title: Yulon, Hon Hai to form automobile venture

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Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) have entered a partnership to develop an automobile-related business, the two companies announced on Friday.

Yulon Group (裕隆集團) affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai would hold 49 percent and 51 percent ownership respectively in the joint venture, the companies said in a statement.

Hua-Chuang would invest NT$7.632 billion (US$253.33 million) in assets and technologies in the business, while Hon Hai invests NT$7.944 billion in cash, they said.

The parties would negotiate and sign a formal agreement and set up a temporary office to launch the project, the companies said.

The companies said they hope to leverage their advantages in various industries to develop the business and bring innovation to the auto industry.

Hon Hai would be responsible for information and communications technology development, and supply chain management, while Hua-Chuang would bring its automobile research and engineering capability, they added.

The companies did not specify a time frame for the establishment of the business.

The cooperation marks an opportunity for Yulon to reboot the money-losing Hua-Chuang — which mainly provides automobile engines, chassis, electronics and other critical components to the group — and has started a sweeping restructuring after posting net losses of NT$3.89 billion in the first three quarters of last year.

Hon Hai, the major assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, has continued development in the electric vehicle (EV) sector since announcing last year its targets for three strategic industries — EV, digital health and robotics — as the company is looking to diversify from its core business of electronics manufacturing.

The cooperation with Yulon comes after the company on Jan. 16 said that it planned to sign an agreement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to form a joint venture that would tap into the EV industry.

In light of the potential business opportunity in EVs, the companies said they plan to collaborate with more supply chain firms to develop the automobile-related business.

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Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧) last week reduced its investment rating on FDC International Hotels Corp (雲品國際) to “neutral” from “hold,” expecting the effect of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak to weaken the leading hotel and restaurant operator’s business performance in the near term.

The downgrade was inevitable after the government issued a “red” alert for travel to China, including Hong Kong and Macau, while bookings for catering or accommodation have been canceled or deferred to next quarter, Jih Sun said in a note on Thursday.

FDC International owns the Fleur de Chine Hotel (雲品溫泉酒店) near Sun Moon Lake and the Palais de Chine (君品酒店) close to Taipei Railway Station, as well as independent dining facilities.

With no proven vaccine or treatment, and fears that the virus’ spread might worsen, market sentiment would likely remain negative for some time, Jih Sun said.

The 2003 SARS epidemic continued for about six months and led to a sharp decline in foreign arrivals at the time, it said.

Visitors from China, Hong Kong and Macau account for 10 to 20 percent of FDC’s accommodation revenue, but it is difficult to estimate the effects of deferral and cancelations by other foreign guests, Jih Sun said.

FDC’s revenue this quarter is forecast to decline 25 percent year-on-year to NT$505 million (US$16.76 million), with the overall impact dependent on how well the epidemic is controlled, Jih Sun said.

Jih Sun also revised downward its revenue and profit estimates for FDC this year, expecting revenue to drop 7.53 percent from NT$2.38 billion last year to NT$2.2 billion and net income to dip 19.56 percent from NT$204 million to NT$164 million, or earnings per share of NT$2.5.

FDC shares are down 12 percent this year, while the broader market has fallen 3.2 percent.

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title: Jih Sun reduces its investment rating for hotelier to ‘hold’


title: Google touts map update with new features, design

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Google on Friday launched a major update to Google Maps with a fresh look and new features on iOS and Android platforms for the service’s 15th anniversary.

The update replaces the mapping service’s old menu with a layout featuring five tabs — Explore, Commute, Saved, Contribute and Updates — at the bottom of the screen for what the company says is a more user-friendly experience.

The Explore function allows traditional map use and makes personalized user recommendations, such as city attractions and restaurants, while users can submit reviews and photos under the Contribute tab.

Google said it also introduced Live View mode, which provides real-time augmented reality assistance to show the exact distance and direction of a destination.

While traveling using public transportation, the service displays important information about the vehicle they are on and facilities along the route, such as whether they have wheelchair and disability access, the company said.

In addition, the mapping service icon also received a makeover as part of the update.

The new version is based on the pin which has been a key part of Google Maps since it was first launched on Feb. 8, 2005.

The California-based tech firm said Google Maps is now used by more than 1 billion people around the world every month.

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John J. Tkacik, Jr. On Taiwan: ‘Republic of China’ and ‘Taiwan’

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) convincing reelection last month suggests “Taiwan” is now a name the international community is ready for; one that fits easily into the global “status quo.”

It has been a long struggle. Elbowing past China’s “Chinese Taipei” moniker has been exhausting. The task is complicated by Taiwan’s official title “Republic of China.” Outside of Taiwan, nobody says “Republic of China” anymore, not even countries that recognize the ROC as the “government of all China.” The ongoing crises in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, China’s quest for global telecommunications domination and cyber-surveillance, to name a few, are changing attitudes across the globe, opening eyes to Taiwan’s predicament.

President Tsai’s reelection, a convincing mandate indeed, is encouraging the world’s democracies to be much more open and supportive toward Taiwan as “Taiwan” — and more resistant to China’s “Orwellian” demands that Taiwan’s elections be regarded as “only a local affair.” This worries China. On January 26, Madame Liu Fang (柳芳), the China-backed secretary general of the International Civil Aviation Organization, took it upon herself to ban all mention of “Taiwan” on the ICAO’s Twitter properties. It was a move so ludicrous that the US state department openly protested it as reflecting “the political insecurities” of a certain “member state.”

Following the January 11 elections, dozens of countries congratulated President Tsai and the “people of Taiwan” on their success. But Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) “expressed indignation and opposition” when the governments “of the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan sent congratulations to Tsai Ing-wen.” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was not impressed. A week after he sent congratulations to Tsai, he lauded “Taiwan” several times during his New Year policy speech to the Diet, praising Taiwan’s assistance to Japan during the 2011 earthquake, and welcoming Taiwanese athletes to the Summer Olympiad in Tokyo this July.

In Washington, Ms. Tsai’s reelection marked a new direction in America’s policy relationship with “Taiwan. US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo sent President Tsai a message both overflowing in warmth and sharply divergent in tone from Washington’s previous election messages. For example, Secretary Pompeo thanked “Taiwan” (not “the Taiwanese people”) “for once again demonstrating the strength of its robust democratic system, which … makes it a model for the Indo-Pacific region and a force for good in the world.” Second, he stressed the “American people” and “the people on Taiwan” are “not just partners” but “members of the same community of democracies, bonded by our shared political, economic, and international values … and work to be positive forces in the international community.” Unlike all previous congratulation messages from the US Government, Pompeo’s was careful in its parity: “The United States” and “Taiwan” or “American People” and “The People on Taiwan.”

Thank heavens, there was no mention of “unofficial relations.”

But Mr. Pompeo did something much more remarkable:

He thanked President Tsai personally “for her leadership in developing a strong partnership with the United States.” No other message had ever said that! And he applauded “her commitment to maintaining cross-Strait stability in the face of unrelenting pressure. Under her leadership, we hope Taiwan will continue to serve as a shining example for countries that strive for democracy, prosperity, and a better path for their people.” Secretary Pompeo said “Taiwan” and “countries” in the same breath! Moreover, Mr. Pompeo’s allusion to China’s “unrelenting pressure” is the first time the United States has chosen to lay full blame upon Beijing for cross-Strait tensions. All previous US administrations were eager to blame Taiwan for tensions, as if trying not to take sides between democracy and tyranny.

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title: TSMC stays on top for patents

content_text:
TSMC stays on top for patents

UPGRADE PREPARATIONS:The Intellectual Property Office said that the company has been gearing up for 3nm technology, so its applications increased accordingly
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, was the top patent applicant in Taiwan for the fourth consecutive year last year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday.

TSMC was the top patent applicant in the local and foreign business communities in Taiwan, while Alibaba Group Services Ltd from China’s largest e-commerce operator, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), was No. 1 for patent applications among foreign firms last year, the ministry said.

TSMC filed 1,333 patent applications, up 41 percent from a year earlier. The company’s applications breached 1,000 for the first time last year, which was its fifth consecutive year of growth, ministry data showed.

All of TSMC’s applications were for invention patents, the ministry said.

The Patent Act (專利法) defines three groups — invention, utility model and design patents — with inventions the most important in terms of the creation of technical ideas.

TSMC has been gearing up to compete with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co in sophisticated 3-nanometer technology development by boosting its capital expenditure, so its patent applications increased accordingly, Intellectual Property Office Director-General Hong Shu-min (洪淑敏) said.

The 7nm process is the latest technology on which TSMC has started mass production. It has said it is planning to launch mass production of a 5 nanometer process this year and a 3 nanometer process in 2022.

