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Since the start of this year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force has conducted three long-distance training exercises over open seas that took its warplanes close to Taiwan’s airspace.

The first such exercise, late last month, was part of a joint-forces exercise with Task Force 161 of the PLA Navy simulating sea-air combat on the open seas.

The two drills held on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10 were aimed at the armed forces of Taiwan, the US and Japan.

Local media reported that Chinese Shenyang J-11 jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait while returning to their bases after completing the drills, and one of them even locked its radar on a Taiwanese F-16 jet that flew out to intercept them.

Faced with this new situation in cross-strait sea and air encounters, Taiwan needs to address it prudently and quickly figure out how to handle such incidents.

There has been a number of developments in Chinese military activity near Taiwan since July 2018.

In January last year, Chinese ships and aircraft passed through the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines to conduct open-sea, sea-air combat exercises involving a naval task force.

On March 31 last year, Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait.

However, apart from these incidents, the PLA has more or less suspended its Taiwan circumnavigation exercises. It is widely believed that China did this to avoid causing resentment among Taiwanese that could have a negative influence on the November 2018 nine-in-one elections and last month’s presidential and legislative elections.

However, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) swept to victory in the Jan. 11 election with more than 8.17 million votes — a record high for any presidential vote in Taiwan.

Since then, the PLA has restarted its round-Taiwan flights and sea patrols, and upped the ante by having one aircraft lock its radar on a Taiwanese warplane that was sent to shadow it. The strategic intention behind these actions should not be taken lightly.

This is not the first time that PLA warplanes or ships have locked their fire-control radars on those of other nations. In 2013, the Chinese missile frigate Wenzhou locked its fire-control radar on a helicopter of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Takanami-class destroyer Onami and the frigate Lianyungang locked on to the Murasame-class destroyer Yudachi.

Locking on to a target with fire-control radar means establishing a line of fire and calculating fire-control data. Guns can then be fired or missiles launched with just a flick of the finger. It means absolute hostility and readiness to engage in combat.

On Feb. 9 and 10, China’s Shenyang J-11B and J-11BS fighters, tasked with escorting Xian H-6 bombers around Taiwan, were carrying PL-12 beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles that have a 40km no-escape zone. These missiles pose a serious threat to Taiwanese fighters that are sent to shadow Chinese airplanes.

The Chinese warplanes crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait and locking on to shadowing F-16s were unlikely to have been individual decisions taken by their pilots.

It is much more likely that they were carrying out orders. Of course, their purpose would not be to attack, but to use “compellent strategies,” which are more aggressive than “deterrence,” to intimidate Taiwan.

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title: Changing the rules of engagement


title: Virus Outbreak: World on alert as virus cases multiply

content_text:
Pilgrims leave Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Indonesia, after the cancelation of their departure to Mecca yesterday.Photo: Reuters
Crews scrubbed everything from money to buses, military bases were on high alert and quarantines were enforced from a beachfront resort in the Atlantic to a remote island in the Pacific, as the world worked to halt the COVID-19 outbreak that for the first time counted more new cases outside China than inside the nation where the epidemic originated.

Worries over the ever-expanding economic fallout of the outbreak also multiplied, with factories idled, trade routes frozen and tourism crippled, while a growing list of nations braced for the illness to breach their borders.

The WHO reported that the number of new cases outside China on Tuesday exceeded the number of new infections inside the nation for the first time. The number in China was 412, while the tally in the rest of the world was 459.

“The sudden increases of cases in Italy, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Korea are deeply concerning,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

About 81,000 people worldwide have been sickened by the virus that keeps finding new targets.

With Brazil confirming the arrival of Latin America’s first case, the virus has a toehold on every continent but Antarctica.

In Europe, where Germany, France and Spain were among the places with growing caseloads, an expanding cluster of more than 440 cases in northern Italy was eyed as a source for transmissions.

In the Middle East, where cases increased in Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq, blame was directed toward Iran.

In Asia, where the crisis originated late last year in China, threats continued to emerge around the region, with South Korea battling a mass outbreak centered in Daegu.

In the US, which had 60 cases, US President Donald Trump declared that the nation was “very, very ready” for whatever threat the coronavirus brings and he put US Vice President Mike Pence in charge of overseeing the response.

The virus has now spread to at least 39 nations, WHO officials said.

“We are in a fight that can be won if we do the right things,” Ghebreyesus said.

Although the virus has pushed into nations both rich and poor, its arrival in places with little ability to detect, respond and contain it brought concern it could run rampant and spread easily elsewhere.

“We’re going to be trying to slow down the spread so that our hospitals are not overwhelmed in one big gulp, one big hit,” said Ian Mackay, who studies viruses at the University of Queensland in Australia.

Italy yesterday recorded more than 100 new infections, while Greece, North Macedonia and Romania became the newest nations to see a case of the coronavirus.

Saudi Arabia yesterday suspended visas for visits to Islam’s holiest sites for the umrah pilgrimage, an unprecedented move triggered by virus fears that raises questions over the annual hajj.

The kingdom, which hosts millions of pilgrims every year in the cities of Mecca and Medina, also suspended visas for tourists from nations with reported infections.

Saudi Arabia, which has reported no cases of the virus, but has expressed alarm over its spread in neighboring nations, said the suspensions were temporary, but it provided no time frame for when they would be lifted and the decision left tens of thousands of pilgrims preparing to visit the kingdom from around the world in limbo.

The measures came amid a spike in coronavirus cases across the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates has reported 13 cases, Kuwait has recorded 43, Bahrain has 33 and Oman is at four.

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content_text:
Hsieh, Strycova ease into Doha semis

CHALLENGING CONDITIONS:Petra Kvitova battled not only Jelena Ostapenko, but also the elements, to secure a quarter-final berth in wind that made things ‘difficult’
Taiwanese-Czech top seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova on Wednesday remained on track to claim a second title in the Middle East in a week, while Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur dumped world No. 3 Karolina Pliskova out of the singles at the Qatar Open.

Hsieh and Strycova, who lifted the doubles trophy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday last week, took just 65 minutes to wrap up a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of unseeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Sofia Kenin of the US at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha.

The top seeds saved two of three break points and converted all four they created, winning 70 percent of points on their second serve to advance to a semi-final against Czech duo Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, after the fourth seeds crushed Cagla Buyukakcay and Laura Siegemund 6-1, 6-2 in 57 minutes.

The top seeds defeated the Czech duo in a feisty semi-final at the Australian Open last month and have a 2-0 career record against them after a victory at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China, last year.

In the singles, while Jabeur celebrated her upset victory, top seed Ashleigh Barty received a walkover.

The Tunisian Australian Open quarter-finalist came through a tight match against Pliskova, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final against Petra Kvitova.

Jabeur, who became the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final in Melbourne, was broken when leading 4-2 in the deciding set, but hit back immediately, before claiming her first win over a top-10 player since 2018.

The 25-year-old managed to see out the win, despite appearing to struggle with a hamstring injury in the closing games.

“I had a sharp pain on my hamstring, right hamstring, when I was going for the forehand at 4-2 my serve,” Jabeur told the WTA Web site. “I didn’t really want to call the physio, so people would not think that I’m doing it on purpose, and plus I didn’t want to break the rhythm I was trying to maintain.”

“I mean Petra is Petra. She plays unbelievable and she’s a tough player,” Jabeur said of her quarter-final. “Hopefully, my hamstring will be better. I’m going to do my best tonight to recover and honestly I think it’s going to be a great match.”

Earlier, two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova had battled past former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.

Czech left-hander Kvitova, the world No. 11, has not lost to a player ranked outside the top 40 since last year’s US Open, but said that she struggled in the windy conditions.

“There’s no chance to have tactics in this wind,” Kvitova said. “The wind changes everything. I tried to stay there, to be patient, but sometimes it’s a little difficult.”

Barty had been expecting a tough round-of-16 encounter against in-form Elena Rybakina, who has reached four WTA Tour finals already this season, but the world No. 17 withdrew from the tournament through injury.

Barty was to face Garbine Muguruza for a semi-final spot after the Australian Open runner-up saw off Ukrainian youngster Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 6-4.

Swiss fourth seed Bencic cruised past Yulia Putintseva 6-4, 6-3 and was due to face Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarters after the Russian veteran was also the beneficiary of a walkover after teenager Amanda Anisimova pulled out.

Belarusian ninth seed Aryna Sabalenka thrashed Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-0 to set up a clash with China’s Zheng Saisai, who knocked out seventh seed Kiki Bertens.

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title: Hsieh, Strycova ease into Doha semis


title: World Business Quick Take

content_text:
INDIA

Smart meters to aid utilities

The nation’s nationwide roll-out of 250 million smart power meters, aimed at supporting ailing utilities and bolstering reliable electricity supply, would cost about 1.5 trillion rupees (US$20.94 billion), a government estimate showed. The prepaid meters are designed to improve billing and collection, which are the most basic problems facing the country’s ailing distribution companies. These utilities, mostly controlled by their state governments, lose money from poor billing and theft, which often leads to them delaying payments to generators and depriving customers of reliable supplies. The meters would raise enough revenue to cover the costs and lead to some savings for state power distributors, the government said.

