content_text:
北部一名5歲男童清明連假時跟家人至東部某景點遊玩，回家後竟出現「發燒、呼吸會喘」等症狀，家人帶至某醫院就診後發現，男童不但出現「社區型肺炎」症狀，耳溫也超過37.5度，立即被送往負壓隔離病房，並通報疫情指揮中心篩檢。如今2次篩檢結果出爐，皆呈陰性，後續經院方評估健康狀況可出院後，男童即可返家自我健康管理14天。

據台大醫院「社區型肺炎藥物治療簡介」中指出，社區型肺炎是肺實質急性感染，意指病人在日常生活（如社區活動或家中）所得到的感染，其中可能引起肺炎的病原菌包括細菌（最常見）、病毒或黴菌。

title: 獨／北部5歲男童遊東部後現肺炎症狀 檢驗結果出爐


title: 小熊維尼與韓國大創櫻花季新品登場！造型擺飾超浪漫　水壺長出耳朵萌翻

content_text:
編輯／Emily 圖／翻攝自blog.daiso.co.kr、store.disney.co.jp

櫻花的季節到來，韓國大創與迪士尼小熊維尼合作，推出一系列粉嫩櫻花商品。呆萌的小熊維尼搭配花朵唯美又浪漫，有水杯、文具…等實用商品，也有維尼與小豬的玩偶吊飾和造型擺設，吊飾掛在包上俏皮可愛，擺設放在家裡，還能增添春天氣息。

#造型擺飾

小熊維尼櫻花系列有推出兩款造型擺飾，一款是玻璃罩子造型，裡面是抱在一起的維尼與小豬，兩人站在開花的草地上笑得好開心。另一款是壓克力板擺飾，外圍有一圈花瓣，中間是擁抱的維尼、小豬。

▲玻璃罩子擺飾售價5,000韓元（約台幣122元）、壓克力板擺飾售價3,000韓元（約台幣73元）。

#玩偶吊飾

玩偶吊飾有維尼、小豬兩款，他們的頭上戴了一朵櫻花，整個萌度加倍，掛在包包上可愛又有春天氣息。

▲維尼、小豬玩偶吊飾售價2,000韓元（約台幣49元）。

#水杯系列

如果嫌上面的商品無用，可以考慮水杯系列，一款是有著小熊維尼頭型蓋子的環保水壺，黃色熊耳朵也太Q。

▲小熊維尼頭型水壺售價2,000韓元（約台幣49元）。

另外兩款分別是粉色的櫻花隨行杯和玻璃水杯，看起來唯美浪漫。

▲玻璃杯售價1,000韓元（約台幣24元）、櫻花隨行杯售價3,000韓元（約台幣73元）。

#文具雜貨

喜歡寫手帳本的話，絕對不能錯過可愛的小熊維尼貼紙以及美美的櫻花紙膠帶，快買來裝飾你的筆記本。另外還有磁鐵小書籤、裝禮物的紙袋和AirPods殼吊飾，粉嫩櫻花造型讓人全部都想要。

▲貼紙與紙膠帶組售價3,000韓元（約台幣73元）、磁鐵小書籤售價1,000韓元（約台幣24元）。

▲耳機殼吊飾售價2,000韓元（約台幣49元）、禮物紙袋售價1,000韓元（約台幣24元）。

除了大創有小熊維尼商品，日本迪士尼先前有一款可以依出生時的身高、體重訂做的娃娃，最近推出白色小熊維尼限定款。這隻維尼全身變白，衣服改成金黃色，比原本模樣更可愛，一樣可以客製化身高、體重，並在腳底寫上名字和生日，訂做一隻售價4,895日圓（約台幣1,352元）。

►奇奇蒂蒂變身飯店員工！必備「請勿打擾」門牌 迷你行李箱手機殼萌翻

►迪士尼娃娃變清涼雪酪色系！果汁黃小熊維尼萌度加倍、粉嫩熊抱哥好少女

countries: 韓國 日本


content_text:
佐登-KY(4190)攜手全球加盟商營銷策略應變，今(9)日公告3月自結單月營收1.69億元，月增7.7%%；累計營收5.42億元，年減18.58%。佐登發起「全球門市700間體溫打卡」活動，堅持「封館預約安心服務」穩定會員回店率，另與加盟商達成營運策略連線，攜手抵抗疫情衝擊。截至目前為止大陸門市已復工約9成，4月份大陸醫美活動重新啟動，兩岸專利新品上市，準備迎接母親節檔期旺季。