TSMC’s capital expenditure this year is expected to reach a new high of US$15 billion to US$16 billion, the firm said last month.

The increase in capital spending could boost the number of patent applications it submits this year, analysts said.

Acer Inc (宏碁) was second for local patent applications, filing 565 applications, comprised of 407 invention patents, 108 utility model patents and 50 design patents.

Flat-panel maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) had 553 applications, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院) had 385 and integrated circuit designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) had 356, ministry data showed.

Among the top foreign applicants, Alibaba filed 850 patent applications last year, comprised of 828 invention patents, three utility model patents and 19 design patents, the data showed.

US-based semiconductor production equipment supplier Applied Materials Inc was second with 663 patent applications, followed by US-based IC designer Qualcomm Inc with 582, Japan-based semiconductor supplier Tokyo Electron Ltd with 496 and electrical products maker Nitto Denko Corp with 403.

The number of applications by Qualcomm fell 42 percent from a year earlier due to a relatively high comparison base in 2018, when it filed more than 1,000 applications, Hong said.

Last year, the office received 74,652 applications, up 2 percent from a year earlier, with invention applications making up 80 percent, the data showed.

Invention patent applications rose 8 percent from a year earlier, third consecutive year of increases, while design patent applications rose 10 percent, the office said.

Design patent applications fell slightly last year, the office added.

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Jets from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s Ba Yi aerobatics team perform during a media preview ahead of the Singapore Airshow yesterday.Photo: AFP
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) yesterday said it had advised financial institutions in the city-state to take additional measures and precautions after the Singaporean government raised its alert level for 2019 novel coronavirus.

Among its recommended measures, the central bank said that financial institutions should “continue to maintain effective internal controls across their operations should split-team arrangements be implemented.”

The MAS also advised them to anticipate and be prepared to manage any increase in demand for financial services, such as cash withdrawal or online services.

On Friday, the government raised its response level on the virus to “orange,” a level also adopted during SARS and the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak.

Singaporeans reacted by clearing out supermarket shelves of rice, noodles and toilet paper.

The government advised that non-essential large-scale events should be deferred or canceled, but said that the Singapore Airshow would go ahead.

Airshow organizers said that they were expecting more than 930 companies from 45 countries and 45,000 trade attendees — down from last time.

In 2018, there were 54,000 trade attendees and 1,062 firms as the event contributed S$343 million (US$246.81 million) to the local economy through hotels and other spending, airshow organizers said.

The show also attracts high-level foreign delegations.

The Pentagon has shrunk the size of its delegation and US-based defense firms Lockheed Martin Corp and Raytheon Co said that they would not attend. Overall, more than 70 exhibitors have pulled out of the show, which runs from tomorrow through Sunday.

Organizers advised trade show visitors to avoid shaking hands and to choose alternative forms of greeting such as bowing or waving.

The number of public tickets available is to be halved.

Five delegates privately expressed surprise that the show was going ahead, but organizers said that they had a responsibility to those who wanted to attend.

“It has grown to such stature and importance it is a very important part of the entire ecosystem of the global aviation industry,” said Leck Chet Lam, managing director of Experia Events Pte Ltd, which is partly owned by ST Engineering and government agencies, manages the show and the exhibition site.

The announcement of the first appearance of Ba Yi (八一), the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force aerobatics team, with J-10 fighters was a last-minute surprise, given Singapore’s travel restrictions due to the virus that led 10 Chinese exhibitors to pull out from the show.

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title: MAS advises finance sector amid coronavirus outbreak


title: White House dismisses idea to challenge Huawei

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US Vice President Mike Pence and the top White House economic adviser on Friday dismissed a suggestion from US Attorney General William Barr that the US should consider taking control of two major foreign rivals of China-based Huawei Technologies Co (華為).

Barr, a former general counsel at Verizon Communications Inc, on Thursday said that the US and its allies should consider taking a “controlling stake” in Finland’s Nokia Oyj and Sweden’s Ericsson AB to counter Huawei’s dominance in next-generation 5G wireless technology.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Friday said that the US was working closely with Nokia and Ericsson and the companies’ equipment was essential to the buildout of 5G infrastructure.

However, the “US government is not in the business of buying companies, whether they’re domestic or foreign,” Kudlow said, adding that “there’s nothing to prohibit American tech companies from acquiring” them.

Pence earlier in the day had suggested an alternative approach when asked by CNBC for his response.

“Great respect to Attorney General Barr, but we believe the best way forward is what Ajit Pai announced just over the last several days,” Pence said, referring to the US Federal Communications Commission chairman’s efforts to free up more spectrum for 5G wireless use.

“That’s the plan the president has endorsed and will be carrying forward,” Pence said, adding that the US can expand 5G “by using the power of the free market and American companies.”

Nokia and Ericsson have a combined market capitalization of about US$53 billion.

Barr said in a statement on Thursday that the alignment with Nokia and/or Ericsson could take place “through American ownership of a controlling stake, either directly or through a consortium of private American and allied companies.”

“Putting our large market and financial muscle behind one or both of these firms would make it a far more formidable competitor and eliminate concerns over its staying power, or their staying power,” he said.

“We and our closest allies certainly need to be actively considering this approach,” Barr added.

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AIRLINES

CAL disinfects plane

China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) yesterday said that it sterilized an airplane thoroughly after it flew on Saturday from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Wuxi in China’s Jiangsu Province carrying a passenger who had a fever. Flight IT129 (CI8609) by Tigerair Taiwan Co (台灣虎航), the CAL-owned low-cost carrier, underwent a thorough disinfection in Wuxi before returning to Taoyuan airport on Saturday, CAL said. The company said that the passenger, who sat in row 11, was immediately taken to a hospital in China. It did not disclose the passenger’s nationality. CAL has provided Chinese authorities with information about the 42 other passengers who sat in rows 8 to 14, the airline said.

HYPERMARKETS

Carrefour branch to close

France-based hypermarket chain operator Carrefour SA on Friday said that its store on Dongxing Street in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) would cease operations on March 9 due to adjustments in the company’s business development plan. With the closure, the number of Carrefour stores in Taiwan will fall to 136, comprised of 68 hypermarkets and 68 24-hour supermarket-like Carrefour Market stores. The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Saturday reported that the closure of the store, which has operated for 16 years, is to come after the maturity of a lease for the site. Data compiled by Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) showed home prices within 700m of the Carrefour hypermarket on Dongxing Road averaged NT$714,000 (US$23,700) per ping (3.3m2), the second-highest such figure among the 13 hypermarkets in Taipei.

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title: Taiwan Business Quick Take


title: CPC, Formosa to reduce fuel prices

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CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) yesterday said they would cut gasoline and diesel prices today by NT$1.0 per liter, after global crude oil prices continued to fall last week on negative market sentiment due to the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.

Based on CPC’s weighted oil price formula — composed of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude — its average crude oil costs fell to US$54.32 per barrel last week, from US$58.45 a week earlier.

After factoring in the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar, which last week was up by NT$0.084 against the US dollar, fuel prices would be reduced by 5.86 percent this week, CPC said.

From today, prices at CPC gas stations are to be NT$24.9, NT$26.4 and NT$28.4 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$22.7 per liter, it said.

Formosa Petrochemical cut its 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline to NT$24.9, NT$26.3 and NT$28.4 per liter respectively, with premium diesel dropping to NT$22.5 per liter.

The new fuel prices are the lowest since Dec. 31, 2018, company data showed.

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title: Textile makers down due to holiday break

content_text:
Major textile and garment manufacturers Eclat Textile Co (儒鴻), Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) and Quang Viet Enterprise Co (廣越) last week reported lower revenue for last month as the Lunar New Year holiday reduced the number of working days by nearly a week.

Eclat’s revenue decreased 4.73 percent year-on-year and 16.13 percent month-on-month to NT$2.65 billion (US$87.96 million), Makalot’s revenue fell 2.4 percent annually and 1.96 percent monthly to NT$2.09 billion, and Quang Viet’s sales dropped 18.57 percent from a year earlier and 11.33 percent from the previous month to NT$727.48 million, company regulatory filings showed.

A disruption in the Chinese supply chain due to the 2019 novel coronavirus is adding to uncertainties on whether textile makers are able to resume normal production this month amid concerns over raw material supplies, labor shortages and product shipments, analysts said.

Quang Viet said its factories in Vietnam began operations on Jan. 31 and work at its Chinese plants is to restart today.

“The main growth force for Quang Viet in 2020 will be sportswear brands (such as Adidas, Nike, Under Armour),” the company said in an e-mail on Friday, adding that contributions from outdoor clothing brand Patagonia would decline slightly this year due to clients’ inventory adjustments, while other brands’ orders would be on par with last year’s levels.