BANKING

Standard to buy back shares

Standard Chartered PLC plans to buy back US$500 million of shares while saying that the COVID-19 outbreak and the softer Hong Kong economy would depress revenue this year and force it to delay a key profit target. The slump in Asia, which accounts for the majority of the bank’s business, would likely contribute to revenue growth this year falling below the bank’s medium-range target of 5 to 7 percent, the bank said in a statement yesterday. While it expects those factors to be transitory, they would also delay its ability to achieve a return on tangible equity target of 10 percent by next year, it added. It said it would review the potential for a further buyback when it completes the sale of its stake in Indonesia’s PT Bank Permata.

AIRLINES

Delta reduces SK flights

Delta Air Lines Inc on Wednesday said that it would temporarily cut flights to and from South Korea from 35 US weekly flights to 15, citing global health concerns related to the COVID-19 outbreak as US airlines grapple with lagging travel demand. From tomorrow through April 30, Delta is suspending service between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Seoul-Incheon. It would also reduce to five times weekly its services between Seoul and Atlanta, Detroit and Seattle through April 30. Its new service from Seoul-Incheon to Manila, previously scheduled to begin on March 29, would now start on May 1. Separately, JetBlue Airways Corp said that starting yesterday through March 11, it would suspend change and cancel fees for new flight bookings for travel completed by June 1. It said that the policy “is designed to give customers confidence that they will not be charged any JetBlue fees for changes or cancelations later given evolving coronavirus concerns.”

AUTOMAKERS

Tesla sales down in China

Registrations of new Tesla Inc vehicles in China plunged 46 percent last month from a month earlier as the Lunar New Year holiday and the COVID-19 outbreak kept vehicle buyers away. Last month, 3,563 Teslas were registered, down from 6,643 in December last year, industry data showed. Of last month’s registrations, 2,605 were for cars built in China. While Tesla had bucked the trend in China’s waning electric-car market in the previous two months, last month’s drop shows the US brand is not immune to industry challenges. China’s auto market is headed for a third straight annual decline as the outbreak exacerbates a slump started by an economic slowdown and trade tensions. In total, deliveries of new-energy vehicles from automakers to dealerships tumbled 54 percent last month, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.

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content_text:
Clooney ‘saddened’ by Nespresso child labor allegations

‘WORK WILL BE DONE’:A UK documentary filmed children picking coffee beans and hauling sacks on six Guatemalan farms believed to supply the firm
George Clooney said that he is “surprised and saddened” by the alleged discovery of child labor on farms used by coffee giant Nespresso, the brand for which he has long served as ambassador.

The Oscar-winning actor and director, who during school holidays worked on his own family’s tobacco farm in Kentucky, vowed that “work will be done” to improve conditions after a UK Dispatches documentary, due to air next week, filmed children picking coffee beans and hauling sacks on six Guatemalan farms believed to supply Nespresso.

“Having grown up working on a tobacco farm from the time I was 12, I’m uniquely aware of the complex issues regarding farming and child labor,” Clooney said in a statement. “Clearly this board and this company still have work to do. And that work will be done.”

In response, the company, which is part of Swiss conglomerate Nestle and advertises its coffee as ethically sourced, has launched a “thorough investigation” into its farms in Guatemala and suspended all purchases from the problem plantations.

“Nespresso has zero tolerance of child labor,” Nespresso chief executive Guillaume Le Cunff said in a statement. “It is unacceptable. Where there are claims that our high standards are not met, we act immediately. Any issues we uncover will be dealt with diligently and firm action will be taken.”

In his statement, Clooney, who has been the public face of the coffee company for 14 years and sits on Nespresso’s sustainability advisory board, said he was “enormously proud of the success of [Nespresso’s] efforts” in “improv[ing] the lives and livelihoods of farmers all around the world.”

However, he said that investigative journalism played an “imperative” role in pointing out Nespresso’s failures and that more needed to be done to bring the company in line with its ethical standards.

“The check and balance of good corporate responsibility lies not just with the company itself, but also independent journalists like [Dispatches reporter Anthony] Barnett to hold everyone’s promise to account,” he said.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Abe orders Japanese public schools to close next week

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday called on public schools nationwide to close from Monday next week to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

“The government considers the health and safety of children above anything else,” Abe said. “We request all primary, junior-high and high schools ... across the nation to close temporarily from March 2 next week until their spring break.”

“Efforts to prevent the spread of infections among children are being made in various areas,” Abe added.

The spring break for public schools usually starts in late March and runs run until the start of the new school year in April.

However, Japanese Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Katsunobu Kato has said that the measures would not apply to daycare facilities, Kyodo News reported.

Many public elementary schools and junior-high schools in Hokkaido were closed yesterday after the prefecture’s governor requested that they be closed for about a week.

Thirteen new infections were reported in Hokkaido yesterday.

Osaka earlier yesterday had announced it would close its kindergartens, elementary and junior-high schools from tomorrow for two weeks.

Authorities have said that the coming two to three weeks would be critical in determining whether they can stem the outbreak of the virus, which has infected nearly 200 people in the country and been linked to the deaths of three.

“It’s extremely important to prevent one patient cluster from creating another and we think we should take thorough measures,” Abe said at a Cabinet-level meeting on the virus.

Japan is at a “crossroads” in its bid to prevent a major COVID-19 outbreak and might need to reconsider the Olympics if domestic transmissions are not brought under control, an expert advising the government has warned.

Norio Ohmagari, an infectious disease specialist, told reporters in an interview that he believes measures being taken by the government could still prevent the virus from spreading more widely, but that the next three weeks would be critical.

“We are now on the crossroads for the containment of the COVID-19 ... within our country,” said Ohmagari, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Japan’s National Center for Global Health and Medicine.

However, Ohmagari, who helps advise the government, defended the measures, including requesting — but not ordering — the cancelation of major events, and encouraging teleworking and off-peak commuting.

“If we keep going with what we are doing right now, we do have [the] significant possibility for the containment or the elimination of this COVID-19,” Ohmagari said.

However, he conceded that there is still significant uncertainty, which has cast a shadow as Tokyo gears up to host the Olympics from July.

Ohmagari said that he would want to see domestic transmissions of the virus brought under control before the Games.

“We have to see the situation at least three weeks from now,” he said. “If we can contain the secondary transmission within the country ... I think that’s a very good sign, and it’s a very good signal for us to decide ‘go’ for the Olympics and Paralympics.”

However, if infections are continuing domestically, authorities will face a “big, big decision,” he added.

“If there is a significant outbreak or ... a pandemic of this kind of infectious disease, we really have to think about holding this kind of large event, is it feasible or not?” Ohmagari said.

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title: EVERYDAY ENGLISH

content_text:
B : Weren’t you worried about catching the COVID-19 virus in the movie theater?

A : A little, but I was willing to take a risk to watch the movie on the big screen. Anyway, the movie theater had implemented a “seat separation policy.”

B : A what?

A : There were empty seats between each seat reservation.

B : 你不擔心會在電影院感染新型冠狀病毒嗎？

A : 有一點，但為了在大螢幕上看這部電影，我還是願意冒這個風險。反正，那間電影院還實行「座位分隔法」。

B : 什麼分隔法？

A : 就是每一組訂票的客人之間都用空的座位隔開。

English 英文:

Chinese 中文:

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taiwan-subdivisions: 仁德區 南區 臺南 大林 大同 臺南市

title: Highways and Byways: Taiwan’s ‘military village cuisine’

content_text:
Restored air force officers’ dormitories in Tainan’s Shueijiaoshe Cultural Park.Photo: Steven Crook

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Tainan, the nation’s political capital and its largest settlement between the mid-17th and late-19th centuries, is the most Taiwanese of cities. Yet even here, the political and human tsunami which hit Taiwan after World War II left marks which are still visible.

Between late 1945 and the final few days of 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) lost the Chinese Civil War that his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had been waging against Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) communists, an estimated 2.2 million Chinese soldiers, officials and civilians were reassigned — or moved voluntarily, or fled in great haste — to the island. At this time, the local-born population of Taiwan was less than seven million.

Those holding or hoping for government jobs gravitated toward Taipei, while members of the armed forces and their families were housed in military dependents’ villages (juancun, 眷村) near bases all over Taiwan. Some of these villages had been built during the 1895-1945 period of Japanese rule; others were constructed hastily to accommodate the influx.

A significant minority of Taiwanese now in their fifties, sixties or seventies grew up in the military dependents’ villages. They were raised by mothers who spoke Mandarin or Chinese dialects, rather than Taiwan’s local languages, and often cooked the specialties of their native provinces.

Chen Yu-jen (陳玉箴), an associate professor in the Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature at National Taiwan Normal University, has written that the typical military dependents’ village was “a relatively closed space where various Chinese dishes were preserved… For the villagers and their descendants, such relatively independent living conditions provided a safe environment where they could maintain their languages, customs, and collective memories of mainland China, as well as their food. Those who lived in these villages preserved many food habits and customs from their hometowns, including eating habits and festival dishes.”

Getting there

Ten Red 4 (紅4) services each day set out from Tainan Bus Station, stopping at Tainan TRA Station and Dalin New Village before terminating at Chimei Museum. City bus #5 is more frequent and can also be boarded at Tainan TRA Station. If you’re traveling to Tainan on the high-speed train, look for the H31 shuttle bus.