放眼全球門市，佐登除了直營店，針對加盟商所面臨的營運挑戰，公司除了進行營運策略整合外，藉由雲端會議進行線上教育課程與直播傳達防疫概念，進行防疫商品推動，提升服務品質與產品專業知識，此外更祭出防疫期間加盟進貨方案，與加盟商共體時艱，其成效反應於營收貢獻，較去年同期增加62.73 %。

面對疫情影響，危機處理小組於3月底號召全球門市700間，進行體溫打卡活動，服務人員別上體溫名牌，堅持「封館預約安心服務」，一個時段封館服務1-2位會員，並加強清潔及消毒作業讓需要紓壓的會員安心回店操作課程，線上電商與直播活動持續穩定集團運營。

佐登妮絲表示，疫情期間，線上銷量大幅提升，兩岸近期推出專利美白產品，滿足消費者於夏日到來前的美白保養需求；線下母親節檔期開跑，針對疫情規劃「愛的防護」呼吸道養護課程與全背順氣活力課程，主打健康保養與紓壓效能。另，大陸醫美活動重新啟動，會員陸續恢復約診，於疫情趨穩後，消費者壓抑的報復式消費正陸續展開。

疫情
 佐登妮絲
 營收

title: 佐登妮絲整合營運策略有成 加盟同期逆勢成長62.73%


content_text:
▲萬華分局9日晚間臨檢轄內舞廳及酒店。（圖／突發中心翻攝，下同）

記者邱茀濱／綜合報導

因酒店女公關驚傳新冠肺炎確診個案，中央流行疫情指揮中心今（9）日宣布即起全國酒店、舞廳全面停止營業，何時可恢復營運將視疫情發展決定。為配合政府的措施，萬華分局晚間22時許，由分局長率隊臨檢轄內3家舞廳及酒店。

警政署要求所屬各單位，即日起開始配合實施八大營業場所停業清查，為了我保護國人健康及配合中央政策，萬華分局分局長張隆興今（9）日晚間22時，率隊臨檢轄內舞廳共4家舞廳（新世界音樂城、亞洲舞廳、舞帝有限公司、夜巴黎舞廳股份有限公司）。

夜巴黎舞廳股份有限公司已於108年8月6日辦理停業1年，現改為電影院，因此萬華分局以優勢警力逐一針對（新世界音樂城、亞洲舞廳、舞帝有限公司）3家舞廳臨檢查察，3家業者均配合立即停業並張貼公告，以響應政府防疫政策，防堵疫情擴散惡化，共同抑制疫情蔓延。

最後，萬華分局呼籲於全民共同防疫期間，將針對民眾易聚集場所加強臨檢，防制居家檢疫及隔離人員流連在外，並呼籲民眾儘量避免出入人潮擁擠、空氣不流通的公共場所，配合政府疫情防控措施，以維護國人健康。

►比周年慶還低！～史上第一「濕敷神水」終於補貨了～

title: 酒店、舞廳全面停業！萬華分局長晚間率隊清查轄內業者


title: 涼鞋、休閒鞋合體  德比鞋腳跟鏤空 BURBERRY配件超鬧

content_text:
BURBERRY推出2020春夏灰、黑、色系的潮流配件，包括宛如飛行傘裝備的Cannon腰包、涼鞋和休閒鞋合體的Webb運動鞋，以及繫帶德比鞋，都玩出配件的趣味與幽默。

創意總監Riccardo Tisci上任後，每月17日都會在IG推出限時發售的單品，3月份的粉紅色ECONYL Cannon 腰包也延續到春夏男裝的配件上市，成為多功能Cannon腰包，並搭配標誌性的Horseferry印花、拋光地球儀圖形的拉鍊環，可調整式背帶讓前後穿戴都適宜。重新打造的超纖窄皮革版型Brummell腰包，命名來自十九世紀英國風潮人物Beau Brummell，呼應了春夏季向維多利亞時代致敬的概念，義大利鞣製皮革的扁平腰包，有1個外部後拉鍊口袋、6個卡片夾層，亦可斜垮、後背使用。