Eclat, one of Nike Inc’s top five suppliers, has operations in Taiwan, Vietnam and Cambodia, and plans to establish a new plant in Indonesia to address its lack of capacity and labor in Vietnam.

The company told the Central News Agency (CNA) on Friday that operations at its Vietnamese plants began on Monday last week and factory utilization increased as workers were returning to production lines.

However, the coronavirus outbreak has caused some raw material suppliers in China to suspend operations, Eclat said, adding that it is contacting suppliers outside of China to ensure a sufficient supply of raw materials, CNA reported.

Makalot continued to expand capacities at its plants in Indonesia and Vietnam last year in the wake of the US-China trade dispute. The company also operates plants in Taiwan, China, Cambodia and the Philippines.

Although Eclat and Makalot are expected to ride the long-term tailwind of international brands’ supply chain consolidation, their growth in the near term might face challenges on tighter capacity in Vietnam due to labor shortages, rising labor costs and unfavorable foreign exchange rates, Credit Suisse Group AG said in a note on Thursday.

Even if the companies could successfully increase their workforce by raising salaries and adding more outsourcing partners, most of its growth would be at the expense of margin, Credit Suisse said.

As a result, Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on Eclat to “underperform” from “neutral,” while retaining its recommendation on Makalot at “underperform.”

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Virus Outbreak: Facebook pages use virus to phish for information

By Huang Chao-hsiang,
Liu Hui-chin
and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer
Two Facebook pages are attempting to capitalize on the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak and phish for personal information, a security software company said.

Demand for surgical masks has surged, as people are worried about the outbreak. The two Facebook pages — “Sticker Center” (貼圖中心) and “Livestream for Slick Deals in Taiwan” (寶島好康直播粉絲團) — allegedly said that they would provide masks if users “liked” their message and posted under it, Trend Micro said on Feb. 2.

Once a user did so, a bot would message the user to gather their personal information and sell it to other businesses, Trend Micro said.

Facebook users who have posted to the two groups could receive messages, often with a profile picture of a scantily clad woman, attempting to scam the user, Trend Micro said.

In other news, there has been a spike in Facebook account hacking, with an increasing number of users complaining that their accounts have been hacked, and virus-embedded links or adult content videos or pictures have been posted on their accounts.

The Taipei Department of Sports on Friday said that a department-affiliated Facebook page was hacked, with pornographic images and links shown instead of its posts.

The department said it had contacted Facebook immediately to temporarily shut down the page, adding that it had reported the incident to the police.

It apologized to the page’s subscribers, and said that it was in the process of gathering evidence to take legal action against whoever was responsible.

Experts urged Facebook users to be cautious and not click on unknown links shared by friends.

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Virus may push production to Taiwan

LONG-TERM POTENTIAL:Although disruption in supply chains would hit Taiwan, growing doubt about China’s governance could chase manufacturing to the nation
The 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is expected to drive more multinational companies to shift their production bases from China in a bid to mitigate the effects of supply chain disruption, benefiting nations like Taiwan and Vietnam, DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) said on Thursday.

The outbreak is creating uncertainty for companies in the Chinese market and weakening their confidence in the Chinese government, ranging from governance, healthcare infrastructure, mass communication, environmental protection and other related issues, the bank said.

Taiwan has benefited from the US-China trade dispute and obtained pledges of domestic investment worth NT$716 billion (US$23.76 billion) from 170 companies as of last week since a government program was launched at the beginning of last year, while foreign direct investments approved by the government last year hit the fourth-highest level on record, totaling US$11.2 billion, the latest Ministry of Economic Affairs data showed.

However, disruption to manufacturing in China due to the coronavirus has raised concerns over the negative spillover effects on economies involved in the regional supply chain, including Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and India.

Singapore-based DBS economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) said that the global textile and electronics sectors would be most vulnerable to disruption in the Chinese supply chain in the short term.

“Taiwan, South Korea and Vietnam would be hit the hardest, either in the form of a delay of downstream production or a shortage of upstream raw materials supply,” Ma said in a report.

However, from a long-term perspective, multinational companies might begin to doubt China’s growth sustainability and move to reshuffle their supply chain, if the Chinese public governance and crisis management capabilities fail the test this time, Ma said.

Still, the risk of supply chain disruption cannot be underestimated, as China imports most intermediate goods from Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, and ships its intermediate products mainly to Japan and South Korea, followed by India and Vietnam, DBS said.

Moreover, the market is concerned about industrial supply and demand disruptions caused by the coronavirus, if component suppliers in China are forced to suspend production for a longer period, while decline in consumer confidence might affect replacement demand, it said.

The bank’s research indicates that China accounts for 30-40 percent of total exports of textiles and footwear products, as well as 20 percent of global exports of machinery and electrical equipment.

In the electronics supply chain, China also plays a significant role, as, for instance, about half of Apple Inc’s 800 global production bases are in China, ranging from speakers, batteries and flat panels to semiconductor packaging and testing, DBS said.

“Taiwan and South Korea rely the most on China for their exports of intermediate products — more than 40 percent of the related exports are destined for the Chinese market,” Ma said. “Vietnam stands out in terms of dependence on China for the supply of intermediate goods — more than 30 percent are sourced from China.”

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title: Virus may push production to Taiwan


content_text:
Hon Hai plants restart hinges on China’s approval

TIMELY INTERVENTION:Hon Hai dropped plans to resume production after officials and health experts told the company its Shenzhen plants faced a high risk of infection
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Apple Inc’s main iPhone production partner, said its factories worldwide are coordinating with authorities in carrying out virus protection amid the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak and are preparing safety measures with the approval of local governments.

“Our group hasn’t received any client requests to move production resumption earlier,” the company, known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said in a statement.

Operating schedules would be arranged according to local governments’ requirements, the company said.

Hon Hai has been “fully coordinating” with authorities in carrying out virus prevention actions and putting safety measures in place before work resumes, it said in the statement.

The company had asked employees at a facility in Shenzhen, China, not to return to work when the extended Lunar New Year break ends today, a memo showed.

Nikkei Asian Review on Saturday reported that after Chinese authorities intervened, Hon Hai dropped plans to resume production after on-site inspections. Public health experts told the company its Shenzhen plants face high risks of infection and are not suitable to restart work, the newspaper reported, citing four people it did not name.

The Nikkei report said that after a videoconference held by Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) on Friday, the company later in the day canceled flight bookings for Taiwanese employees to travel to China from Friday last week to Friday.

Liu decided that the Zhengzhou complex in Henan Province could not restart work until it had been evaluated and approved by the local government, the report said.

Due to the spread of the virus, the Chinese authorities have instructed manufacturers to postpone work restarting following the Lunar New Year holiday until at least today and Hon Hai is one of the manufacturers with operations in China that have plans to reopen plants.

The Nikkei said the move to block Hon Hai from reopening in China has raised concern over a possible supply disruption in the global tech industry.

Volkswagen AG has also postponed the resumption of production at its China joint ventures.

The automaker cited limited travel options for its employees and said in a statement that its own supply chains were in the early stages of restarting after production stopped for national holidays at the end of last month. That break was extended as the virus spread.

SAIC Volkswagen Automotive Co (上汽福斯汽車) postponed production at its factories by seven days until Monday next week, except for one plant in Shanghai, which would restart on schedule today.

Most vehicle production at FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co (一汽-福斯汽車) would also restart today, one day later than announced at the end of last month. Its plant in Tianjin would not reopen until Monday next week.

Other automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co, have already announced extensions of their production shutdowns in China. Tesla Inc would resume production at its factory in Shanghai today.

Additional reporting by CNA

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National Yang-Ming University president Steve Kuo gestures during an interview in Taipei on Jan. 14.Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
National Yang-Ming University president Steve Kuo (郭旭崧), former head of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), called on the government to establish an “Asia-Pacific epidemic prevention center” that would enable it to contribute to global epidemic prevention efforts.

Kuo made the remarks in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) on Jan. 14.

During the 2003 SARS outbreak, the world was divided into “three categories of countries”: ones that could help themselves and others; ones that could protect themselves, but not help others; and ones that could not protect themselves and needed help, Kuo said, giving the US, Japan and Taiwan as examples of each respective category.

Taiwan received a lot of help at the time, he said, adding that he believes if Taiwan were given 20 years, it could make progress in global epidemic prevention and even play a partial role in helping other nations.

In 2015, Taiwan and the US signed the Global Cooperation and Training Framework and their first task was to fight the Ebola virus, he said.

Through the US Department of State, the US gathered its Southeast Asian allies in Taiwan to attend epidemic prevention training with experts who had experience in Africa, and gradually created a model for international epidemic prevention cooperation, Kuo said.

