he refused to hide this fact, instead using Trumbo’s real name in the credits.

Kirk Douglas missed out on taking home the trophy on each of his three Oscar nominations, the last for his performance in the 1956 film Lust for Life, and never won a competitive Academy Award.

He was instead granted an honorary lifetime achievement statuette by the Academy in 1996 — just months after his stroke — “for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community.”

Kirk Douglas, born Issur Danielovitch to Jewish-Russian immigrants in upstate New York in 1916, began as a stage actor before serving in the US Navy during the World War II.

He graduated to movies when Casablanca producer Hal Wallis signed him in 1946 and he became a star for his portrayal of a double-crossing and womanizing boxer in 1949’s Champion.

His subsequent roles would often mirror his real-world, larger-than-life and intense persona, including Oscar-nominated turns as a ruthless movie producer in The Bad and the Beautiful and tortured artist Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life.

Douglas told the New York Times in a 1984 interview that he had “always been attracted to characters who are part scoundrel,” adding: “I don’t find virtue photogenic.”

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content_text:
Ministry ready for ‘second wave’

COMING HOME?US and European companies would require Taiwanese suppliers to adjust their production in light of the coronavirus outbreak, Shen Jong-chin said
Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) yesterday promised to assist Taiwanese companies seeking to move production out of China as the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak continued to spread in that nation.

“We have already witnessed the first wave of Taiwanese companies returning home [last year] due to an ongoing trade conflict between the US and China,” Shen told reporters. “Now a second wave will [soon be] upon us as large US and European firms require [Taiwanese] suppliers to adjust their production in China in light of the spreading epidemic.”

The ministry would assist the suppliers with their relocation plans, as well as address companies’ concerns over scarcity of land and labor, Shen said.

The ministry would also help Taiwanese manufacturers looking to move production from China to Southeast Asia, with a focus on the nations targeted by the government’s New Southbound Policy, he said.

On concerns that supply-chain disruption in China could negatively affect Taiwan’s GDP growth, Shen said that it would depend on how the outbreak plays out this week and next, adding that Taiwanese firms are ready to negotiate an evolving situation.

On an apparent shortage of masks to prevent the potential spread of the coronavirus, Shen said that the ministry had been in talks with manufacturers, as well as upstream suppliers.

“We are producing about 3.2 million masks a day this week, a number that is to increase by 70,000 per day with support from the military,” Shen said.

Domestic production would be 10 million masks per day by the end of next month after the addition of 60 new machines, he said.

In related news, the InvesTaiwan Service Center yesterday announced that it had approved Zhong Yang Technology Co’s (中揚光電) application to participate in a government program to encourage local investment.

Zhong Yang, in which Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) holds about a 30 percent stake, plans to invest about NT$200 million (US$6.65 million) to expand its production capacity at the Taichung Industrial Park (台中工業區).

Zhong Yang is the only firm to date to have applications approved. The company last year pledged to invest NT$770 million to add new production lines in Taichung.

The center has approved more than NT$716 billion of investment by 170 companies since the program was launched at the beginning of last year.

It aims to increase that figure to more than NT$900 billion this year, Department of Investment Services Director-General Emile Chang (張銘斌) said.

The ministry yesterday approved a plan by Wu Jii Industry Co (梧濟工業), the nation’s largest steel mold maker, to invest nearly NT$300 million to upgrade its operations in Taichung, Changhua and Tainan via a similar government program.

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title: Ministry ready for ‘second wave’


content_text:
Fane Lozman talks to a reporter in Miami Beach, Florida, on March 7, 2012.Photo: AP
Few people have fought any city hall all the way to the US Supreme Court and won, but Fane Lozman did it twice. Now the Florida city that he has battled since 2006 is going to pay him thousands of dollars in legal fees.

The Riviera Beach City Council on Wednesday voted to approve an US$875,000 settlement with Lozman, who began his legal odyssey with a fight over seizure of his floating home and then claimed a breach of his First Amendment rights when he was arrested at a council meeting.

The money is to be paid by an insurance company, the city’s Web site said.

In both cases, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lozman, 58, who said that he has spent more than a decade on these cases.