However, it wasn’t always possible or practical to replicate recipes the Mainlanders brought with them. To some extent, what’s now known as “military dependent’s village cuisine” (juancuncai, 眷村菜) is actually an attempt to achieve Chinese flavors using Taiwanese ingredients.

Some of those who’d fought on the KMT side in the 1940s ended up near an airfield 6km south of Tainan’s city center. Built in the mid-1930s by the Japanese for civilian purposes, it became a major air force base. Between 1957 and 1979, US Air Force units were stationed here. What local people call Tainan Airport (臺南機場) continues to have a dual military-civilian function, with regular flights to Taiwan’s outlying islands and to a few destinations in East Asia.

What was known as Second Air Force New Village (二空新村), a short distance east of the airport in Rende District (仁德區), was flattened some years ago. Dalin New Village (大林新村) in South District (南區) disappeared even earlier — but that neighborhood remains one of the best places in Tainan to seek out “Chinese” foods and hear Mandarin spoken with “old Mainlander” accents.

Dalin New Village occupied a good part of what’s now Sinsheng Borough (新生里), a subdivision that stretches less than 1km from Tainan Martyrs Shrine (臺南市忠烈祠) in the northeast to Tainan City Sports Park (臺南市立體育公園) in the southwest. The grounds of the shrine are never busy, and the doors of the main building have been locked each time I’ve been here. If you’d like to take a look, it’s on the corner of Datong Road Section 2 (大同路二段) and Jiankang Road Section 1 (健康路一段).


title: De Bruyne leads late rally as City outplay Real 2-1

content_text:
Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus, right, scores past Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois in their UEFA Champions League last-16 first leg in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday.Photo: AP
Kevin de Bruyne on Wednesday orchestrated a dramatic Manchester City comeback as they stunned Real Madrid 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu to put one foot in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

Madrid looked on course to edge a cagey contest after Isco’s smart finish early in the second half, but De Bruyne teed up Gabriel Jesus in the 78th minute and then tucked away a penalty five minutes later.

A pulsating finish saw Sergio Ramos sent off for preventing Jesus from going clear and Madrid’s captain will now be banned for the second leg at the Etihad Stadium on March 17.

City’s two away goals would make them heavy favorites to go through, even if manager Pep Guardiola was quick to discourage complacency.

“It’s still not over,” Guardiola said. “If there is one team that can overcome this, it is this club [Real Madrid], with their experience and their history.”

“We know the situation,” Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane said. “We have to go there and win.”

Madrid have now won only one of their past five games, with El Clasico against Barcelona in La Liga to come on Sunday.

“We are on a bad run, but we have to get ourselves out of it,” Zidane said. “Sunday is a chance to change.”

Guardiola sprung a surprise by picking De Bruyne up front and leaving Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho all on the bench.

“We played without a proper striker because of the way they defend,” Guardiola said. “They are so aggressive down the middle and when that happens you have to make the pitch wide.”

His gamble paid off handsomely, even if Nicolas Otamendi made the mistake that led to Isco’s opener while an injury to Aymeric Laporte meant that Fernandinho had to be introduced midway through the first half.

Laporte must now be in doubt for Sunday’s EFL Cup final against Aston Villa.

Guardiola on Tuesday said that Manchester City’s two-year Champions League ban, pending appeal, imposed by UEFA for breaching financial fair play rules would not act as a spur for his players.

However, it was on the minds of traveling fans, who were singing against European soccer’s governing body from almost the first minute.

The opening half was tentative, with both teams’ priority to stifle and City content to concede possession, so long as Jesus and Riyad Mahrez could race away on the break.

Jesus cut inside Raphael Varane, but shot straight at Thibaut Courtois and, on the stroke of halftime, the Brazilian came close again, this time Ramos blocking and Fede Valverde hacking away off the line.

Real should have scored when Karim Benzema’s header was palmed out by Ederson, but Vinicius Junior slipped when about to tap in from close range with the goal at his mercy.

City enjoyed their best spell after the break. Casemiro carelessly conceded possession and De Bruyne tore away, feeding Mahrez, who cut in and curled wide. Jesus drove another shot at Courtois.

Zidane considered a change and Gareth Bale was warming up when Madrid took the lead. Otamendi failed to control a Rodri pass and Vinicius broke, with Kyle Walker and Fernandinho rushing to meet him.

They left Isco free behind them and Vinicius picked him out, giving the Spaniard a simple finish.

The hosts smelled an opportunity for a second as Dani Carvajal weaved through and Ramos’ volley was deflected over by Fernandino.

Bale came on for Madrid and Sterling for City. Shortly after, De Bruyne’s clipped cross was too high for Ramos at the back post and Jesus’ header beat a weak right hand from Courtois to equalize.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Consumer confidence slips this month over COVID-19

Consumer confidence this month declined, shrinking at a limited pace amid COVID-19 concerns, a survey released yesterday by National Central University showed.

The consumer confidence index was down 1.73 points from a month earlier to 83.93 points, as 32 people have been diagnosed with the virus, including one death, and more than 100,000 others have been quarantined.

The sub-index on stock investment confidence reported the biggest fall of 2.6 points to 65.5 points, holding relatively resilient, compared with drastic drops caused by US-China trade tensions last year, the monthly survey found.

Investor sentiment might fall further as the survey was conducted between Tuesday and Friday last week before stock market slumps on Wall Street and in Taiwan this week, National Central University research center director Dachrahn Wu (吳大任) said.

Exchanges worldwide have fallen after confirmed cases in South Korea and Italy jumped, as COVID-19 continues to spread to other countries.

Local shares could see wild swings next month when companies shed light on the severity of the supply chain disruptions on their revenue for this month and beyond, Wu said.

The employment outlook fell a fractional 0.05 point to 86.65 points, mainly as the job market is a lagging indicator and needs time to show a reaction from the virus, Wu said.

Travel restrictions have slowed the resumption of factory operations in China and created a serious labor shortage, the economist said, adding that the situation could turn around if the virus hurts end-market demand.

Some Taiwanese firms are moving manufacturing bases home from China to avoid tariff hikes on Chinese goods and help bring down unemployment, Wu said.

However, service-oriented companies — such as restaurants, retail stores, hotels and airlines — have suspended or downsized operations to grapple with an abrupt decline in business, which could dim the outlook for the job market next month and in April, Wu added.

The confidence measure on the economy dropped 1 point to 92.85 points, while the reading on household income fell 1.25 points to 96.25 points, the survey showed.

Unpaid leaves, pay cuts and job severances could sap consumer spending, though that has been limited at the moment, Wu said.

The gauge on durable goods purchases weakened 1.2 points to 111.05 points, indicating that Taiwanese remain keen about buying real estate, Wu said.

Most people believe COVID-19 would be contained ahead of summer, as the 2003 SARS outbreak was, and would go ahead with property purchase plans, he said.

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title: US Congress votes to make lynching a hate crime

content_text:
Sixty-five years after 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi, US Congress has approved legislation designating lynching as a hate crime under federal law.

The bill, introduced by US Representative Bobby Rush and named after Till, comes 120 years after Congress first considered anti-lynching legislation and after dozens of similar efforts were defeated.

The measure on Wednesday was approved 410-4 in the US House of Representatives and now goes to the White House, where US President Donald Trump is expected to sign it.

The US Senate unanimously passed the legislation last year.

It designates lynching as a federal hate crime punishable by up to life in prison, a fine or both.

Rush, whose Chicago district includes Till’s former home, said that the bill would belatedly achieve justice for Till and more than 4,000 other lynching victims, most of them African Americans.

Till, who was black, was brutally tortured and killed in 1955 after a white woman accused him of grabbing her and whistling at her in a Mississippi grocery store.

The killing shocked the nation and stoked the civil rights movement.

“The importance of this bill cannot be overstated,” said Rush, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “From Charlottesville to El Paso, we are still being confronted with the same violent racism and hatred that took the life of Emmett, and so many others. The passage of this bill will send a strong and clear message to the nation that we will not tolerate this bigotry.”

US Representative Bennie Thompson, who represents the area where Till was abducted and murdered, called the anti-lynching bill long overdue, but said: “No matter the length of time, it is never too late to ensure justice is served.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer used similar language to urge the bill’s passage.

“It is never too late to do the right thing and address these gruesome, racially motivated acts of terror that have plagued our nation’s history,” Hoyer said, urging lawmakers to “renew our commitment to confronting racism and hate.”

US Representative Karen Bass, the Congressional Black Caucus chair, called lynching a lasting legacy of slavery.

“Make no mistake, lynching is terrorism,” Bass said. “While this reign of terror has faded, the most recent lynching [in the US] happened less than 25 years ago.”

US senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker applauded the House passage of the bill, which they cosponsored along with US Senator Tim Scott.

The three are the Senate’s only black members.

“Lynchings were horrendous, racist acts of violence,” Harris said in a statement. “For far too long Congress has failed to take a moral stand and pass a bill to finally make lynching a federal crime. This justice is long overdue.”

US Congress has failed to pass anti-lynching legislation nearly 200 times, starting with a bill introduced in 1900 by then-US representative George Henry White, the only black member of Congress at the time.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Philippines marks Ash Wednesday with no-touch rite

People in the Philippines marked Ash Wednesday with a bow and a sprinkling of dust instead of a cross being daubed on their foreheads, as Asia’s bastion of Catholicism guarded against the spread of COVID-19.