Starting as the US’ “teaching assistant,” Taiwan slowly learned how to help others, he said, adding: “This skill is more important than arguing about whether it can join the WHO everyday.”

The government needs to be responsible for the development of Taiwan’s international healthcare, he said.

Just as the US treats health as part of national security, Taiwan also needs be able to “rescue” its citizens if they become infected, he added.

Taiwan should have that ability today, but first it needs to strengthen its cooperation with the US, to form a partnership or even work with the US to assist other nations, he said.

Taiwan has gradually formed a vaccine industry, Kuo said.

However, public health and epidemic prevention cannot only rely on the government, he said, adding that “industry-academic” connections are important.

For example, most doctoral students at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health are in the industry, he said.

He came up with the concept of establishing an alliance between epidemic prevention and industry later in his tenure as CDC director-general, Kuo said.

Taiwan should be able to establish an “Asia-Pacific epidemic prevention center,” he said, adding that he hopes the public will think carefully about how to develop it.

Taiwan’s international healthcare output is relatively low at NT$15 billion (US$498 million), he said, adding that he hopes it reaches NT$40 billion by 2025.

Many regulations still need to be relaxed, Kuo said.

Taiwan’s healthcare sector should seize the roughly “10-year advantage” it has over China’s, he added.

The Ministry of the Interior is planning an international healthcare section inside the Taoyuan Aerotropolis and hopes to invite the healthcare industry to participate in a build-operate-transfer model, he said.

Hospitals should not develop individually, Kuo said, adding that a foreign consultant has suggested integration and the creation of a “Taiwan brand.”

Eighty percent of the focus could be placed on the high-income medical tourism industry, while 20 percent could be invested in the epidemic prevention industry, with epidemic prevention personnel and supplies ready near the airport to be dispatched at any time, he said.

title: Virus Outbreak: Interview: Former CDC head calls for epidemic prevention center


title: Taipei vendor indicted for ‘hardcore’ porn films

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Taipei prosecutors on Wednesday indicted an adult video vendor with contravening the Act on Offenses Against Sexual Morality (妨害風化罪) for allegedly selling Japanese “hardcore” pornographic films.

The prosecutors charged the vendor, surnamed Chou (周), after a man surnamed Yang (楊) collected evidence by secretly filming Chou’s shop at Taipei’s Guanghua Market (光華商場), which is known for its computer and consumer electronics.

Yang filed a judicial complaint and named Chou and two Japanese men as defendants.

The Japanese men are executives from Japan’s Intellectual Property Promotion Association, which reportedly represents 240 Japanese adult video producers and distribution companies, and had filed litigation in Taiwan against sales of pirated videos.

Prosecutors said they would not press charges against the Japanese men, “because they owned the copyrights to the Japanese sex videos and it was Chou who was in the business of selling the videos in Taiwan.”

Chou denied selling any pirated copies, saying that he had an agreement with the association and sold only original films directly from the Japanese production companies.

Yang used to be an adult video vendor in Taipei and was in 2016 embroiled in copyright litigation along with Chou and other vendors in a case filed filed by association executives in Taiwan.

Yang reportedly still has a dispute with Chou and association executives stemming from the 2016 case, and filed a complaint saying that Chou was selling eight films with sadomasochistic content.

Prosecutors said that they deemed the films to contain “hardcore” elements and that Chou was selling materials that are obscene in nature, and charged him with “offenses against sexual morality.”

Those who sell “hardcore” videos could face criminal prosecution, as the films are defined as obscene materials or videos containing violent scenes, bestiality, sexual abuse, sadomasochism or group sex which have no artistic merit or any value for medical science or academic research, based on the Council of Grand Justices’ Interpretation No. 617, the prosecutors said.

Sales of “softcore” videos are permitted, as long as safety measures are in place to shield youngsters, as such films are deemed as separate from “hardcore” films and defined as providing sexual stimulation and pleasure, and would not be of a subjectively depraved nature which most viewers would find unacceptable or be repulsed by, the interpretation said.

In 2015, Japanese adult video production companies won what was considered a landmark ruling by the Taipei District Court, which provided copyright protection for the pornography industry.

The court said that adult videos are covered by copyright law, which protects all forms of human ideas and expressions, and should protect the spirit of creativity.

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Virus Outbreak: CIB finds suspect behind ‘cyanide’ Facebook post

A message posted by the Centers for Disease Control on Saturday clarifies that the chemical cyanide is highly toxic and does not protect against the 2019 novel coronavirus.Photo: Yao Yueh-hung, Taipei Times
The Criminal Investigation Bureau yesterday said that it had identified the suspect behind a Facebook post that said ingesting the highly toxic chemical cyanide could be used to protect against the 2019 novel coronavirus.

The bureau received a report a day earlier that someone in the Facebook group “Taiwan & Japan” had posted potentially harmful misinformation about the virus, and later identified the suspect as a 29-year-old Taiwanese surnamed Yu (游).

The now-deleted post said that “cyanide can be used to kill the novel coronavirus and prevent disease. Chinese people, take it quickly! If you do not have [cyanide] on hand, you can grind up large quantities of apple seeds into powder, and then ingest it.”

The bureau said it has asked Yu, who is studying in Japan, to return to Taiwan as soon as possible.

His case would be turned over to prosecutors for further investigation, it said.

Under Taiwan’s Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), people who disseminate rumors or false information concerning communicable diseases that result in damage to the public can be fined up to NT$3 million (US$99,582).

Commenting on the case, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) wrote on Facebook yesterday, urging people not to repost news stories that seem questionable.

“Spreading this type of deadly fake news? Do they not have a heart?” he asked.

Fake news about the coronavirus is dangerous, because given the havoc wreaked by the epidemic, people are likely to believe anything they read about it, including stories about prevention and treatment, Lin said.

He said that spreading fake news alleging that an infection could be treated with cyanide was obviously intended to harm people.

“Cyanide is highly toxic. Coming into contact with even a small amount of the compound is fatal. There is no need to even mention that it cannot cure a disease,” he said.

Lin advised people to add themselves to the Centers for Disease Control’s official Line account, which provides the latest updates on the coronavirus and dispels rumors found circulating online.

Additional reporting by Hsieh Chun-lin

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people:
Kolas Yotaka
蔡英文

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Virus Outbreak: Taiwan to join WHO forum remotely

UP FOR DISCUSSION:The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is negotiating with the WHO to allow experts to attend in person, and that a decision would be made today
Taiwanese experts are to participate online in a WHO forum next week to combat the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, a WHO official said on Saturday, although Taiwan is fighting for greater inclusion.

“We will have Taiwanese colleagues online, as we will have experts from the rest of China online,” Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, told a news conference.

Ryan was responding to a reporter’s question about whether Taiwan would be participating in a WHO global research and innovation forum, which is being held tomorrow and on Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland, and whether Taiwan’s inclusion could indicate a reversal in WHO policy.

Since 2017, the WHO has barred Taiwan from the World Health Assembly (WHA) and its meetings at the insistence of China, following the election of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party in May 2016.

Taiwan was the only country with confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV to be excluded from WHO Emergency Committee discussions held in Geneva.

However, a number of countries, including Canada, Japan and the US, as well as the EU, have in the past week renewed their support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHA.

With regard to the upcoming forum, Ryan did not explain the sudden inclusion of Taiwanese experts, nor did he confirm whether anyone from Taiwan had been invited to attend the forum in person.

However, he did say that “many colleagues who are in high-risk countries [are] taking the opportunity not to travel,” and that he was certain that experts participating in the forum online would “contribute equally to the discussions.”

Ryan also said that the WHO has been communicating with Taiwanese officials and public health experts.

Taiwanese experts have been engaging with officials from China and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Ryan said.

Asked about the forum, Executive Yuan spokesperson Kolas Yotaka said that the Cabinet was still negotiating with the WHO for greater inclusion.

Kolas said that Taiwan could contribute by sharing its measures against the spread of the virus, as it has managed to contain the outbreak so far, with no signs of community transmission and one of the patients having already been discharged from hospital.

The WHO should not exclude Taiwan in the midst of a global health crisis, she said, adding that it would be a mistake if the organization continues to pander to China in doing so.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday that it is negotiating with the WHO to allow Taiwanese experts to attend the forum in person.

A decision on the issue would be made today, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.

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title: Light festival draws 190,000 to Longci in its opening year

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By Wu Chun-feng, Yan Hung-chun and William Hetherington / Staff reporters, with staff writer
A set of lighting works are displayed at the Longci Light Festival in Longci, Tainan, yesterday.Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
The Longci Light Festival attracted 190,000 visitors over its seven-week run, the Tainan City Government said yesterday.