Riviera Beach is a city of about 35,000 people on the east coast of Florida, north of US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Lozman, a former US Marine pilot who became wealthy after inventing software for futures and options trading, initially ran afoul of Riviera Beach in 2006 over an 18m-long floating home that he had docked at the city marina.

Lozman had begun protesting a multibillion-dollar redevelopment plan at the marina, since abandoned, but his floating home was eventually seized and destroyed.

He sued and the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that the city had no such right in a decision that academics have said clarified exactly what a vessel is under maritime law.

“Not every floating structure is a ‘vessel.’ To state the obvious, a wooden washtub, a plastic dishpan, a swimming platform on pontoons, a large fishing net, a door taken off its hinges, or Pinocchio [when inside the whale] are not ‘vessels,’ even if they are ‘artificial contrivances’ capable of floating, moving under tow, and incidentally carrying even a fair-sized item or two when they do so,” US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said.

Meanwhile, Lozman was arrested while attempting to speak to the city council during a 2006 meeting. Although the charges were dropped, Lozman sued on grounds of a First Amendment violation.

The Supreme Court in 2018 agreed with Lozman, leading to the settlement over his legal fees in that matter.

Lozman said that he is proud of what he and his lawyers have accomplished.

“I’m glad we made a stand and that’s what it is going to take,” Lozman said.

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title: After two Supreme Court wins, man gets US$875,000 from Florida city


content_text:
A: After I got home I couldn’t wait to try the shampoo tester, and after I used it my hair looked amazing.

B: Um, I can’t see any difference.

A: After washing my hair it became really smooth and I didn’t need to use any conditioner. Also, it didn’t tangle while blow-drying. It’s less dry and frizzy.

B: I really must give it a try.

A: 我把洗髮精試用包帶回家以後，就等不及打開來試用，沒想到洗完頭髮真是驚為天人。

B: 我倒是看不出來啊。

A: 洗完以後頭髮很滑順，也不用再抹潤髮乳，吹頭髮也不會卡住，感覺沒之前那麼毛燥了。

B: 那我真的要去試試看。

English 英文:

Chinese 中文:

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title: EVERYDAY ENGLISH


title: Qualcomm issues virus warning

content_text:
Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc on Wednesday said that the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in China poses a potential threat to the smartphone industry, with a possible impact on manufacturing and sales.

The comments by Qualcomm, the world’s biggest supplier of modem chips that connect smartphones and other devices to wireless data networks, dragged down the shares of chipmakers, despite signs that an industry downturn was ending.

Qualcomm chief financial officer Akash Palkhiwala on a conference call with investors following the release of quarterly results said that the company expects “significant uncertainty around the impact from the coronavirus on handset demand and supply chain.”

Qualcomm shares fell as much as 3.75 percent in after-hours trading in New York.

The San Diego, California-based chip supplier forecast revenue for its fiscal second-quarter largely above Wall Street estimates, in the latest sign that the protracted slowdown in the global chip industry is easing.

The forecast was wider than usual because of the coronavirus outbreak in China. The company lowered the bottom end of its guidance for earnings per share by US$0.05 to account for possible disruptions, Palkhiwala said.

Qualcomm officials tried to calm analyst concerns over the coronavirus, saying that the biggest 5G markets this year are expected to be in the US, South Korea and Japan, and that the company could weather disruptions.

“If we have an issue, a supply-chain issue or demand issue in China, we tend to have the ability to have other regions to back it up,” Qualcomm chief executive officer Steve Mollenkopf said.

“So we tend to look at the business in terms of our planning. We want to make sure that we maintain that strength across different markets,” he said.

However, investors concerns about the outbreak overshadowed results that otherwise beat expectations.

While it is dominant in mobile modems and processors, Qualcomm has been pushing to win over customers with a more complex radio-frequency front-end chip used in smartphones that utilize 5G.

Even though it forecast fewer modem sales than Wall Street expected, it generated more revenue per modem shipped than in the past.

Mollenkopf in an interview said that the company’s forecast reflected strong demand for radio-frequency chips from smartphone makers, especially in China, where brands are putting 5G capabilities into cheaper devices that are likely to sell in greater quantities sooner than Qualcomm had originally anticipated.