Leaders of the Philippine Catholic Church urged priests to adapt the rite in order to reduce the risk of fanning a contagion that has killed more than 2,700, mostly in China.

Since the start of the epidemic, which has resulted in three confirmed cases and one death in the Philippines, churches have also discouraged worshippers from holding hands during mass.

“It makes me feel safe,” 19-year-old student Wendy Tamidles said.

She was among thousands of people, some wearing masks, who lined up at Baclaran church in Manila for services on Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the run-up to Easter, and includes Catholics having crosses drawn in ash on their foreheads.

The Philippines is overwhelmingly Catholic, with about 80 percent of its people said to be believers.

Its unique brand of the religion also includes gruesome annual re-enactments of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Local church officials have also “strongly recommended” that Catholics do not kiss or touch the cross during Good Friday services, which is usually common practice.

“We are being cautious so that the coronavirus won’t spread,” Baclaran rector Victorino Cueto said.

For at least one participant, 62-year-old Roberto Moreno, the no-touch policy for Ash Wednesday had no effect on the meaning of the day.

“The message is the same: we came from ash and to ash we shall return,” he said.

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taiwan-subdivisions: 通霄 中和

title: Ten more firms investments approved

content_text:
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday approved applications by 10 companies to invest a total of NT$10.9 billion (US$359.4 million) as part of a government program to encourage investments by small and medium-sized enterprises.

The investments bring the total investments as part of the program to NT$72.6 billion, it said.

Steelmaker Chien Shun Steel Co Ltd (建順煉鋼) is to invest the largest sum at NT$6.8 billion to acquire smart steel processing equipment at its plant in Miaoli County’s Tongsiao Township (通霄).

The investments are to help it adapt to an ever-changing market environment, the ministry said.

Chien Shun also plans to set up a wastewater treatment facility, as well as a waste gas recycling center, it said, adding that the company would offer 126 job opportunities.

Food ingredient manufacturer Mingtal Chemical Co Ltd (明台化工) plans to invest more than NT$1 billion to establish an automated production plant to expand its presence in Asian markets, while Rong Shin Industrial Co Ltd (榮興工業), which makes engine silencers for lawn mowers, plans to invest NT$1.1 billion to relocate part of its production from China as it continues to target the US market.

Traditional manufacturers — Jih Shing Enterprise Co Ltd (記欣企業), Ourad Safety Co Ltd (得森科技), Sam Metal Co Ltd (山畝金屬), LeadTech International Co Ltd (禾新國際), Auto Skill Industrial Co Ltd (昱鋒實業), Je-Hung Co Ltd (傑晃公司) and an unnamed company — that make products from industrial safety masks to precision stamping dies are to invest between NT$50 million and NT$400 million each.

In related news, the ministry on Tuesday approved KMC Kuei Meng International Inc’s (桂盟國際) application through a separate program to invest NT$800 million as it seeks to expand local production capacity.

KMC, the world’s largest bicycle chain maker, made the investment in response to the effects of the US-China trade dispute on the bicycle industry, the ministry said, adding that the company would recruit 30 local professionals.

It also approved First International Computer Group (大眾集團) subsidiary Ubiqconn Technology Inc’s (攸泰科技) application to invest NT$500 million to expand its plant in New Taipei City’s Zhonghe District (中和)to lower the effects of US tariffs on Chinese production.

Through a third government program, auto parts supplier Koso Co Ltd (統亞電子) and Hiwin Group’s (上銀集團) Matrix Precision Co Ltd (邁萃斯精密) are to invest NT$500 million and NT$3 billion respectively to set up smart manufacturing facilities.

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title: Tennis world lauds ‘legend’ Sharapova after her retirement

content_text:
Novak Djokovic hailed Maria Sharapova as a “legend” with “the mind of a champion” after the Russian superstar on Wednesday announced her retirement from tennis at age 32.

Five-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 Sharapova called time on her career after losing a long-term battle with shoulder trouble and having amassed a total of 36 WTA titles, spending 21 weeks on top of the rankings and with a personal fortune estimated at US$300 million.

“Her impact on the sport, not just women’s tennis, but tennis in general, was great. It still is great,” world No. 1 Djokovic said in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he made the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

“She’s a very smart girl, someone that I know very well for a long time. She has the mind of a champion, someone that never gives up. She’s shown that especially in the last five years,” he said.

“She had a lot of obstacles and difficulties, especially with her injuries and everything that she had to endure in order to give herself at least another chance to play competitive tennis,” Djokovic said.

“For someone that has won five Grand Slams and has been No. 1 of the world, a legend of the sport. She should be proud of everything she has achieved,” he added.

US legend Billie Jean King said that Sharapova had been a “great champion” ever since becoming an overnight sensation as a 17-year-old Wimbledon champion in 2004.

“From the day @MariaSharapova won her first #Wimbledon title at age 17, she has been a great champion. A 5x major champion and a former World No. 1, her business success is just as impressive as her tennis achievements. Maria, the best is yet to come for you! #MissYouMaria,” 12-time major winner King said on Twitter.

Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon winner who defeated Sharapova in the 2011 final at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, praised the Russian’s “hard work and fight.”

“It was a pleasure to share the court with you @MariaSharapova. We always had great battles when we played and I have so much respect for your hard work and the way you always fight for everything,” the Czech said on Twitter. “You have achieved a lot in your life so far and I know this is just the start.”

Men’s world No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was only five when Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004, said that many of the Russian’s rivals can only be envious of her success.

“I think many people are jealous of the career that she had,” said the Greek, who is also playing in Dubai this week. “Obviously she was behind Serena, another great athlete. I would say after Serena she’s probably the best.”

“She had a really good career with great victories, great achievements in tennis. I think she added a lot to our sport,” he added.

Women’s Tennis Association chairman Steve Simon said: “She will be greatly missed by her millions of fans around the world, but I know this will also mark an exciting new beginning for Maria as she now focuses on her many business ventures, charitable activities and other outside interests.”

Sharapova’s coach, Riccardo Piatti, said on Twitter: “It’s been an honor to have worked with such an amazing athlete and person. I’ll miss her on court and outside.”

Olympic champion Monica Puig praised Sharapova for helping in relief efforts when Puerto Rico was devastated by a hurricane in 2017.

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content_text:
Juventus’ Rodrigo Bentancur, right, heads the ball over Olympique Lyonnais’ Moussa Dembele in their UEFA Champions League last-16 first leg in Decines-Charpieu, France, on Wednesday.Photo: AFP
Cristiano Ronaldo drew a blank as a Lucas Tousart goal on Wednesday handed Olympique Lyonnais a surprise 1-0 win over Juventus in their UEFA Champions League last-16 first leg in France.

Midfielder Tousart netted in the 31st minute to give Lyon a lead to defend when they head to Turin, Italy, for the return leg on March 17.

The goal came with Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt off receiving treatment, but it was just reward for an excellent first half by a Lyon side enduring a mediocre campaign.

They then survived late Juventus pressure to claim their finest European result since defeating Manchester City in last season’s group stage.

“It was a top-class first-half performance from us. It was much harder in the second half, but I was happy with how we hung in there,” Lyon coach Rudi Garcia said.

“I said to the boys that when you’re at home in the first leg, it’s very important not to concede, and now we need to go and score there. We must remain humble, it’s only halftime,” he added.

Maurizio Sarri’s side have genuine ambitions of winning a trophy that has evaded Juventus for almost a quarter-century, but they could not claim a precious away goal, with Paulo Dybala seeing a late effort disallowed.

“In the first half, it was not the Juve that we know. We didn’t get going in attack. I am struggling to understand certain things,” said Sarri, who thought his team could have had two penalties.

“We didn’t do enough given this was a Champions League match, but fortunately we still have 90 minutes to turn it around,” he added.

The match went ahead before a full house at Groupama Stadium, including about 3,000 Juventus supporters allowed to attend, despite calls from some French politicians to block their access amid fears about the spread of COVID-19.

Those fans, and the Juve squad, would have crossed the Alps with confidence. The Serie A leaders arrived as overwhelming favorites against a Lyon team looking like possibly the weakest left in the competition.

The visitors’ attack was led by a Ronaldo in fine shape, with the 35-year-old having scored in all nine appearances this year and netting 19 times since early December last year.

He and his club — beaten in five Champions League finals since last lifting the trophy in 1996 — are in a hurry to succeed in this competition, but they did not play like contenders to go all the way.

Bidding to win a Champions League knockout tie for the first time in a decade, it was Lyon who quickly gained the upper hand, with new signing Bruno Guimaraes outstanding in anchoring the midfield.

Karl Toko-Ekambi, another new signing, headed off the bar from Houssem Aouar’s corner midway through the first half. It was a warning to Juve of what was to come.

Sarri’s team went temporarily down to 10 men after De Ligt was left stricken, blood streaming from a head wound, following a collision in Lyon’s area.

With the Dutchman off, Lyon pounced. Aouar burst into the box from the left and teed up Tousart to score from close range.

With the heavily bandaged De Ligt back on, Lyon continued to threaten, Toko-Ekambi twice firing off target.