The festival, which ended yesterday, was praised online, with a post on its Facebook page calling it “the most beautiful outdoor light festival nationwide.”

Organizers said that they were surprised by the public’s interest in the festival, which was held for the first time.

The event in the small mountain town of Longci attracted more than 18 times the number of local residents, they added.

The festival, which opened on Dec. 21, was originally scheduled to end on Sunday last week, but the city government extended it by a week to accommodate its unexpected popularity, it said.

Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) encouraged the extension and said that the city would hold the festival again at the end of this year.

Visitors over the past week reached about 50,000 people, the city government said.

Local enterprises, including food vendors and the Longci Farmers’ Association’s bamboo charcoal store and workshop, saw their business improve during the festival, it said.

The event, which cost the special municipality NT$7 million (US$232,357), was aimed at boosting tourism in the region between Longci and Yanshuei (鹽水) townships over the Lunar New Year and Lantern Festival periods, the city said.

To avoid light pollution in the city, organizers held the festival in Husingshan Park in Longci, and invited artists to build installations using aluminum wiring and fluorescent lights.

Separately, a flower festival organized by the Changhua County Government attracted about 860,000 people over 16 days, which was about the same as last year, the county said.

The number was still impressive given the effects of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, which has caused people to avoid crowds, it said.

Visitors to the festival, which also ended yesterday, took in the sight of colorful flower displays during the day and viewed a light festival in the evenings, it added.

A memorial for people who have died in the outbreak was also on display, which proved popular with visitors, the county government said.

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A woman and her children leave a store in Taipei on Thursday carrying bottles of alcohol.Photo: CNA
The Executive Yuan has instructed state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (TTL) and Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar) to increase their production lines for 75 percent alcohol, hoping to fix a lack of stock by this week amid fears over the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

The coronavirus has led to a shortage of surgical masks and alcohol-based sanitizers containing at least 75 percent alcohol in Taiwan, with media reports that some people have been stealing from hospitals after failing to purchase sanitizers.

TTL management said that its staff have been working around the clock since the end of the Lunar New Year holiday.

To meet rising demand, the Executive Yuan has instructed the two state-run manufacturers to increase production lines for 75 percent alcohol, on top of their existing production lines for 95 percent alcohol.

For every 10 bottles of 95 percent alcohol produced, 13 to 15 bottles of 75 percent alcohol could be made, which would rid customers of the need to dilute, said a TTL manager who asked to remain anonymous.

Producing more bottles would mean that more people could buy them, the manager added.

A Taisugar manager said that the company only has one production line for 95 percent alcohol.

It would consider outsourcing the production of 75 percent alcohol and is planning later this month to ship 200,000 to 300,000 350ml bottles, the Taisugar manager said.

TTL is to start production of 75 percent alcohol at its factory in Pingtung County, followed by another three to four factories across Taiwan, depending on how the situation develops, said a second TTL manager, who also asked to remain anonymous.

To ensure availability, TTL would produce 330ml, 110ml and 60ml bottles of 75 percent alcohol, with the first batch expected to be delivered by its Pingtung factory today, the second TTL manager said, adding that production capacity is 2,000 to 3,000 dozen bottles per day.

Taisugar and TTL promised to sell 75 percent alcohol at an affordable price, adding that factories would not cease production, so there would be no need to stock up on the product.

More than 8 million additional bottles of alcohol-based sanitizers are expected to enter the market this week, the state-run manufacturers said.

Separately, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) on Thursday said that the nation was producing 3.2 million surgical masks per day, but hopes to boost the figure to 3.9 million this week and 4.6 million next week.

The Executive Yuan on Jan. 31 also approved a plan to build 60 production lines to make an additional 6 million masks per day to meet demand.

Adding the projected capacity of 4.6 million masks per day, that would eventually bring total production to more than 10 million masks per day, hopefully by early next month, Shen said.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Taisugar, TTL ordered to produce more 75% alcohol


title: City offers subsidy for pet owners to neuter animals

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A person strokes a cat in New Taipei City on Jan. 20.Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Government Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office
The New Taipei City Government on Jan. 20 started to offer subsidies to residents who want to have their pets neutered, which it said is required by law and can help prevent some reproductive system disorders common in older animals.

The Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office is offering a subsidy of NT$600 for neutering a male dog or cat and NT$1,200 for spaying a female dog or cat, the office said, adding that last year it received subsidy applications for 2,163 cats and dogs.

Pet owners can visit the office’s Web site to find veterinary clinics contracted by the city government and fill in application forms for surgery, the office said.

However, the pets must be microchipped and registered to be eligible for the subsidy, it added.

People who do not have their pets neutered could face a fine of NT$50,000 to NT$250,000 for breaching the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), the office said.

The office has a limited budget for the subsidy program and the conclusion of this year’s subsidies would be announced on its Web site, it said.

Regarding some pet owners’ concern that undergoing sterilization might affect the animals’ daily activities, the office said that the procedure does not cause much inconvenience to animals, and instead helps them avoid reproductive system diseases.

Older animals are more likely to develop breast cancer, testicular cancer, prostatic hyperplasia or perianal gland tumors, in addition to other chronic diseases, and they also face higher surgical risks, it said.

Female dogs and cats that are not spayed might develop uterine infections, which could be deadly, the office said, advising pet owners to have their pets neutered when they are young.

Disease prevention is better than treatment, office Director Chen Yuan-chuan (陳淵泉) said, urging pet owners to apply for the subsidy as soon as possible.

People whose pets cannot undergo surgery due to certain reasons should file an application with the office to avoid a fine, he said.

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title: Uncle detained in death of two-year-old

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A Taipei court on Thursday ordered a man detained over his suspected involvement in the death of his two-year-old nephew due to neglect, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office has said.

Prosecutors had issued an arrest warrant for the man, surnamed Lin (林), on Jan. 14, when they charged his sister and her boyfriend, surnamed Hsiao (蕭), with child abandonment resulting in death.

The Taipei City Fire Department on Nov. 9, 2018, responded to a call regarding an apartment on Linsen N Road, where they discovered the severely malnourished body of the boy, the office said.

An investigation found that the boy was the son of the tenant, a 22-year-old single mother who worked at a hotel and reportedly had a mild intellectual disability.

In August that year, a relative who had been looking after the boy told Lin to take the child back to his sister, with whom he was living at the time, the investigation found.

The siblings, along with the woman’s boyfriend, who moved in with them in September that year, routinely starved and beat the child, and kept him locked in the bathroom, prosecutors said.

In October, Lin and Hsiao moved out of the apartment, and began inviting the mother to spend long periods of time away from home, ultimately resulting in the boy’s death due to neglect, they said.

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Chinese medical workers wearing protective clothing check passengers’ travel history at the Shanghai South railway station in Shanghai yesterday.Photo: AFP

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The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) yesterday continued to spread on a cruise liner under quarantine in Japan, showing the challenge of containing the global outbreak as the death toll eclipsed that of SARS almost two decades ago.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong authorities said that 3,600 passengers and crew quarantined on the cruise ship World Dream can now disembark and the crew have all tested negative for the virus.

The illness has killed 813 people, with all but two victims in China.

Confirmed cases on the cruise ship Diamond Princess<, moored in Yokohama, Japan, rose by six to 70, Princess Cruises said, making the vessel the biggest center of infections outside of China, while Singapore late on Saturday raised the number of its confirmed cases to 40, making it the second-largest number of infections outside China.

Reported cases in China alone have climbed to 37,198, less than two months after surfacing in late December last year in Wuhan.

The 2002-2003 SARS outbreak killed 774 people and sickened almost 8,100 others, in 26 countries over eight months, the WHO said.

China accounted for about 45 percent of SARS deaths, not including Hong Kong and Macau.

Japanese Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Katsunobu Kato yesterday said the country would give priority for virus inspections on the ship in Yokohama to elderly people, adding that there are about 600 people on the vessel who need medicine.

Hong Kong authorities began releasing the 3,600 passengers and crew quarantined on the World Dream cruise ship in batches late yesterday afternoon.

Three Chinese passengers were confirmed with the novel coronavirus when the ship was in Vietnam just over two weeks ago and they have since been isolated in China.

The crew have tested negative for the virus, the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection said.

Meanwhile, a UK citizen tested positive on Mallorca, Spanish health officials said, adding that the infection appears to have occurred in a ski resort in France.

“The British patient had been exposed to another person with [the virus] before arriving to Mallorca,” Fernando Simon, national director of Spain’s center for coordination of alerts and emergencies, said in a televised news conference.

The rest of the man’s family have tested negative for the virus, but would remain under observation, he said.

In other developments, the virus might have infected at least 1 in 20 people in Wuhan by the time it peaks in coming weeks, scientists modeling its spread said.