“It’s really the first time that you’re seeing that significantly in our numbers,” Mollenkopf said.

Qualcomm left its estimate of the number of 5G mobile handsets that are to be sold this year unchanged at between 175 million and 225 million.

Qualcomm forecast total revenue in the range of US$4.9 billion to US$5.7 billion for its second quarter, with its chip segment generating revenue of US$3.9 billion to US$4.5 billion.

The company, which generates most of its profit by licensing its technology to smartphone makers and others, said the segment reported revenue of US$1.4 billion in the fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 29 last year.

On the conference call, Qualcomm said that it has signed 85 license agreements for 5G technology, up from 75 in November last year.

The company earned US$0.99 per share in the first quarter, topping analysts’ average estimate of US$0.85.

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title: Hot springs in Pingtung draw tourists back to area

content_text:
By Tsai Tsung-hsien and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
A wooden Japanese-style torii gate at the entrance to Pingtung County’s Sihchong River Hotspring Park is lit up on Monday evening.Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Upgrades to the hot spring park along Pingtung County’s Sihchong River (四重溪) are drawing tourists back to the region, as the number of visitors has risen over the past two years, the county government said on Monday.

The Pingtung Transportation and Tourism Department said that investment in the area — once a popular hot spring destination, due to the county’s ocean vistas and other scenery — has started to bring bathers back.

The county last month announced that it would provide assistance to investors at the hot springs near the river, saying it hoped investor interest and creativity could speed up development in the area.

During the Japanese colonial period, Sihchong — along with Tainan’s Guanzihling (關子嶺) and Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園) — was considered one of the island’s four best hot spring areas, the county said.

However, in recent decades, as domestic tourism patterns changed and Sihchong’s facilities aged, the number of visitors decreased, the department said.

The hot springs park at Sihchong River, built by the Japanese colonial administration in 1933, fell into disrepair and was overgrown with weeds when the county government secured about NT$100 million (US$3.32 million at the current exchange rate) from the central government to renovate it two years ago, it said.

The department was careful to retain the park’s unique Japanese style, it said, adding that the park has become a hot spot for visitors to the county, along with nearby sites, such as Fu An Temple (福安宮) and the Shihmen historic battlefield (石門古戰場).

The county government this year started promoting small businesses in the area, helping to establish shops selling unique local products around the river, which has attracted more visitors, along with artistic light installations, it said.

The results have made the county aware of opportunities for future development, it added.

The hot springs are often visited together with other nature sites in the region, including the Dongyuan wetlands (東源濕地), the Syuhai hot springs (旭海溫泉) and the Alangyi Ancient Trail (阿塱壹古道), it said.

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taiwan-subdivisions: 北投 石門


title: And the winner is ...

content_text:
And the winner is ...

Film writer Jake Coyle predicts who will win, who should win and those who should have been contenders in this year’s Academy Awwards
This combination of photos shows lead actress Oscar nominees, from left, Charlize Theron in Bombshell, Saoirse Ronan in Little Women, Scarlett Johansson in Marriage Story, Renee Zellweger in Judy and Cynthia Erivo in Harriet.Photo: AP

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Ahead of Sunday’s 92nd Academy Awards, Associated Press Film Writer Jake Coyle shares his predictions for a ceremony with a lot of locks but the potential for a few surprises.

BEST PICTURE

The Nominees: Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman,

Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Little Women, Marriage Story, 1917, Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, Parasite

Will Win: Parasite

Should Win: Parasite

Should Have Been a Contender: The Last Black Man in San Francisco

The last-arriving contender, Sam Mendes’ World War I film1917, has seemingly, fittingly run away with it. The top-prize winner of the Producers Guild, the Directors Guild and the BAFTAs, 1917 is the clear favorite. But I think Bong Joon-ho’s universally beloved Parasite could pull off an upset that would rank alongside the underdog win of Moonlight three years ago. Taking best ensemble from the Screen Actors Guild showed that Parasite has perhaps the most important vote in the actors (they make up the largest percentage of the film academy), and academy membership has also grown more international in recent years. The time may be right for the first foreign-language film to win best picture, and Parasite deserves it.