Juventus sent on Gonzalo Higuain and Aaron Ramsey in the second half and started to push Lyon back.

Nevertheless, they struggled to create chances, with Ronaldo rarely looking like adding to his tally and having a late penalty appeal rejected.

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title: Tousart gives Lyon edge over subpar Juve


title: Virus Outbreak: Taiwan shares prevention tech at APEC

content_text:
Taiwan shared how it has employed technology to fight the spread of COVID-19 at an APEC meeting in Malaysia, winning praise from member states, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

After Chile gave up hosting last year’s APEC summit and climate summit due to social unrest, Malaysia took over hosting November’s APEC summit.

Since Feb. 3, preparatory meetings have been taking place in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

A Taiwanese delegation, led by Department of International Organizations Director-General Bob Chen (陳龍錦), participated in a meeting of APEC senior officials from Thursday to Saturday last week, department Deputy Director-General Sun Chien-yuan (孫儉元) told a regular news briefing in Taipei yesterday.

As an example of how Taiwan is assisted by technology in fighting the virus, Sun said that the government can check people’s National Health Insurance data to see if they have recently traveled to any virus-affected areas.

Taiwanese can use mobile apps to instantly get updates on the virus, information about virus transmission, and mask inventories at local drugstores and pharmacies, Sun added.

The nation’s researchers are using big data to expedite the development of drugs for treating COVID-19, he said.

Trade, investment, reform in APEC, business mobility and sustainability were the top issues at this year’s meeting, Sun said, adding that representatives from member states also expressed concern over public health, agricultural cooperation and energy.

To mitigate financial losses in the tourism industry due to the virus, representatives from Thailand suggested that APEC’s Health Working Group, Emergency Preparedness Working Group and Tourism Working Group collaborate in evaluating the effects of COVID-19 on tourism in the Asia-Pacific region and devise measures to counteract them, Sun said.

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title: China criticizes US over ‘attack’ on UN IPR body nominee

content_text:
A Chinese ambassador on Wednesday ripped into the US for an “attack” on Beijing’s candidate to head a UN agency that monitors and tracks intellectual property rights (IPR) such as patents, trademarks and industrial designs — a lucrative and crucial part of the growing digital age.

The showdown over the leadership of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) amounts to the latest face-off between the US and China.

The comments by Chinese Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Chen Xu (陳旭) laid bare rising tensions over an alleged US campaign to prevent veteran WIPO official Wang Binying (王彬穎) from becoming director-general of the agency.

“The United States is turning this election into a political game. The United States has no candidate of its own, yet it tries every means to block Ms Wang Binying and even takes this venture at its top diplomatic agenda,” Chen told reporters at a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

“It is sad that the United States has gone so far as to warn some of the medium and small countries not to vote for China, or they will face consequences, such as weakened relations with the United States or losing the World Bank and IMF loans,” Chen added.

“The United States attack on China’s candidature, China’s contribution, in the areas of IPR, is not only unfair, it’s irrational,” he said.

A WIPO coordination committee is set to select its nominee for director-general at a closed-door meeting on Wednesday and Thursday next week, before the agency’s general assembly makes the final decision in May.

The assembly has never rejected a coordination committee nominee since the WIPO was created in 1967.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo two weeks ago said that the US was “tracking” the WIPO election “very, very closely.”

“We are going to make sure that whoever runs that organization understands the importance of enforcing intellectual property rights across nations and across boundaries,” he said on Feb. 13. “You should know that we’re engaged in lots of conversations to make sure that whoever is ultimately selected has respect for property rights, and the rule of law in the context of intellectual property rights.”

US Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Director Peter Navarro on Sunday went even further in a column in the Financial Times, saying that international intellectual property rules “underpin the innovation economy.”

“The US believes that giving control of WIPO to a representative of China would be a terrible mistake,” Navarro wrote. “China is responsible for 85% of counterfeits seized by US border officials; and Chinese IP[R] theft costs the American economy between [US]$225-[US]$600 billion annually.”

He alleged a Chinese “gambit to gain control over the 15 specialized agencies of the UN.”

He noted that China already has leadership of four of those, while no other nation leads more than one.

Chen dismissed that charge.

“It’s not our strategy to intentionally to seek the dominance in terms of numbers. It’s a natural process,” he said.

He also criticized the US for having “turned their back” on multilateral cooperation, citing withdrawals from international organizations such as UNESCO and the Human Rights Council.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Confirmed cases ‘tip of iceberg,’ vice president says

NO CLUSTERS:Taiwan, which will always need to stop diseases from other nations, has done a good job of containing the coronavirus, Vice President Chen Chien-jen said
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 are only the tip of the iceberg, as some patients only exhibit mild or no symptoms, Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday, when sharing responses given in an interview with Japanese media.

Chen yesterday wrote on Facebook that he received interview questions on Wednesday at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei from the Japanese-language Sankei News about Taiwan’s experience in dealing with COVID-19, the nation’s push for participation in the WHO and his reaction to China’s response to the virus.

Taiwan has done a good job of containing the virus, said Chen, an epidemiologist by training who took office as minister of health in May 2003, during the SARS epidemic, and served until Feb. 1, 2005.

The nation’s confirmed cases can be traced to three sources: Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan, Taiwanese businesspeople returning from China and spreading the virus to family members, and Taiwanese travelers returning from China, Hong Kong and Macau, he said.

Taiwan has not developed cluster infections, such as the Shincheonji religious group in South Korea or the Grace Assembly church group in Singapore, he said.

Chen attributed Taiwan’s low number of COVID-19 cases to experience from the SARS epidemic.

“The Centers for Disease Control and the Central Epidemic Command Center have an experienced chain of command providing a swift response, as Taiwan will always be faced with the challenge of diseases coming from other nations,” he said.

With many Taiwanese working in China and due to a large number of Chinese tourists, the government was prepared to see a high number of COVID-19 patients entering the nation, like during the SARS epidemic, he said.

Asked about criticism that Taiwan is overreacting by asking travelers to pass through infrared fever screening systems, Chen said that there are many diseases and medical conditions that could spread.

“If travelers coming to Taiwan are healthy and we remain healthy, it will be a win-win situation for everyone,” Chen said.

Asked about China’s policy of locking down cities to contain the virus — which the WHO has highly praised — Chen said that the idea is not bad for quarantining infected people in a distinct location, but that it was hurriedly announced and became very complicated when many were not prepared.

“To be honest, we got very limited information about the so-called lockdown,” he said. “What was the situation before and the situation after the lockdown? We weren’t informed.”

The decision to lock down cities carries significant economic and security costs, Chen said, adding that it would be better to implement disease-prevention measures when there is an infection cluster, rather than locking down cities after an outbreak has become very serious.

Asked what suggestions he would offer the Japanese government, Chen said he believed that Japan has also handled the situation well, although the greatest challenge for Japan was the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

During the SARS epidemic, Taiwan maintained exchanges with Japan, while other countries would not collaborate with Taiwan because it was kept out of the WHO, he said.

“While Taiwan is not a member state of the WHO, it works harder than many of its members in advancing public healthcare,” he said.

Taiwan could have offered constructive advice early last month about the situation in Wuhan, China, if it was allowed to join the WHO, Chen added.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Premier approves special budget items

ALL-INCLUSIVE:Ho Chi-kung said the daily compensation aims to make up for lost personal freedom, so quarantined minors and parents would be eligible for redress
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Ho Chi-kung, first right, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday about the budget created under the Special Act on COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Restoration, as from left, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Chu Tzer-ming, Executive Yuan spokesperson Kolas Yotaka and Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung, look on.Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday approved proposed items in a NT$60 billion (US$2 billion) budget created under the Special Act on COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Restoration (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例) passed on Tuesday, including compensation totaling NT$1.82 billion for people placed in quarantine and those who need to take leave to care for quarantined family members.

The special budget would be sourced in equal portions from surplus revenue from previous fiscal years and loans, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) told a news conference in Taipei.

Disease prevention, which accounts for NT$19.6 billion of the budget, would cover the costs of hospitals isolating people being screened for COVID-19; compensation to hospitals that are forced to suspend operations due to confirmed cases or as a result of receiving patients who test positive for the disease; the procurement or expropriation of resources necessary for disease prevention; general disease-prevention work; and the compensation for people quarantined or taking care of quarantined family members.

Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Ho Chi-kung (何啟功) said that the NT$1.82 billion sum was determined by multiplying daily compensation of NT$1,000 per person by the estimated 130,000 recipients over the course of 14 days during which compensation would be paid.

However, people who are paid by their employers while under quarantine or on leave would not be eligible for the compensation, he added.

The actual amount of daily compensation per person would be determined on March 10, as the act stipulates that agencies must introduce accompanying regulations within two weeks of its passage, but it would not fall below the minimum daily wage of NT$800, Ho said.

As the compensation aims to make up for the personal freedom sacrificed for disease prevention, minors who are quarantined at home, as well as their parents on leave to take care of them, would also be eligible to receive compensation, he added.

Should the number of people eligible for the compensation exceed 130,000, additional redress would be paid out from the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s budget for grants and subsidies, which totals NT$9.2 billion for the current fiscal year, DGBAS Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) said, reassuring the public that all eligible applicants would receive compensation.