全新的Webb運動鞋相當有趣，以運動鞋輪廓搭配皮革扣帶，在硬挺的結構線條中重新演繹休閒鞋，命名來自維多利亞時代著名建築師Aston Webb，包括單色、雙色、格紋以及涼鞋形式的夏季造型。經典的牛津布洛克鞋，採用後繫帶重新設計，也呼應了春夏季的進化命題，以維多利亞的藝術氣息為出發點，致力於未來時裝的創意表現，更別具幽默感。

Horseferry印花塗層帆布Cannon腰包，售價36,900元。圖／BURBERRY提供Horseferry印花塗層帆布Cannon腰包，售價36,900元。圖／BURBERRY提供正面壓縫皮革Brummell腰包，售價31,900元。圖／BURBERRY提供雙色調棉質及皮革Webb運動鞋，售價28,900元。圖／BURBERRY提供雲灰色皮革Brummell腰包，售價31,900元。圖／BURBERRY提供棉質及皮革Webb運動鞋白色，售價28,900元。圖／BURBERRY提供

義大利

countries: 義大利 英國


content_text:
2020-04-10

牡羊座

愛情甜蜜，容易獲得理解。

整體運：★★★★☆

今天需要處理的事情很多，工作繁重，讓你內心苦悶，不過，回到家中另一半的關愛，又能讓你感受到溫暖，重新找到平衡。財運不錯，業務工作者因積極拓展而有機會獲得額外收入。

愛情運：★★★★☆

單身者有機會收到異性朋友的禮物，可望與相互瞭解的異性朋友發展一段戀情。

事業運：★★★☆☆

事業運普通，有好有壞，好事偏向同事間有良性的互動，壞事偏向自己提不起勁！

財運：★★★☆☆

向朋友請教請教吧，他們會是你的指路明燈。

貴人星座：雙子座

幸運數字：6

吉時吉色：17:00-18:00湖水綠

開運方位：正北方向

金牛座

懂得合理分配錢財。

整體運：★★★★☆

與喜歡的人一起共度美好時光，不需要太多言語，也能傳情達意；商務洽談得他人從旁助力，CASE完成得很漂亮，獲上司嘉獎；金錢方面花費不少，好在自己預算充足，用度有方，並無多大經濟壓力。

愛情運：★★★★☆

今日是表達愛意的好時機，有伴侶的人彼此多說些甜言蜜語；單身者可向心儀對象表白。

事業運：★★★★☆

工作上的收穫頗豐，上班族易受到重視，生意人有機會遇到不錯的合作夥伴。

財運：★★★☆☆

金錢進出量頗大，但收入還不錯。

貴人星座：摩羯座

幸運數字：8

吉時吉色：22:00-23:00玳瑁棕

開運方位：正西方向

雙子座

靈感豐富的日子，好好利用。

整體運：★★★☆☆

若想要讓另一半感受到你的情意，不妨動手製作一些小禮物送給對方，既能增進感情又能讓對方有意外驚喜。投資運一般，多與人交流、溝通，才有機會從他人口中得到有用商機。

愛情運：★★☆☆☆

戀愛中人少跟其他異性朋友有接觸，否則會引來情人的不滿及妒意。

事業運：★★★★☆

公關、談判能獲得意外援助，若能更注重細節方面的考量，用人格魅力去吸引對方，效果會更好。

財運：★★★☆☆

小心投資，避免高風險投資。

貴人星座：巨蟹座

幸運數字：5

吉時吉色：12:00-13:00朝霞紅

開運方位：正北方向

巨蟹座

情緒不太穩定，思緒比較混亂。

整體運：★★☆☆☆

今天感情方面有點被動，不想於對方太過接觸，想要有獨處的空間。財運較低落，對於市場沒有什麼判斷力，很難找到合適的切入口，只宜觀望。工作方面運勢普通，任務能順利完成，但沒有什麼突破。