Trends in reported cases in Wuhan — a city of 11 million people in lockdown since Jan. 23 — broadly support the mathematical modeling the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is using to predict the epidemic’s transmission dynamics.

“Assuming current trends continue, we’re still projecting a mid-to-late-February peak” in Wuhan, said Adam Kucharski, an associate professor of infectious disease epidemiology, in an e-mail yesterday.

Kucharski and his colleagues base their modeling on a range of assumptions about the virus, including an incubation of 5.2 days and a delay from onset of symptoms to confirmation of infection of 6.1 days.

Additional reporting by agencies

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title: Virus Outbreak: Virus spreads on quarantined liner


content_text:
Control Yuan censures Lanyu office over waste

COMMON PRACTICE:Control Yuan members said they found household trash across Orchid Island, but Lanyu officials said they were items that belonged to islanders
The Control Yuan on Friday censured the administrative office on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) for leaving more than 547 tonnes of mixed waste untreated in a landfill last year.

The Taitung County Government — which administers Orchid Island — has since 2012 been using subsidies offered by the central government to contract waste disposal operators to transport waste to Taiwan proper for disposal amid increasing amounts of garbage on the island, Control Yuan members said.

The rate of disposal was 100 percent in the first six years, but it plummeted to 62.9 percent in 2018, prompting the central government to launch an investigation, which was conducted by Control Yuan members Yang Fang-ling (楊芳玲) and Chang Jen-hsiang (章仁香), who visited the island in September last year.

Yang and Chang concluded that the Lanyu Township Office had contravened the Basic Environment Act (環境基本法) by failing to properly implement waste treatment and recycling policies.

Apart from piles of untreated garbage, they found large and recyclable trash littering the regular-trash zone in the landfill, they said.

Other waste was also found on several other sites across the island, including abandoned boats and bicycles, building materials, scooter exhaust pipes and tires, pieces of furniture and other household trash, the officials said in a report.

The vessel contracted to transport waste was undergoing annual maintenance in November 2018 and a northeast monsoon posed a safety hazard to sailing, rendering the island unable to transport its accumulated waste, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said in the report.

The EPA and the county government should take waste disposal seriously and figure out ways to prevent a similar situation from occurring, the Control Yuan members said.

The office said it is common practice for island residents to place personal belongings, such as refrigerators, washing machines or TVs, on public land, and disputes might arise if garbage collectors removed the objects without the owners’ consent.

The office urged residents not to place garbage on public land.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Epidemic center confirms 18th case

content_text:
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, center, accompanied by Centers for Disease Control Director-General Chou Jih-haw, left, and Hospital and Social Welfare Organizations Administration Commission chief executive Wang Bi-sheng, right, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s 18th confirmed case of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which is also Taiwan’s first asymptomatic case: a man in his 20s who traveled to Italy with his parents and brother, with all four transiting through Hong Kong on Feb. 1.

The parents on Thursday were confirmed to have the virus, and their other son’s infection was confirmed on Saturday, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), the center’s head.

“Although the new case had not suffered any clear symptoms ... we asked him to be tested and the result was positive,” he said.

The man has a high viral load, but it is not yet clear whether he is infectious, the CECC said.

The CECC will determine the identities of passengers seated in the rows behind and in front of the newly confirmed patient on their flight from Hong Kong; if they are Taiwanese, they would be monitored and if they are foreign, the CECC would inform their countries, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.

CECC specialists are to discuss whether the criteria for 2019-nCoV tests should be expanded to include people who have had close contact with confirmed cases, even if they do not display any symptoms, Chen said.

Of the 18 confirmed cases, seven initially complained of pneumonia-like symtoms, 10 said they had a fever, 12 people reported coughing and three had runny noses, he said.

The 17 still hospitalized all developed pneumonia, but are in stable condition and do not need additional oxygen, and only one still has a mild fever of 37.9°C.

Meanwhile, six people tested for the virus received negative results from their first test, officials said.

“A total of 811 2019-nCoV-related deaths have been reported around the world, which has already exceeded the deaths caused by SARS,” Chen said. “However, people do not have to panic, as the SARS mortality rate was higher.”

The high number of 2019-nCoV deaths is due to the increased population mobility in China, he said, adding that the mortality is about 2 percent globally and about 5 percent in Hubei Province.

While the transmission dynamics of thenew virus are unclear, it seems to be spreading faster than SARS, he said.

Chuang said the CECC has tracked about 280 people who have had direct contact with passengers of the cruise ship Diamond Princess when they visited Taipei and New Taipei City on Jan. 31 during a port call to Keelung.

Seventy of the ship’s passengers have been confirmed to have the virus as of yesterday and the remaining are still in quarantine aboard the ship in Yokohama, Japan.

If any of the 280 people suffer any suspected symptom of the virus, they should call the CDC’s hotline (1922) for assistance.

Anyone who visited the locations that the ship’s passengers traveled to on Jan. 31 — as announced via a warning message on Friday evening — are advised to see a doctor, Chuang said.

“These locations are very safe now,” as any confined spaces have been disinfected, Chen said.

Additional reporting by CNA

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content_text:
Soldier’s rampage leaves 26 dead, 57 hurt in Thailand

SIXTEEN HOURS:Police evacuated hundreds of people from Terminal 21 Korat mall in small batches before the gunman was killed by sharpshooters
A nurse fills in a form as ambulances carrying the bodies of victims of a shooting rampage arrive yesterday at a hospital in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.Photo: Reuters

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A soldier with a grudge gunned down 26 people and wounded 57 in Thailand’s worst mass shooting before he was fatally shot inside a mall in the country’s northeast yesterday, officials said.

Officials said the soldier was angry over a financial dispute, first killing two people on a military base and then went on a far bloodier rampage on Saturday, shooting as he drove to the mall where shoppers fled in terror.

It took police sharpshooters 16 hours to end the crisis.

Authorities said Sergeant Major Jakrapanth Thomma was behind the attack in Nakhon Ratchasima.

Much of the shooting took place at Terminal 21 Korat, an airport-themed mall filled with colorful Lego sculptures, a merry-go-round and huge replicas of landmarks from around the world.

“This incident was unprecedented in Thailand,” Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters as he gave the final tally yesterday morning after visiting the wounded in hospitals.

“I hope this is the only one and the last incident, and that it never happens again. No one wants this to happen. It could be because of this person’s mental health in this particular moment,” he said.

Video taken outside the mall showed people diving for cover as shots rang out on Saturday afternoon. Many were killed outside the mall, some in cars, others while walking.

Nattaya Nganiem and her family had just finished eating and were driving away when she heard gunfire.

“First I saw a woman run out from the mall hysterically,” said Nattaya, who shot video of the scene on her cellphone. “Then a motorcycle rider in front of her just ran and left his motorcycle there.”

Hundreds of people were evacuated from the mall in small batches by police while they searched for the gunman.

Shortly before midnight, police announced they had secured the above-ground portion of the mall, but were still searching for the shooter.

About 16 hours later, officials announced the gunman was fatally shot.

Thai Ministry of Defense spokesman Kongcheep told media that the first person killed was the commanding officer of the 22nd Ammunition Battalion, in which the suspect also served.

He said the gunman had fired at others at his base and took guns and ammunition before fleeing in an army Humvee.

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Virus Outbreak: Anti-Chinese mood reflects more than outbreak: report

The anti-Chinese sentiment recently seen in many nations reflected not only health concerns, but also anger over long-term friction between China and other countries, a report by a think tank affiliated with the Ministry of National Defense said.

If the impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which originated in Wuhan, China, worsens, it could result in a new wave of anti-Chinese sentiment worldwide, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research said in the report released on Friday.

Since the start of the outbreak, the Chinese government has been slow to act, its policies have lacked transparency and it has tried to hide information about the virus’ spread, all of which had caused public panic and hastened the epidemic, the report said.

The result is that China has lost control of the situation, it said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) centralization of power and war on corruption had caused Chinese officials to act for their own protection and to avoid taking action during a crisis, rather than be blamed later for doing the wrong thing, the report said.

Despite a surge in the number of reported infections on Jan. 18 and 19, Xi did not bring up the outbreak in his talks with authorities in Myanmar during his state visit.

Xi responded to the outbreak on Jan. 20, but has yet to visit Wuhan, thereby failing to create an image of “the people’s leader,” the report said.

Anti-Chinese sentiment had already been seen by stores and hotels in many countries refusing Chinese customers, and petitions calling for Chinese visitors to be barred from entry to several countries, the report said.

Friction between China and other countries that had led to this sentiment has been caused by Chinese military expansionism, and Beijing’s economic influence, it said.