The items earmarked to bail out sectors affected by the coronavirus make up the remaining NT$40.4 billion of the budget, including recovery plans for tourism (NT$5.4 billion); compensation to hoteliers (NT$1.5 billion); subsidies to airlines and airports (NT$4.29 billion); coupons to be issued by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to spur domestic spending (NT$2 billion); and subsidies to the cultural and creative sectors (NT$800 million), the DGBAS said.

The Ministry of Culture has proposed setting aside NT$300 million from its budgeted NT$800 million to subsidize performance and exhibition venues whose business has suffered due to the virus, Chu said, adding that it would determine before March 10 how much would be set aside for coupons, which would also be redeemable at performance and exhibition venues.

The proposed budget is to be sent to the Legislative Yuan for review.

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people:
朱澤民
蘇貞昌
Kolas Yotaka


title: Tindering for votes

content_text:
This undated handout image obtained on Wednesday courtesy of Rhiannon Payne shows her Bumble profile photo.Photo: AFP
Days ahead of the Iowa Caucuses vote, Rhiannon Payne was on the Bumble dating app — not to find a partner but to press her case for her candidate, Elizabeth Warren.

Payne, a 28-year-old digital communications consultant, flew from San Francisco with a friend to volunteer for the Warren campaign and the two women came up with the idea while sitting in a hotel room.

“I was tired and bored and looking at Bumble, and I saw all these potential voters, all these guys I was swiping through,” she said.

Payne, promoting herself as a “bad bitch” for Warren, politely deflected several requests for dates, but said most of the men who contacted her were “polite and receptive,” and that the experience was positive for the campaign effort.

The Iowa experience was not the first use of dating apps for political campaigns seeking to reach voters on digital platforms, especially younger adults. At least two women drew media attention in 2016 for using their Tinder profiles to make pitches for Democrat Bernie Sanders.

Stefanie Duguay, a professor at Canada’s Concordia University who has researched “off label” uses of dating apps, said there were signs they could be useful for political campaigns.

“I found that a lot of the time, Tinder’s expected use — dating and hooking up — informed or complemented their campaigns,” she says. “There would be an element of flirtatiousness or they would draw on users’ perception of Tinder as a digital context for intimate exchanges.”

Jen Winston, a 31-year-old New Yorker, said she used the premium version of Tinder, allowing her to change her location on the app, to speak with voters in Georgia and North Dakota about candidates in the 2018 election. The connections led to “in-depth conversations” with several voters and may have helped motivate them, she said.

“I don’t find it deceptive because we should all be talking about politics,” Winston said. “I was just having conversations the same way I would do on a date.”

Winston, Payne and others reported being banned for campaigning, but app policies leave some wiggle room.

A Tinder statement said the service encourages “meeting new people and engaging in conversations with people from all walks of life... these conversations often involve political policies, specific candidates, causes and more. We encourage this as long as they remain respectful, human and free from spam.”

Bumble also said politics may be acceptable: “Our users are more than welcome to discuss topics that are important to them... [but] if users copy and paste the exact same message to several matches, they’re likely to be banned for spam-like behavior.”

FERTILE TERRITORY

Dating apps have grown in popularity in the US in recent years, making them fertile territory to connect with voters. A recent Pew Research Center report showed 30 percent of US adults have used an app or dating service — a figure that grows to half among adults under 30 years old and people who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual.

New York congressional candidate Suraj Patel in 2018 encouraged supporters to use dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble, Hinge or Grindr to “talk to as many people as possible,” in a strategy called “Tinder banking.” A North Carolina congressional candidate, Patrick Register, used his own Tinder profile as part of his unsuccessful campaign.


content_text:
The remains of a teenager who had been missing for two days have been found in the lions’ enclosure at a safari park in Pakistan, officials said.

The skull and bones of 18-year-old Muhammad Bilal were discovered when staff went to feed the animals on Wednesday, Lahore Safari Park deputy director-general Chaudhry Shafqat said.

His family later ransacked parts of the attraction to protest what they said was incompetence by park authorities, police said.

Members of Bilal’s family declined to comment at the park, too upset to speak to reporters.

Shafqat said that the park had “more than enough safety measures in place,” questioning whether Bilal had been killed before his body ended up in the enclosure.

“We are still wondering how he crossed the protective fence, which is quite high, and entered the lions’ field,” he said, adding that the young man had been missing for two days.

“I think the police will also investigate whether the man himself climbed the fence and went inside or someone threw his dead body inside for the lions to eat,” he said.

He said Bilal’s family told him and the police that Bilal had gone to the park to see one of his uncles who worked there.

Bilal’s family and neighbors attacked offices at the attraction, smashed windows and damaged vehicles, police official Najeeb Awan said, adding that they also blocked a highway and demanded that the government initiate criminal proceedings against the park’s management.

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title: Remains of missing teen found in lions’ enclosure


content_text:
Financial sector last month boosts China exposure

A SURPRISING PLAY:Local banks’ exposure to China totaled more than NT$1.6 trillion at the end of last month, but the FSC told lenders to prepare funds to cover bad debts
The nation’s financial services companies last month unexpectedly increased their combined exposure to China last month amid the COVID-19 outbreak, marking the first increase in the past six months, Financial Supervisory Commission’s (FSC) data released yesterday showed.

The combined exposure of the banking, insurance, and securities and futures industries advanced 1.12 percent at the end of last month from a month earlier to NT$1.94 trillion (US$63.96 billion), the commission said.

“It seems that some companies increased their investment in China last month, maybe by buying dips in the Chinese stocks or other Chinese yuan-denominated bonds,” the commission told a news briefing.

Local banks’ exposure to China totaled NT$1.66 trillion as of the end of last month, an increase of NT$16.5 billion from the end of last year, which could be due to a mild increase in their investment, Banking Bureau Chief Secretary Phil Tong (童政彰) said.

Their aggregate lending to China remained flat month-on-month, Tong said.

Although few credit rating agencies have predicted that nonperforming loans in China would surge this year amid the outbreak, the FSC has asked local banks to enhance their monitoring of credit costs and loan quality, Tong said.

The banks are expected to review the financial strength of debtors in different industries and regions, he said.

“However, we do not encourage banks to recover loans without properly evaluating the risks,” he added.

Exposure to China accounted for 46.4 percent of the banking sector’s net worth last month, up from 46 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of last year, but still down from 48.7 percent in the third quarter, the commission’s data showed.

The FSC has asked lenders to set aside more funds to cover potential bad debts, requiring them to prepare an allowance for bad debts equal to at least 1.5 percent of their loans offered in the Chinese market, more than the 1 percent in regular cases, Tong said.

Local securities firms’ exposure in China rose NT$3.3 billion to NT$18.73 billion, as some of them raised their investment in yuan-denominated fixed incomes, the Securities and Futures Bureau said.

Local insurance companies’ exposure totaled NT$266.7 billion as of the end of last month, up NT$1.9 billion from a month earlier as companies took more yuan-denominated deposits, it said.

“So far, it is difficult to forecast whether the companies would cut their exposure this month and how long the spread of the virus would continue to affect their decisions,” Tong said. “We have to continue monitoring.”

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title: Philippines does not need US: Duterte

content_text:
Philippines does not need US: Duterte

‘WE CAN DO IT’:Manila notified Washington two weeks ago that it intends to end the Visiting Forces Agreement, which allows US forces to train in the Philippines
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said that the nation’s forces could fight insurgents and Muslim extremists without US military help, in a defense of his decision to terminate a security pact with Washington.

Duterte also said that he would stick to a decision made early in his presidency — when he was enraged by then-US president Barack Obama’s criticism of his deadly anti-drug crackdown — that he would not visit the US.

Duterte has often criticized US security policies, while praising China and Russia since taking office in mid-2016 for a six-year term.

US President Donald Trump has invited Duterte to join a meeting he is to host for ASEAN leaders in Las Vegas, Nevada, next month.

Duterte has better relations with Trump than with Obama, but his remarks supported an earlier statement by his spokesman that he would not attend the Las Vegas meeting.

“Do we need America to survive as a nation?” Duterte said. “Do we need ... the might and power of the military of the United States to fight our rebellion here and the terrorists down south, and control drugs? The military and police said: ‘Sir, we can do it.’”

“If we can’t do it, we have no business being a republic,” he said. “You might as well choose. We can be a territory of the Americans or we can be a province of China.”

The Philippine government notified the US two weeks ago that it intends to end the Visiting Forces Agreement, which allows US forces to train in large numbers in the Philippines, in the most serious threat to the two nations’ 69-year treaty alliance.

The termination takes effect after 180 days unless both sides agree to keep the agreement. The waiting period allows the allies to renegotiate contentious terms of the 1998 agreement.

The accord allows the entry and temporary stay of US forces, along with ships and aircraft, for joint training with Philippine troops.

The maneuvers include annual drills that Philippine security officials have credited with helping beat back communist insurgents nationwide and militants in the south of the nation.

The agreement specifies which nation has jurisdiction over US troops who are accused of crimes while in the Philippines, a sensitive issue in the former US colony.

US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has called the decision by Manila “unfortunate.”

However, Trump reacted dismissively.

“If they would like to do that, that’s fine. We’ll save a lot of money,” Trump said.

Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin Jr, who signed the notice of termination at Duterte’s direction, has proposed a review of the agreement to fix contentious issues instead of abrogating it.

Duterte threatened to terminate the agreement after Washington reportedly canceled the US visa of a loyal ally, Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who was linked to human rights violations when he enforced the president’s deadly anti-drug crackdown as national police chief in 2016.

Duterte gave the US a month to restore Dela Rosa’s visa, but US officials have not publicly reacted to his demand.

Thousands of mostly poor suspects have been killed under Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.

Duterte on Wednesday rejected what he said was the portrayal by some US officials of his administration persecuting a detained opposition senator and being incapable of investigating extrajudicial killings.

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title: FX losses exceed NT$22bn

content_text:
Foreign exchange losses for local life insurance companies last month totaled NT$22.2 billion (US$731.95 million), similar to a year earlier, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) data showed.

Insurers last month booked NT$50.1 billion in foreign exchange gains as the monetary valuation of their foreign currency-denominated financial investments advanced with the New Taiwan dollar depreciating by 0.5 percent against the US dollar, the data showed.

However, those gains were eroded entirely by hedging losses of NT$75.1 billion, which consisted of hedging costs of NT$15.2 billion and a loss of NT$59.9 billion in their programs, the data showed.

To hedge against exchange-rate fluctuations, life insurers usually buy foreign currency-denominated hedging programs, such as currency swap or non-delivery forwards, a two-party currency derivatives contract, the commission said.

Some of the hedging tools are designed against the rising exchange rate of the NT dollar versus the greenback, which made them vulnerable to the depreciation of the NT dollar, the commission said.

“That the valuation losses of those hedging tools was larger than the foreign exchange gains might suggest that the life insurers did not have a good hedging strategy,” an official said.

“To lower the hedging burden, companies need to precisely forecast the timing of the strengthening or weakening of the local currency, which is difficult,” the official said.

Overseas investment plays an important role in life insurers’ portfolios, as they pursue high investment returns in foreign markets given a low benchmark rate in Taiwan.

Life insurers’ combined assets totaled NT$29.8 trillion, 59 percent of which were foreign currency-denominated, or NT$17.7 trillion, the FSC said.

Despite the losses, life insurers’ combined pretax profit last month totaled NT$23.3 billion, an increase of 406.5 percent from a year earlier, as the valuation of their financial investments rose with the TAIEX surging before the Lunar New Year, the commission said.

Life insurance firms and property insurers’ combined net value spiked 53.5 percent annually to an all-time high of NT$2.12 trillion as of the end of last month, it said.

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title: Five killed in US brewery shooting

content_text:
A gunman on Wednesday killed five coworkers at one of the best-known breweries in the US before turning the weapon on himself in the latest burst of mass gun violence in the nation.

More than 1,000 employees were at the Molson Coors brewing complex in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when the early-afternoon tragedy occurred, Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales told reporters.

He said officers found the suspect, a 51-year-old local man, dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Morales later said the suspect was a Molson Coors employee.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said five other people, all workers at the facility, had been killed.

“They thought they were gonna go to work, finish their day, and return to their families,” Barrett said at a news conference.

US President Donald Trump earlier gave the first official word of the toll.

“A wicked murderer opened fire at a Molson Coors brewing company plant, taking the lives of five people, a number of people wounded, some badly wounded,” Trump said at a news conference at the White House.

US media, including ABC News and the local Fox affiliate, reported that the shooter had been fired earlier in the day from the beer giant, which owns the Coors and Miller brands.

The local CBS affiliate said that the shooter appeared to have stolen the name tag of another employee, then returned to the office complex with a gun, but the New York Times quoted US Representative Gwen Moore, whose district includes Milwaukee, as saying the gunman was an employee who was in uniform.

Molson Coors, a Canadian-American company, said it was cooperating with the police department.

“Our top priority is our employees,” it said.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quoted the husband of a brewery employee, Lasonya Ragdales, as saying that she was informed by the company of an active shooter on the premises, and was sending him text messages while locked in a room with coworkers.

“We are a family here at Molson Coors in Milwaukee, and this is an unthinkable tragedy for us,” company president and chief executive Gavin Hattersley said at a news conference.

The scene of the shooting is known locally as the “old Miller” brewing company, Morales said, and has been around for 165 years, Barrett added.

Democrats, who control the US House of Representatives, have made gun control one of their priorities, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that he would only bring a gun bill to the floor if it has presidential backing, but Trump has given no clear preference.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered condolences to the Milwaukee victims and called out McConnell.

“The American people are tired of leader McConnell’s deadly obstruction,” Pelosi said. “House Democrats will continue to join them to advance a drumbeat of action across the country until McConnell takes up these critical bills and we end the gun violence epidemic once and for all.”

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content_text:
How India can get growth back on track

Increasing urbanization would boost salaries, revive the housing market and provide
a cheap labor force, giving recapitalized banks more opportunities to lend
India has more than one-sixth of the world’s population and is still a poor nation, so what happens in India is incredibly important for the welfare of the human race.

For a long time, good things were happening in India.

Cautious pro-business reforms in 1980s were followed by the dismantling of much of the nation’s overbearing regulatory state in the 1990s and 2000s. At the end of a long boom, India was five times richer per capita than in 1980.

Although the gains tended to go to a small slice of the population, India managed to make great strides against extreme poverty. It is no longer the nation with the largest number of very poor people — that dubious distinction goes to Nigeria. Development has meant food, shelter and sanitation for hundreds of millions of Indians.

However, this good news is old news. The nation has entered a major economic slowdown: The growth number probably understates the magnitude of the slump.

Industrial production has shrunk over the past few months, as has the production of capital goods. Electricity generation has also slowed by more than GDP growth.

A series of interest-rate cuts has failed to stop the decline. India has real interest rates of minus-2.2 percent, lower than other developing Asian countries, suggesting that monetary policy is not going to be the answer.

The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has since last summer been engaging in structural reforms — cutting taxes, opening up the nation to more investment and privatizing industries — but, although these might help in the long run, they have failed to stem the recessionary tide.

Diagnosing the cause of the crisis has been difficult. In a new paper, economists Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman argue that the root of the problem is not a shortage of aggregate demand, or even Modi policy blunders such as demonetization, taking currency out of circulation.

Instead, imbalances in the nation’s growth model have led to a buildup of bad assets in the financial system, they said.

Before the financial crisis of 2008-2009, India’s exports were growing robustly, but in about 2011-2012, when export growth slowed as a result of the crisis, investment fell, corporate profits were squeezed and business loans began to go bad, they said.

A rise in troubled loans on bank balance sheets should have caused a recession, but India’s economy was saved by a combination of falling oil prices, a boom in shadow banking and government stimulus.

These gave the economy a lift by causing consumption to rise while also creating a housing bubble, the economists said, but banks became ever-more exposed to real estate.

Now, India’s housing bubble has burst, with prices starting to fall as unsold inventory piles up, Subramanian and Felman said.

That is adding to the stock of bad loans on bank balance sheets — which had never really recovered from the souring of corporate loans a decade earlier — while also putting stress on the shadow banking system.

This was the cause of last year’s abrupt drop in lending, they said.

So to get India’s economy going again, bank balance sheets need to be cleaned up. Modi has been merging government-owned banks, but there is much more that can be done.

Similar to what the US Federal Reserve did in the US after 2008, the Reserve Bank of India should engage in quantitative easing to purchase loans from banks and shadow banks.

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title: How India can get growth back on track


content_text:
Undaunted by events, TIFA still going on

COVID-19 might have caused some foreign groups to postpone plans to perform in Taiwan, but the National Theater Concert Hall and the National Taichung Theater are going ahead with their annual arts festival
Bulareyaung Pagarlava’s latest work for his Bulareyaung Dance Company, Not Afraid of the Sun and Rain, will be performed from April 17 to 19 in the National Theater in Taipei as part of the Taiwan International Festival of Arts.Photo courtesy of Kao Hsing-tsung

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The National Theater Concert Hall (NTCH) planned an exciting 17-production line-up to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Taiwan International Festival of Arts (TIFA), which was created to showcase the latest developments in contemporary performing arts around the world along with the best of Taiwanese artists and troupes.

It chose “To Inspire. For All.” — the future starts now” as the theme, the premise being that creating art poses intellectual challenges for both artists and audiences, which can propel them into the unknown and explore new possibilities.

Then the COVID-19 outbreak in China happened, and the resulting travel and entry restrictions imposed by many countries has led to the cancelation of some programs, as foreign troupes said they were having difficulty getting the necessary insurance to travel, or were worried about quarantine measures that might create problems for their tour schedules.

Potential audience members have also been worried about sitting in theaters, even with the precautions the National Performing Arts Center announced for its venues.

However, at present, the NTCH — and the National Taichung Theater, which has its own TIFA schedule starting next week — are going ahead with their festivals, albeit with almost weekly updates on changes and cancelations, with full refunds or exchanges offered for performances that have been dropped.

The latest update was announced on Wednesday: Germany-based Rimini Protokoll’s Nachlass — pieces sans personnes, which had been scheduled to begin on Wednesday next week at the National Experimental Theater and was already sold out.

The company is still coming, but with just five members of its tech team instead of the seven planned, and the shows scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday have been canceled. The run has been extended until March 14.