愛情運：★★☆☆☆

已婚者對待另一半顯得較強勢，易引起對方不滿；單身者易被極富個性的異性吸引。

事業運：★★★☆☆

若是能讓自己冷靜下來，解決阻礙其實並不難。

財運：★★☆☆☆

購物時最好離特價、拍賣廣告遠一點，易上當。

貴人星座：水瓶座

幸運數字：2

吉時吉色：08:00-09:00石榴紅

開運方位：東北方向

獅子座

脾氣比較暴躁的一天。

整體運：★☆☆☆☆

今天要注意與同事友好相處，工作上的分歧不要把帶到私人交往上，應分清公與私，以免損傷彼此的和氣。愛情上適合帶另一半出去散散步，買個小禮物，可以適當增進彼此感情。財運較弱，別玩金錢遊戲。

愛情運：★★☆☆☆

單身者有機會遇到個性開朗的異性朋友，彼此有說有笑，雖情愫暗生，但欲戀愛還需努力。

事業運：★☆☆☆☆

今日事業運很背，有氣無力，無精打采的態度可能會使得工作上失誤頻繁。此時也不適合與人計較、爭執，否則會惹來一身腥。

財運：★☆☆☆☆

散財的一天，花錢上特別的衝動，趕快趁著今日把該解決的帳單解決了吧！

貴人星座：雙子座

幸運數字：0

吉時吉色：19:00-21:00燻鮭紅

開運方位：正北方向

處女座

愛情來了就順水推舟。

整體運：★★★☆☆

今天工作上的失誤較多，需冷靜應對才能讓你挽回損失，還能使大家對你刮目相看。抽時間與戀人約會，能感受到對方濃濃的深情。財運很旺，可望贏得不錯的投資機會。

愛情運：★★★☆☆

單身者有機會遇到主動示好的異性，但大多是貪玩、投機型的異性，戀愛應擦亮雙眼！

事業運：★★☆☆☆

事業運不佳，要注意自己的態度，不要莽撞行事，工作上也要細心些，可別草草了事。

財運：★★★★☆

財運不錯，好好把握投資機會。

貴人星座：牡羊座

幸運數字：2

吉時吉色：21:00-22:00檸檬綠

開運方位：正北方向

天秤座

站得高看得遠。

整體運：★★☆☆☆

情人對你說些你並不感興趣的事情，也要耐住性子傾聽才好，莫掃了他的興；莫計較眼下的得失，把目光放長遠點，對投資發展更為有利；適時向需要幫助的同時伸出援手，立即能建立起革命友情。

愛情運：★★★☆☆

單身者有心儀的對象，不妨大膽表白，即使對方拒絕，你的內心也有了定數。

事業運：★★☆☆☆

凡事喜歡一個人靜靜的處理，若是在雜亂的環境下工作會感覺特別的煩，無心做好任何一件事。

財運：★★★☆☆

得財額外管道不多，宜憑技術、實力、勤勞來取得。

貴人星座：金牛座

幸運數字：8

吉時吉色：20:00-22:00象牙白

開運方位：東北方向

天蠍座

注意安全。

整體運：★★☆☆☆

過馬路時切忌橫衝直撞，否則危險係數明顯增加。愛美的女性會因銷售員的稱讚而衝動購買價格不菲的化妝品，造成財運的低落。朋友邀請你去參加派對的機率明顯升高，打扮方面若突出你的個性能為你的形象加分，有機會邂逅夢中情人。

愛情運：★★★☆☆

對另一半別太強勢，多瞭解對方的想法，才能維繫良好的夫妻關係唷！

事業運：★★★☆☆

情緒較低落，容易委屈自己，人前笑口常開，人後卻想得較多，易傷心落淚。

財運：★★☆☆☆

賺取清貴之財，此運宜行正道、賺取乾淨錢。

貴人星座：雙魚座

幸運數字：7

吉時吉色：20:00-22:00琉璃銀

開運方位：正東方向

射手座

充分發揮你的主觀能動性。

整體運：★★★☆☆

異地戀情易遭受外界衝擊，盡量與戀人保持聯繫，表達出你思念之情。財運穩健攀升，在小數額的金錢遊戲上反而易有可觀的收益。沉悶的工作中，因你的一個經典小段子或者小笑話，而使辦公室氣氛漸趨活躍。