BEST ACTRESS

The Nominees: Cynthia Erivo, Harriet; Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story; Saoirse Ronan, Little Women; Charlize Theron, Bombshell; Renee Zellweger, Judy

Will Win: Renee Zellweger

Should Win: Saoirse Ronan

Should Have Been a Contender: Alfre Woodard, Clemency

Zellweger is already a winner for Cold Mountain in 2004. But her fragile yet powerhouse performance as Judy Garland in Judy is that irresistible thing: a comeback story. The part reverberates with Zellweger’s own history; she and Garland are both former American sweethearts. She’s a fine choice, but the verve and velocity of Ronan’s great performance in Little Women shouldn’t be overlooked. Formidable as this category is, it would have been better with Woodard’s fully inhabited, devastatingly still performance as a prison warden in the spare Clemency — not to mention Lupita Nyong’o’s ferocious double act in Us.

BEST ACTOR

The Nominees: Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory; Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood; Adam Driver, Marriage Story; Joaquin Phoenix, Joker; Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

Will Win: Joaquin Phoenix

Should Win: Adam Driver

Should Have Been a Contender: Andre Holland, High Flying Bird

After several years of lethargy, best actor is the year’s most competitive category. The next five options — including Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems) and Eddie Murphy (Dolemite Is My Name) — are equally good. Phoenix, like all of this year’s acting favorites, has been the clear front-runner for some time, for his morose yet limber Joker. But Driver’s performance in Marriage Story is the real show-stopper here; a more nuanced and rewarding performance that culminates beautifully in song and tears. A shout-out also to the exceptional Holland, whose guileful, fast-talking NBA agent in High Flying Bird felt like a thrilling fast break.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

The Nominees: Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell; Laura Dern, Marriage Story; Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit; Florence Pugh, Little Women; Margot Robbie, Bombshell

Will Win: Laura Dern

Should Win: Laura Dern

Should Have Been a Contender: Zhao Shuzhen (趙淑珍), The Farewell

Dern has won every precursor award ahead of the Oscars, and is poised to win her first Academy Award. That’s cause for celebration. Dern has been one of the finest actresses in Hollywood for decades, and her fearsome divorce attorney in Marriage Story is indelible, particularly her fabulous monologue on the double-standards of modern marriage. But this category is also missing some worthy actresses, including Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers) and Zhao, who played the grandmother unaware of her own cancer diagnosis in Lulu Wang’s tender family drama The Farewell.


content_text:
Tokyo 2020 organizers yesterday said that the Games would “go ahead as planned,” slamming misinformation over a new coronavirus for triggering panic.

CEO Toshiro Muto said that organizers have set up a task force to combat the fast-spreading disease that has killed more than 560 people and infected at least 28,000 — the vast majority in China — but promised that the Games would be not derailed.

“The Olympics will go ahead as planned,” he told reporters after a Paralympic project review.

“It is important to remain objective and cool-headed. We don’t want to alarm the public. The infection is still limited and there is no problem staging the Olympics based on the current situation,” he added.

International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence said that scaremongering had created an “info-demic” that could skew public perception in the run-up to the Olympics and Paralympics.

“Fear is spreading quicker than the virus,” he said. “It’s important we quell that fear. Only 191 of the total cases are outside mainland China, so let’s put things into perspective.”

“If you compare those rates with the common flu, they are still relatively small numbers,” he added.

“The World Health Organization has not declared this a pandemic. We dealt with the Zika virus in [the 2016] Rio [de Janeiro Games] and in these matters we need to rely on the experts,” Spence said.

“We will follow the advice of the World Health Organization. Every organizing committee looks into countermeasures and we have measures in place from previous Olympics and Paralympics here in Tokyo,” he said.

“It is standard practice, it’s business as usual,” he added.

Japan has had no reported deaths so far, but 45 cases have been detected, including at least 20 people on a cruise ship carrying more than 3,700 passengers and crew quarantined off Yokohama.