Recent statements from the WHO praising China’s handling of the outbreak has made many people aware of China’s influence over that organization, as well as many others, the report said.

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A report that South Africa are contemplating a move away from southern hemisphere rugby’s SANZAAR alliance to join an expanded Six Nations in 2024 have been denied by New Zealand Rugby, with television agreements in place until 2025.

Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper on Saturday reported that South Africa would join the existing Six Nations countries and abandon Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship after the next World Cup in France in 2023.

The unsourced report had few details and did not take account of the fact that South Africa had signed a new broadcast contract to stay in SANZAAR until 2025, something New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson confirmed yesterday.

“Like us, they’ve signed agreements with their broadcasters through 2025 to be involved with SANZAAR,” Robinson told Radio Sport. “Our broadcast deal ... is from 2021 to 2025. South Africa are in the same space. We’re committed to the international calendar... There will be opportunities for them to review certain things within that, but overall they’ve got that commitment.”

Robinson added that South African Rugby had been involved in talks about the future of Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship, with a possible expansion to include Japan and Pacific Islands teams.

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title: NZ denies report of Springboks move


content_text:
A deserted road is pictured in Shanghai on Thursday.Photo: AFP
British universities are braced for a long shutdown of their Chinese campuses after Beijing said it would extend the closure of China’s higher education sector into next month to combat the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.

Nottingham, Birmingham City and Leeds universities were among the many British higher education providers that were told they must delay the return of academics and students until March 2, after they were initially told to keep their Chinese offshoots closed until Feb. 24.

The decision to extend the shutdown of higher education throughout China until next month is expected to be a clear signal to other parts of the country’s education system to prolong the winter break, which started in December last year and includes the Lunar New Year, until the virus is under control.

Beijing has allowed local authorities to use their own judgment about when to open schools and locally controlled universities later this month, but the move to extend the closure of centrally funded and regulated universities, which includes foreign-owned campuses, is expected to persuade most local officials to follow Beijing’s lead.

More than 35,000 people in China and 24 other countries have contracted the virus, and hundreds have died.

Nottingham University runs a campus for almost 8,000 students in the city of Ningbo, 40km south of Shanghai.

“Our overriding priority is for the health of our students, staff and community. However, our aim will be to ensure that none of our students are academically or economically disadvantaged,” a spokeswoman said.

“Along with other universities in China, [the campus] is observing all advice from the health authorities and has extended the lunar new year holiday. The new semester is now planned to start on March 2,” she added.

She said the university would be able to cope with a degree of disruption over the coming months.

“The university has long-standing contingency arrangements to amend semester dates and provide additional learning resources and support through online methods,” the spokeswoman said.

Birmingham City University has 1,000 Chinese students at its joint venture with Wuhan Textile University — the Birmingham Institute of Fashion and Creative Art.

“Wuhan Textile University was closed for the Lunar New Year and its reopening will be a matter for our Chinese partners. We are in close communication with our partners and the UK government to understand the impact on our students,” a spokesman said.

Liverpool University has a joint venture with Xi’an Jiaotong University, which has 32,000 students and is based northeast of Wuhan.

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title: UK universities face long closure of China campuses


title: Ministry must help schools deal with virus

content_text:
The 2019 novel coronavirus is spreading across the world, and the epidemic might be with us beyond the short term. During the winter break, schools were fine, but now they must pay attention to epidemic prevention.

The situation is more complex for universities, since that involves Chinese students. Chinese exchange students have been banned, but how about Chinese students who are officially registered at Taiwanese universities?

Even before the Ministry of Education made this decision, several universities had announced that they would postpone the start of school to allow Chinese students time to self-quarantine for 14 days after entering Taiwan. However, the government’s requirement that Chinese students be isolated for two weeks in single rooms is a great challenge to local school resources and personnel.

The easiest way to tackle this issue is to delay the return of Chinese students until the epidemic ends. During this time, students could take courses at nearby Chinese universities and their credits could be recognized by the Taiwanese institutions.

Unfortunately, this requires administrative cooperation with Chinese universities, which is not an easy task, due to the lack of communication between the Taiwanese and Chinese governments. Also, with the convenient online learning systems modern universities possess, arrangements could be made for students to take online courses from outside Taiwan, and they could discuss issues with their Taiwanese teachers through videoconferencing.

As Taiwan allows officially registered Chinese students to enter Taiwan, the 14-day self-quarantine period seems necessary. Still, the education ministry should act boldly and resolutely to ease the burden on universities and simplify related issues.

For example, the education authorities in each local administration could rent business hotels to place Chinese students under self-quarantine in one central location. By doing so, hotels that have suffered financial losses due to the outbreak would at least be able to make some money, and it would also help the tourism industry.

It is of course questionable whether hotels would be willing to serve as temporary shelters for self-quarantined Chinese students, and whether their neighbors would protest, so it would perhaps be less controversial to isolate Chinese students at school dormitories.

However, as the winter break is relatively short in Taiwan, many schools did not ask students to empty their rooms during the break. Although the delayed return to universities to after Feb. 25 would allow Chinese students to isolate themselves in single rooms at school dormitories, how should schools empty students’ rooms? Would such an evacuation lead to complaints? Would they worry about the sterilization of their rooms when they move back in afterward? These are just some of the concerns.

The education ministry should specify a school opening day for all universities and establish rules on how to handle Chinese students, to avoid the chaos caused by local universities each playing their own tune. The easiest and safest strategy would be to suspend Chinese students from entering Taiwan until the epidemic is over.

During this period, Chinese students could continue their education online and thus would not have to suspend their studies. Such courses should be free of charge.

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title: Farrell wants more from Ireland

content_text:
Ireland players and supporters celebrate a try against Wales during their Six Nations match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.Photo: Reuters
Ireland coach Andy Farrell said that there was still room for improvement following back-to-back wins at the start of the Six Nations with a crunch clash against England at Twickenham looming.

Ireland were impressive in their 24-14 bonus-point victory over Wales in Dublin on Saturday as they dominated territory, the breakdown and set-piece play, and scored four tries to two.

However, Farrell said that his side could be more clinical and hopes they show that against England on Feb. 22 in a match that could go a long way toward deciding this year’s Six Nations title.

“We said it wasn’t a brilliant performance, but we had a good preparation this week with an improved performance,” Farrell told reporters. “Even after a bonus-point win, there is plenty more in us and we’ll be looking to do that.”

“It’s a good place to be, two from two, and still plenty to do,” he said. “We’ve room for improvement. It’s a good place to be.”

In Edinburgh, Eddie Jones accused spectators in the crowd at Murrayfield of being “without manners” following England’s hard-fought 13-6 win over Scotland.

England captain Owen Farrell was repeatedly jeered by home supporters when taking his time over goal-kicks at the rainswept ground.

Some crowds remain silent during goal-kicks and an announcement over the Murrayfield public-address system urged spectators to maintain the tradition of respecting the kicker.

“It was an old-fashioned Calcutta Cup game, swirling wind and an aggressive crowd without manners,” Jones told the BBC.

Arguably of more concern to officials was that England’s high-performance manager Neil Craig was hit on the head by a plastic beer bottle thrown from an upper gantry shortly after the team arrived at Murrayfield.

Owen Farrell missed three out of six goal-kicks and the match was all square at 3-3 until England replacement prop Ellis Genge was driven over off for a decisive try 10 minutes from time.

“We played well and luckily I was the one that picked it up,” Genge said. “We are buzzing to win but there is more to come. We had a bump in the road last week and people were saying we were not good enough. It’s classic, you have a lot of ‘sausages’ that say things that come to their head.”

“What are they on about?” he asked. “We go away and win in Scotland in the rain and they are full of praise again. I hope we have shut them up.”

Saturday’s victory saw World Cup finalists England return to winning ways after a 24-17 defeat in their Six Nations opener against France, who were to play Italy at the Stade de France in Paris after press time last night.

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Some Chinese companies that are closed due to the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak are expected to resume operations as early as this week.

However, the move has caused concern over likely person-to-person transmissions, fanning fears that the virus would spread even further, as it has not been effectively contained.

Local governments and businesses in China should decide carefully when to resume operations, and evaluate whether they have the facilities to test suspected cases and sufficient protective gear for employees.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, the biggest assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Friday told its employees in Shenzhen, China, not to return to work today as planned and await further instructions, Bloomberg reported, citing a text message it saw.

Amid a shortage of medical equipment in China, the company on Thursday began trial production of protective masks and medical clothing to be used at its Shenzhen plant, Reuters reported.

However, not all companies have the resources to take such measures.

The reopening of Chinese businesses — which are crucial to the global supply chain and markets — might lead to logistics disruptions and higher operational costs, as suppliers in a dozen cities are under lockdown while mandatory quarantine rules are implemented in more cities.