愛情運：★★☆☆☆

雙方價值觀的差異會讓溝通失敗，少說兩句會更好。

事業運：★★★☆☆

易受他人的影響而改變初衷，已經決定的事情就放手去做，別四處聽取他人的意見！

財運：★★★★☆

財運平順，適合快打快攻，注意把握進財機會。

貴人星座：金牛座

幸運數字：4

吉時吉色：15:00-17:00象牙白

開運方位：正南方向

摩羯座

人際關係和諧，外力助力強。

整體運：★★★★☆

今天會有被人簇擁的優越感，平時不喜歡親近你的人也很樂意與你接觸，讓你受寵若驚。千萬別飄飄然，冷靜下來好好利用人脈，工作會比預計更順利。財運頗優，先前的投資計劃可在今天落實。

愛情運：★★★☆☆

愛情運普通，想提升戀愛運嗎？多用善解人意的態度去關心心上人吧！

事業運：★★★☆☆

事業運普通，壓力會大一點，可別偷懶，愈是偷懶壓力就愈大，宜虛心接受上司的安排。

財運：★★★★☆

運勢很不錯，適合投資理財，容易有豐厚回報。

貴人星座：射手座

幸運數字：7

吉時吉色：08:00-10:00祖母綠

開運方位：正西方向

水瓶座

順其自然，好財運沒那麼容易跑掉。

整體運：★★★★★

今天更易體會到等待難熬的滋味，已婚者空守居室會覺得生活太平淡，有尋求刺激的強烈想法；得天獨厚的好財運，與合作者的默契可望達到最高點，求財輕鬆；工作辛苦反而覺得充實，很有幹勁。

愛情運：★★★★☆

愛情運挺不錯的，有許多喜悅的事情發生。如果沒有特殊狀況，就自個兒主動創造吧！

事業運：★★★★☆

事業運佳，適合在今日做點文書、計算型的工作；有機會呢可以翻翻書來增加靈感。

財運：★★★★★

今日的財運與事業息息相關，事業上有增資擴充的慾念，順利的財運對於增資有正面幫助。

貴人星座：水瓶座

幸運數字：3

吉時吉色：19:00-20:00艷棗紅

開運方位：正北方向

雙魚座

衝動和率性是一體兩面。

整體運：★★★☆☆

從事翻譯工作的人今天有機會邂逅異域桃花，新鮮感易讓你失去理智，切忌忽視現實問題。工作中容易因衝動而冒犯到同事，但你的坦誠又會讓對方很快原諒你。財運不錯，跟風投資也會獲得盈利機會。

愛情運：★★☆☆☆

今日適合獨處，一個人靜靜的幻想、回憶過去都好，不適合去約會唷！

事業運：★★★☆☆

尋找捷徑的確能縮短到達成功的距離，但投機取巧會適得其反，千萬不要有投機心理。

財運：★★★★☆

財運旺盛。有儲蓄的話，你不妨去做些投資，可望賺到一些意外之財喔！

貴人星座：射手座

幸運數字：3

吉時吉色：04:00-06:00玉米黃

開運方位：正北方向

【更多命理分析，請前往 科技紫微網 】

每日星座運勢

title: 每日星座運勢／水瓶翻翻書增加靈感  愛情運挺不錯

taiwan-subdivisions: 成功 太平 獅子


title: Virus Outbreak: Post office restates mask guidelines

content_text:
Chunghwa Post yesterday reminded the public that while Taiwanese are now allowed to send masks to first and second-degree relatives overseas, export permits are needed to do so, and many nations have temporarily stopped accepting mail from Taiwan.

The company said that 111 nations or territories around the world are not accepting mail from Taiwan due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Italy, Germany, India, the United Arab Emirates, Greece and Hawaii, but international express service providers such as FedEx Corp, United Parcel Service (UPS) and DHL International can still handle such deliveries.

FedEx’s Web site states that it continues to operate to and within impacted areas, as local conditions and restrictions allow, and it is adhering to all regulations and guidelines from government authorities related to the containment of COVID-19.

DHL said it is continuing to deliver goods and packages to China, except for Hubei Province and other locations regulated by the Chinese government, as well as Hong Kong and Macau.