Japan has warned citizens against nonessential travel to China and fast-tracked new rules, including limits on entering the country, as it tries to contain the spread of the virus.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged that preparations for the Olympics would proceed as normal.

“The coronavirus is beginning to have an impact on tourism,” he said. “But the government will continue to steadily prepare for the Games in close cooperation with the IOC [International Olympic Committee], the local organizing committee and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.”

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike over the weekend promised to implement “thorough measures” to protect people from the virus.

The health scare has led to the cancelation of Olympic qualifying events in China, such as boxing and badminton.

The Tokyo Olympics begin on July 24 and the Paralympics start on Aug. 25.

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title: Games to go ahead as planned: organizers


title: Son sends Tottenham to fifth round

content_text:
Son sends Tottenham to fifth round

‘IN OUR LIMITS’:Manager Jose Mourinho said that ‘the best team lost ... but my team were the ones with more heart’ after late efforts helped them stave off a defeat
Tottenham Hotspurs’ Serge Aurier, left, tracks the ball after heading it past Southampton’s Che Adams in their FA Cup fourth-round replay in London on Wednesday.Photo: EPA-EFE
Jose Mourinho on Wednesday admitted that Tottenham Hotspur got lucky after Son Heung-min’s late penalty secured a dramatic 3-2 win against Southampton in their FA Cup fourth-round replay.

Mourinho’s side were 12 minutes away from being knocked out after squandering the first-half lead given to them by Jack Stephens’ own-goal.

Shane Long and Danny Ings scored as Southampton hit back to take the lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

However, Lucas Moura equalized before Son won and converted the decisive penalty with just two minutes left.

“I have to be honest and say I think the best team lost on the pitch, but my team were the ones with more heart and went to their limit,” Mourinho said.

“We suffered, but we deserved to win, because we were in our limits. Southampton were fresher than us, but we played with our souls and heart and gave absolutely everything,” he added.

Tottenham, who last won the FA Cup in 1991, are to host struggling Norwich City in the fifth round in the first week of next month.

Aiming for the first trophy of his reign, Mourinho, who replaced Mauricio Pochettino earlier this season, will be relieved that Tottenham avoided a surprise exit from a competition he has not won since 2007 with Chelsea.

Taking credit for the win in classic Mourinho self-promoting style, he said: “I think I did very well, because I had to manage a team with so many difficulties.

“The priority is to survive. We have lots of difficulties. I’m not speaking just about Harry Kane, I’m speaking about injuries to Giovani lo Celso and Erik Lamela,” he said. “Today was a team completely unbalanced, really hard to organize it.”

Tottenham are without a major trophy of any kind since the 2008 EFL Cup and Mourinho would dearly love to end that drought, but his team will have to improve significantly.

Tottenham had won eight of their past nine home games against Southampton, including a 2-1 success in the Premier League earlier this season, and they were in front after 12 minutes.

Ryan Sessegnon’s burst opened up the Southampton defense and when the ball bounced to Tanguy Ndombele on the edge of the area, the midfielder drilled a powerful shot that took a big deflection off Stephens into his own net.

Ings should have equalized when he ran onto James Ward-Prowse’s pinpoint pass and got to the ball ahead of the hesitant Hugo Lloris, but the in-form striker’s shot cannoned back off the bar.

Southampton’s 34th-minute equalizer carried more than a whiff of blame for Lloris, who limply parried out Nathan Redmond’s shot for Long to slot home.

There was a blow for the visitors before halftime, when Ward-Prowse was stretchered off after needing oxygen for a knee injury sustained in a challenge with Sessegnon.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side deservedly took the lead in the 72nd minute.

Redmond made an incisive surge from deep inside his own half and slipped a pass to Ings, who cut past Japhet Tanganga before curling a fine finish into the far corner for his 17th goal of the season.

However, Lucas came to Tottenham’s rescue in the 78th minute, when he took Dele Alli’s pass and cleverly turned into the space on the edge of the area before drilling a superb strike into the far corner.

The momentum had swung in Tottenham’s favor and Son won it in the 88th minute, when he charged into the area and went down under minimal contact from goalkeeper Angus Gunn.

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