A shortage of personnel and raw materials is likely to be the biggest problem affecting the supply chain after the resumption of work.

Even though some Taiwanese businesses had relocated part of their operations to Vietnam or elsewhere before the outbreak, they would still face supply chain disruptions, as many of their components, materials and even personnel come from China.

China is also facing growing suspicion over its pledge to buy more US goods under the “phase one” trade deal it signed with Washington early last month, as well as whether Chinese companies would declare force majeure to get out of long-term contracts with their overseas partners.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) assured US President Donald Trump during a telephone call on Thursday that China would meet its pledge to buy US$200 billion of US goods over the next two years, although there might be some initial delays, US National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

However, it is not known whether Beijing would request exceptions from the trade agreement, depending on how its efforts to contain the virus pan out.

French oil company Total on Thursday became the first global energy supplier to reject a force majeure notice from a liquefied natural gas buyer in China, which wanted to back out of a contract amid the outbreak, Reuters reported.

More Chinese companies making similar declarations to avoid their contractual obligations could have an adverse affect on global energy and commodity prices.

The outbreak is causing problems that are beyond companies’ control. Economists have warned that it presents a risk to business operations, manufacturing supply chains and the outlook of global markets.

However, it also tests Beijing’s crisis management capabilities and draws global attention to its public governance, and if China acts irresponsibly or inappropriately, its behavior might have an even greater negative effect on the international marketplace and the global outlook than the disease itself.

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title: EDITORIAL: Chinese firms reopen amid problems


content_text:
US museum targets gender gap by acquiring only works by women

A woman takes a photo in October last year of various paintings during the presentation of the exhibition, A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana, at the Prado Museum, in Madrid, Spain. A study published last year by the scientific journal Plos-One found that in 18 major American museums, 87 percent of the artists whose works were on exhibit were by men.Photo: EPA
An American museum has come up with a bold way to boost women’s participation in the arts: this year it will only acquire works by females.

The Baltimore Museum of Art, in the state of Maryland, is best known for housing the largest public collection of Matisse works anywhere in the world.

Late last year it attracted major press attention with word that this year it would only purchase works by women, drawing both praise and skepticism.

“I think it’s a radical and timely decision in 2020, to take the bull by the horns and do this,” the museum’s director Christopher Bedford said.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the US constitution, which gave women the right to vote.

It also gave the museum pause to do some soul-searching: of its 95,000 works, only four percent are by women artists, says Bedford.

“We’re an institution largely built by women leaders,” he said. The museum’s first director was a woman. And it is largely thanks to two women — the Cone sisters — and their friendship with Henri Matisse that the museum boasts such a rich collection of works by the French artist.

CENTURIES OF DISCRIMINATION

So the museum will spend US$2.5 million this year on works by women. It will also reorganize several of its rooms to showcase the work of women and offer 20-odd exhibits of works by female artists. It will, however, continue to accept donations of art done by men.

The BMA is hardly alone in having such a disproportionate amount of art by men. The fame of artists such as Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun, Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois is an exception to the rule.

A study published last year by the scientific journal Plos-One found that in 18 major American museums, 87 percent of the artists whose works were on exhibit were men.

And from 2008 to 2018, of 260,470 works acquired by 26 big museums, only 11 percent were by women, according to a study by the company Artnet and the podcast “In Other Words.”

This is the fruit of centuries-old discrimination that can be either intentional or not, said Bedford. “And unless you call out that habit and consciously find a way to work against it, then you will never have a properly equitable museum,” he said.

‘A TINY STEP’

While the museum’s initiative has been welcomed by many as a good first step, not everyone is sold on it.

Teri Henderson, a curator based in Baltimore, said she questions the museum’s use of the word “radical” to describe its decision to acquire only art by women for a year.

“I have observed that organizations and institutions use the word ‘radical’ as a sort of buzzword without actually implementing any programming or effort that is truly radical,” Henderson said.

“I do know that one year of collecting attached to this interesting choice of word cannot truly rectify the imbalance in the art world and in museums,” she added.

“I do think this year of collecting art by only women could possibly be the first step, but it is a tiny step.”

Bedford agreed that this plan is just a start. “And I’m also hoping that our decision has a reverberating effect across the museum field,” he said.

“And that’s a consciousness-raising act as well. It’s supposed to precipitate an endless action in that direction,” he added, promising also to publish the results of this female-only program in a year.

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title: EVERYDAY ENGLISH

content_text:
A: I’m exhausted, I just spent one hour lining up to buy face masks. I’m really worried about the 2019 novel coronavirus.

B: Did you manage to get your hands on some?

A: Nope, just as I got to the cashier desk, the clerk said they had sold out.

B: That’s too bad, but you know, there’s really no need to panic buy face masks.

A: 我累壞了，剛才花了一個小時排隊買口罩。我真的很擔心二○一九新型冠狀病毒。

B: 你有成功買到幾片嗎？

A: 沒有。我一排到收銀台前面，店員就跟我說賣完了。

B: 太可惜了，但你知道嗎，其實真的沒有必要恐慌搶購口罩。

English 英文:

Chinese 中文:

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Unilateral Israeli steps to annex West Bank land would endanger US support for such plans, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said yesterday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin on Saturday said that Israel had begun drawing up maps for annexing land in the West Bank, which Palestinians seek for a state, in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan.

“President Trump’s Vision for Peace is the product of more than three years of close consultations among the President, PM Netanyahu and their respective senior staff,” Friedman said on Twitter.

“Israel is subject to the completion (of) a mapping process by a joint Israeli-American committee. Any unilateral action in advance of the completion of the committee process endangers the Plan & American recognition,” he said.

Running for re-election in a March 2 ballot, Netanyahu has been under pressure from settler leaders, and members of his right-wing Cabinet to move ahead with annexations before the election, despite White House pressure to hold off.

“The [US] recognition is the main thing and we don’t want to endanger that,” Netanyahu told his Cabinet yesterday.

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title: US envoy warns Israel over annexation plans


title: World News Quick Take

content_text:
GERMANY

Merkel’s coalition battered

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday salvaged her fragile ruling coalition with the resignation of two officials, including one junior minister, who had aligned themselves with the far-right in a regional election. The surprise election of Thomas Kemmerich as premier in Thuringia on Wednesday with the help of lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for German on Wednesday shattered a political taboo, as mainstream parties have vowed never to work with the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant party. Merkel dismissed junior minister Christian Hirte after he congratulated Kemmerich on his success, but Kemmerich also stood down under pressure. Media reports said the center-left Social Democrats had demanded Kemerich’s resignation as a condition for remaining in Merkel’s governing coalition.

TURKEY

Syrian outposts fortified

The military is deploying additional military supplies to fortify its outposts in Syria’s Idlib Province, Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar told the Hurriyet newspaper, as its forces prepare for a bigger confrontation with Russian-backed Syrian fighters in the area. The province has become a flashpoint between Ankara and Moscow since Syrian troops killed seven Turkish soldiers and a civilian there last week, but Akar said Ankara was keeping Russia in the loop about its operations in Idlib.

IRAN

Satellite countdown begins

The nation’s space agency yesterday started counting down to the launch of a new scientific observation satellite. “Beginning countdown to launch #Zafar_Satellite in the next few hours... In the Name of God,” Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi wrote on Twitter. The agency has said Zafar’s “primary mission” would be collecting imagery needed to study earthquakes, deal with natural disasters and help develop the nation’s agriculture.

UNITED STATES

NYC cops in van ambushed

Two New York City police officers narrowly escaped with their lives when a gunman fired into their patrol van on Saturday night, wounding one of them in an attack that officials called an attempted assassination. The ambush, which New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said “should outrage all New Yorkers,” happened just before 8:30pm in the South Bronx. The officer at the wheel of the van was grazed in the chin and neck, but he avoided serious injury, and was expected to released from the hospital yesterday. The uniformed officers were sitting in their van with emergency lights activated when a man approached them and engaged them in conversation, Shea said. The man asked the officers for directions, then pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots, striking the officer behind the wheel, Shea said. The officer’s partner drove him to a nearby hospital.

UNITED STATES

‘Wild, Wild West’ star dies

Robert Conrad, the rugged, contentious actor who starred in the hugely popular 1960s television series Hawaiian Eye and The Wild, Wild West, died on Saturday. He was 84. He died of heart failure in Malibu, California, family spokesperson Jeff Ballard said. Conrad became a star after Hawaiian Eye debuted in 1959. He interspersed his long TV career with numerous roles in films, while finding plenty of time for arguments. Conrad had a reputation as a tough customer and was sued more than a half-dozen times as a result of fist fights.

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