“In order to ensure operational continuity and to keep connecting the world with a high-quality service, effective 1st April 2020, we will temporarily and until further notice levy an Emergency Situation Surcharge to all Time Definite International [TDI] shipments,” it said.

The surcharge would cover part of its increased operating costs and the necessary air network adjustments during the crisis, it added.

UPS said that it was continuing to deliver to locations around the world, where permitted.

Chunghwa Post said many people went to post offices yesterday to inquire about sending masks to overseas relatives, and some did not know that they needed to apply for export permits from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Those who did know about the procedures mostly chose to send their masks via international express delivery or international small packet (ePacket) services, which would help the packages reach their destinations faster, the company said.

The government banned the export of masks until the April 30, but on Monday last week Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) announced that as of yesterday, Republic of China citizens would be allowed to send up to 30 adult masks every two months to close relatives living abroad.

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content_text:
By Lai Wen-hsiu and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Keeping Formosan rock macaques as pets is illegal and poses an infection and diseae risk, which has not changed despite the species’ removal from the conserved animals list, the Taiwan Macaque Coexistence Promotion Association said last week.

The animals remain protected by the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保護法) regardless of their status on the conservation list, the group said.

They should not be hunted, killed, sold or purchased, or kept as pets, and people who breach the rules face fines of NT$60,000 to NT$300,000, the group said.

Any problems with the monkeys should be reported to an animal protection office or other authority, which would resolve the issue, it said.

People would find it difficult to satisfy a macaques needs as a pet, the group said.

In captivity their sources of nutrition are limited and they have less space to move about, the group said.

Cages are usually less than 3 ping (9.9m2), which is woefully inadequate for them, it said.

Social functions, including reproductive urges, are factors that an owner cannot resolve, it said.

Moreover, Macacine alphaherpesvirus 1 (McHV-1) infection is a risk factor for owners, the group said, adding that reported cases of McHV-1 infection in people have all been traced to macaques in captivity.

The group called on people to record suspected situations where macaques are being kept illegally and inform authorities.

Macaques should not have to live in a cage, the group added.

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title: Group warns keeping macaques as pets still illegal


title: Premier approves irrigation bill

content_text:
AGENCIES TO FORM:
 Registered businesses that are found to have discharged effluent into irrigation water would be punished, with NT$600,000 the maximum fine

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday approved a bill, which, if passed, would transform the nation’s 17 irrigation associations into government agencies and give them authority to punish polluters of irrigation water.

The bill was drafted in compliance with an amendment to the Act of Irrigation Association Organization (農田水利會組織通則) that stipulated a new law be introduced to convert the associations into agencies, and govern their assets and staff, Council of Agriculture (COA) Department of Irrigation and Engineering Director-General Hsieh Sheng-hsin (謝勝信) told a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei.

The associations oversee about 60 percent of the nation’s water resources, but do not have authority over polluters, Hsieh said.

Premier Su Tseng-chang presides over a meeting with the heads of the six special municipalities via video link from the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan

Other than shutting factories down, there are no penalties for offenders whose effluent contaminates irrigation water, he said.

Under the bill, only registered businesses that discharge effluent into irrigation water would be punished, with fines from NT$30,000 to NT$600,000.

About 2,300 employees at the 17 associations would be transferred to 17 corresponding agencies, which are to be created by the COA, Hsieh said.

The employees would enjoy benefits equivalent to those for civil servants under separate regulations to be introduced by the council, the draft says.

Should the transition from private entities to public entail the expropriation of land — for example in cases where an association’s premises encroach on private property — the government would pay for the properties, Hsieh said.

Land belonging to an association that has been idle due to outdated irrigation canals would be auctioned, with the income transferred to funds governed by each association to cover their operations, he said.

Asked how the council plans to persuade Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers to back the bill, COA Deputy Minister Chen Tien-shou (陳添壽) said that it would communicate with the KMT caucus to hopefully meet the Oct. 1 deadline to complete the move.

The KMT has been vocal in its opposition to the transition, saying that it is a “pork barrel” policy by the DPP.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: CECC orders hostess clubs, dance halls to suspend operations

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday ordered that all hostess clubs and dance halls suspend operations, effective immediately, as it reported one new case of COVID-19 in the nation.