The 90-minute work, which explores the zone between life and death, sees audience members moving through eight immersive spaces at eight-minute intervals as voices, images and objects tell the stories of eight people’s final farewells.

While the absence of some of the foreign companies is a loss, there are still several locally produced shows that are worth looking forward to that will not be affected, unless the government decides to close public venues the way the Hong Kong government forced the cancelation of this year’s Hong Kong Arts Festival.

Among the highlights are A thousand stages, yet I have never quite lived (千年舞臺，我卻沒怎麼活過), created by director-screenwriter Ong Ken-sen (王景生), visual artist Chen Chieh- jen (陳界仁), photographer Chang Chao-tang (張照堂) and performed by Wei Hai- min (魏海敏) in the National Theater from April 10 to 12; Bulareyaung Pagarlava’s latest work for his Bulareyaung Dance Company (布拉瑞揚舞團), Not Afraid of the Sun and Rain (沒有害怕太陽和下雨) from April 17 to 19 at the National Theater; Moon River.2(月球水2.0), a coproduction by the Taipei Dance Forum (舞蹈空間) and the all-male Japanese dance company The Condors from April 24 to 26 in the National Theater; and the National Symphony Orchestra’s (國家交響樂團) LU & Kit (牧之神．森之靈) at the National Concert Hall on March 14.

Other traveling shows still in the works include Julien Gosselin’s Players, Mao II, The Names, a marathon nine-plus hours production on April 3 and 4 at the National Theater that is based on three Don DeLillo novels that examine terrorism. Ludovico Einaudi’s Seven Days Walking concert will be performed on April 18 at the National Concert Hall.


content_text:
Taiwan’s tabloid ‘Next Magazine’ to cease publication tomorrow

《壹週刊》明日起停刊 狗仔文化衝擊台灣

A man reads the last issue of the print edition of Next Magazine in Taipei on April 4, 2018.
一位男士翻閱《壹週刊》紙本版最後一期，二○一八年四月四日於台北市。Photo: CNA
照片︰中央社
The Taiwanese version of Next Magazine has confirmed that it will cease online publication starting tomorrow — less than two years after stopping its print edition in 2018 due to constant financial losses. In a statement, the publisher attributed its closure to the “operational transformation” of its parent company, Hong Kong-based Next Digital Ltd.

Following its success in Hong Kong, the tabloid magazine launched the Taiwanese version in 2001. Over the past almost two decades, it has changed the media scene in Taiwan by introducing a “paparazzi” culture. In recent years, the weekly was hit by the rise of the Internet and went fully digital to save costs.

However, the magazine’s readership has been eroded by new competitors such as Mirror Media, a tabloid weekly founded by former Next Magazine president Pei Wei in 2016. After its closure, subscribers can either ask for a refund or a transfer of their subscription to the online edition of Apple Daily, a sister newspaper of the magazine.

(Eddy Chang, Taipei Times)

台灣《壹週刊》近日證實，線上版於明日起停刊——距離紙本版因連續虧損於二○一八年停刊還不到兩年。在一則聲明中，出版商把收攤原因歸咎於母公司香港壹傳媒「營運轉型」的需要。

該八卦雜誌在香港成功崛起後，於二○○一年正式推出台灣版，在過去將近二十年間，更因引進「狗仔」文化改變台灣媒體生態。該週刊近年來受到網路的衝擊，亦全面朝數位發展以降低成本。

然而，《壹週刊》讀者群持續受到其它新競爭者侵蝕，例如該雜誌前社長裴偉於二○一六年所創立的《鏡週刊》等。在雜誌停刊後，現有訂戶可要求退費，或改訂姐妹報《蘋果日報》電子版。

(台北時報張聖恩)

companies: Apple 蘋果

countries: 台灣 香港


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: US, S Korea cancel drills due to virus

RED ALERT:Joint military exercises have been deferred ‘until further notice’ after Seoul declared a ‘severe’ alert level following a spike of more than 500 new infections
Workers spray disinfectant as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19 in the Munjeong area of Seoul yesterday.Photo: EPA-EFE
The US and South Korean militaries yesterday postponed upcoming joint exercises due to a COVID-19 outbreak as the Asian country reported more than 500 new cases, taking its total to 1,766.

The decision to delay the training was made after Seoul declared its highest “severe” alert level over the virus, the Republic of Korea-US Combined Forces Command said, adding that the postponement was “until further notice.”

The US has 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect it against the nuclear-armed North, many of them based south of Seoul at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek — Washington’s biggest overseas military facility.

The security allies have previously scaled back their annual joint military exercises significantly to facilitate nuclear talks with Pyongyang — which condemns such drills as preparations for an invasion — but a command coordination exercise had been planned for this spring.

South Korea has the largest number of virus cases in the world outside of China, where the disease first emerged in December last year and has since spread to dozens of nations.

Yesterday’s increase was the biggest reported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gave a death toll of 13.

More than 80 percent of the South’s cases are in Daegu — the nation’s fourth-largest city with a population of 2.5 million — and neighboring North Gyeongsang Province.

They center on the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a secretive entity often accused of being a cult.

A 61-year-old female member developed a fever on Feb. 10, but attended at least four church services in Daegu before being diagnosed.

Checks have begun on more than 200,000 Shincheonji members after the organization handed over a list to authorities, and the number of cases is expected to increase as a result.

Authorities said that the list handed over by Shincheonji omits at least 70,000 recent recruits, which the sect said could not be given as they were not yet full members.

South Korean Vice Minister of Health Kim Gang-lip yesterday apologized for “causing concern” with the rapid rise.

Officials have urged the public to exercise extra caution, advising people to stay home if they have a fever or respiratory symptoms.

A US soldier stationed at Camp Carroll 30km north of Daegu was on Wednesday put in self-quarantine at his home after testing positive for the virus, the first case among US Forces Korea personnel.

Scores of events have been canceled or postponed as the virus has spread in the world’s 12th-largest economy, from K-pop concerts to the start of the K League football season, while museums and other public venues have closed.

The Bank of Korea yesterday lowered the country’s growth outlook for this year to 2.1 percent, down 0.2 percentage points, citing a contraction in consumption and slowing exports because of the spread of the disease.

The Catholic Church in South Korea said that it would suspend all public Masses at more than 1,700 churches across the country in response to the contagion.

A group of Catholics who returned from a pilgrimage to Israel are one of the cluster infections.

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content_text:
‘They could shut us down tomorrow’: Rappler’s Maria Ressa

The Philippine journalist leading her nation’s war on fake news faces up to 83 years in prison if convicted of all the charges against her
“The toughest part is not knowing whether it’s going to be a normal day, or a not normal day,” said Maria Ressa, speaking by telephone from her office in Manila.

A former CNN bureau chief who spent two decades as an investigative reporter, Ressa is the founder of a news Web site that has found itself on the front line of the global disinformation wars.

Since the summer of 2016, her reporters at Rappler have been engaged in a running battle with paid trolls, influencers, bot armies and fake news Web sites run by supporters of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Launched on Facebook in 2012, before emerging as a full-fledged news Web site with a monthly audience of 12 million, Rappler was among the first publications anywhere in the world to shine a light on how a populist leader could harness social media to win power.

Ressa’s commitment to exposing corruption, propaganda and thousands of extrajudicial killings sanctioned by Duterte in his self-proclaimed “war on drugs” has made her some powerful enemies, but her determination to speak has also won her many allies.

In 2018, she was one of a group of journalists named as Time magazine’s Person of the Year. All of the others lauded by the US journal were at that point either dead or in detention.

Ressa lives every day knowing that both of these fates could befall her.

Security measures have been increased six times at Rappler’s offices in the past year and Ressa has protection at home.

A Princeton University graduate raised in the US, she is a dual national. Returning to the US might be the safest option, but for now, it is not on the cards.

“I hate it, but I can’t leave,” Ressa said. “This time matters. It’s why we do what we do.”

PRISON POSSIBLE

On April 3, Ressa is to learn the outcome of a libel trial brought against her. If she loses, the sentence is a maximum of 12 years: In the Philippines, defamation remains a criminal offence.

Other regime-led prosecutions are pending, for allegations ranging from tax offences to foreign ownership. Ressa, who has been arrested and bailed eight times in the past year, has assembled a formidable defense team of 40 lawyers, including the London barrister Amal Clooney.

If found guilty on all counts, she faces up to 83 years in prison.

“I’m preparing to lose every case here,” Ressa said. “They could shut us down tomorrow, but we will fight everything, both in court and by telling stories. Our fame is our only protection.”

Rappler is not alone in feeling the heat. In a sign that the outlook for independent journalism in the Philippines is fast deteriorating, Philippine Solicitor General Jose Calida on Monday filed a complaint against ABS-CBN, which could lead to the broadcaster losing its license.

The online playbook developed by Duterte, 74, while he was still a city mayor has become familiar.

It is being repeated the world over, with populist leaders from US President Donald Trump to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro adopting its toxic mix of viral disinformation and intimidation of independent media.

In the UK, there are parallels with the tactics leading up to the June 2016 referendum that ended its membership in the EU, and the bullying of the BBC and other media by the team that surrounds British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

However, Duterte’s campaign preceded the Brexit vote and Trump’s election.

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