Preventing community transmission is an important part of the nation’s efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19, Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is deputy head of the center, said at the center’s daily media briefing in Taipei.

The center also called for cooperation from the local governments of the nation’s 22 cities and counties, saying that it would need their assistance in enforcing the closures.

The center reported just one new case of COVID-19, while the number of deaths in Taiwan from the novel coronavirus remained at five.

The new case — the nation’s 380th — is man in his 20s who is a roommate of the nation’s 322nd case, the center said.

He is asymptomatic and went into home isolation on Monday last week, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said, adding that the man was tested for the virus on Monday.

Health authorities have disinfected the university attended by the 322nd and 380th cases, including dormitories and public areas, said Chen, who heads the center.

The school has adopted distance learning until Friday next week, he added.

Local media reports identified the school as National Taiwan Normal University.

The university yesterday said in a statement that it on Wednesday received a notice from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of a second confirmed case of COVID-19 at the school.

Following notification of its first confirmed case late on Monday last week, the university said that it immediately took the necessary precautions and disinfected spaces that had been visited by the 322nd case.

The entire campus was disinfected over last week’s four-day Children’s Day and Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend, the university said, adding that the condition of the 322nd case has improved.

The 380th case is not enrolled in courses at other schools, nor are students from other schools enrolled in any of the classes he attended, it said.

The center has been provided with information about the students and teachers the two cases might have been in contact with on campus to cooperate with contact investigations, the university said, adding that it would continue to cooperate with the CDC and the Ministry of Education.

Under the education ministry’s guidelines, in-person classes at a university campus must be suspended for 14 days in the event of two or more confirmed cases of COVID-19.

As it had already begun school-wide distance learning on Monday, the suspension of on-campus classes is to end on Friday next week, the university said.

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people: 陳時中 陳宗彥


content_text:
The Taipei City Government yesterday started requiring people at public markets to wear a mask and have their temperature taken upon entry, but it would not issue fines, even though New Taipei City does, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said.

The city is to run unscheduled inspections at markets to ensure the measures are followed, which should not be a problem with Taiwan’s ample mask supply, Huang said during a site visit with Taipei Market Administration Office Director Chen Ting-hui (陳庭輝) at Guangfu Market (光復市場) in Xinyi District (信義).

The city is attempting to attract workers through the Taipei Department of Labor to perform temperature checks at market entrances, Huang said.

When asked about whether the city would follow New Taipei City, which fines vendors without a mask, Chen said no, adding that vendors in Taipei have so far been cooperative.

The New Taipei City Government on Wednesday said that market vendors who do not wear a mask at work would be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$60,000 for contravening the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法).

However, Taipei officials are informing visitors and vendors about the rule, but would not enforce compulsory punishments, as the central government does not provide concrete guidelines for enforcement, Huang said, adding that the city would cooperate fully if it does in the future.

The city has faith that mobile vendors would follow anti-epidemic measures, as when it comes to the coronavirus, they are usually “more fearful than all of us,” since they must interact with crowds every day, she said.

Asked whether police would be dispatched to control crowds at night markets, Huang said the markets are usually in large and open spaces, so control would be limited, and it is impossible for the city government to “assign all police forces to do crowd control.”

It is important for the public and shop owners to protect themselves, too, she said, adding that people can take food home, instead of eating at night markets, to avoid crowds.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Taipei requires masks to be worn at markets

taiwan-subdivisions: 信義 光復


title: Yageo’s plan to increase investment approved

content_text:
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday approved Yageo Corp’s (國巨) application to increase its investment in the nation by NT$14.7 billion (US$487.53 million), as part of a program to encourage Taiwanese companies to invest back home.

The company’s decision to almost double the investment to a total of NT$31.2 billion, from the NT$16.5 billion announced last year, is aimed at diversifying its operational risks following disruptions in Chinese production during the COVID-19 outbreak, the ministry said.

As COVID-19 broke out during the Lunar New Year holiday, Yageo, the world’s third-largest manufacturer of multilayer ceramic capacitors, saw utilization rates at its facilities in China’s Suzhou and Dongguan drop from 50 percent to 30 percent, as local authorities imposed strict containment measures.

The company said that it would relocate part of its Chinese production back to Taiwan, as it looks to satisfy clients’ orders and to capture market demand from 5G-related applications and automotive electronics, a company statement said.

Yageo said it would expand production capacity at its plants in Kaohsiung’s Dashe (大社) and Nanzih (楠梓) districts.

Aside from setting up a research and development center, the company said it has started construction of a new plant at the Dafa Industrial Park (大發工業區), which would create about 1,900 job opportunities.

The ministry yesterday also approved an application from Taiwan Lamination Industries Inc (台灣積層工業) as part of another government program that also seeks to boost investments.

The company, which specializes in flexible packaging and multicompound materials, last year applied to invest NT$500 million to set up a new manufacturing facility in Taoyuan’s Jhongli Industrial Park (中壢工業區) to improve production efficiency, it said.

Taiwan Lamination now plans to invest nearly NT$1 billion to install solar panels and industrial clean rooms at its Jhongli plant to create a more environmentally friendly manufacturing process, it said, adding that it would generate more than 20 job opportunities.

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taiwan-subdivisions: 中壢 大社 楠梓


content_text:
Representatives of Taipei’s traditional markets yesterday called on the central government to introduce more comprehensive relief measures for vendors to alleviate the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has caused revenues at traditional markets to fall by an average of about 20 to 40 percent, Muxing Market (木新市場) representative Liu Su-chin (劉素琴) said at a news conference held by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) at its headquarters in Taipei.

Among the vendors at traditional markets, food and beverage stalls have lost the most revenue, Liu said.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) invites representatives of markets to speak at a news conference in Taipei yesterday on the government’s economic stimulus proposals.
 Photo: Shih Hsiao-kuang, Taipei Times

Although traditional markets have been included in the places where the government’s stimulus vouchers can be used, the vouchers would not be distributed until after the pandemic ends, Dongsanshui Street Market (東三水街市場) representative Hsiao Ming-hung (蕭銘宏) said.

The situation continues to worsen and it is unknown when it would end, he said, adding that traditional market vendors are having a tough time surviving.

Chenggong Market (成功市場) representative Chen Chung-ming (陳中明) said that although the government plans on giving people NT$800 in stimulus vouchers, they would be issued as NT$200 vouchers to be spent in four categories of businesses.

Chen said that NT$200 is too small a sum for each category.

Moreover, vendors and consumers at traditional markets tend to be older, and have fewer opportunities to use the vouchers, he said.

To encourage people to visit traditional markets, Xining Market (西寧市場) representative Chuo Wen-shui (卓文水) said the government should subsidize the costs of the supplies and personnel needed to disinfect and clean their premises.

Chuang Chih-tsung (莊志宗), a representative from a national association of traditional markets, said that people not wearing masks when entering the New Taipei City market could be fined NT$30,000 to NT$60,000.

However, the Taipei City Government said it would not fine people.

The new rule would discourage people from shopping at traditional markets, he said.

He urged the government to subsidize traditional markets’ purchase of prevention equipment such as infrared body temperature sensors.

Like taxi drivers and self-employed workers, traditional market vendors should be eligible for NT$10,000 in subsidies per month for up to three months, association chairwoman Pan Ai-yu (潘愛玉) said.

There are 833 traditional markets across Taiwan, with 73,959 vendors, Pan said.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Market vendors request government help

taiwan-subdivisions: 新市 成功


references: Twitter Facebook

title: Virus Outbreak: Government to donate more masks

content_text:
FRIENDS IN NEED:
 The additional 6 million masks are intended for use by medical workers and members of the clergy in friendly countries

Taiwan is to donate an additional 6 million masks to countries hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, including those covered by the nation’s New Southbound Policy, as well as in Europe and the Americas, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday.

It is the nation’s second wave of mask donations after the government last week announced that it would donate 10 million masks to European nations, the US and diplomatic allies, the ministry said in a news release, adding that the donations are aimed at addressing the needs of medical workers and members of the clergy.

Of the first tranche, masks sent to the Netherlands reached Amsterdam on Tuesday, while shipments to other countries, including Taiwan’s 15 diplomatic allies, are en route, it said.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of European Affairs Director-General Johnson Chiang, right, Italian Economic, Trade and Cultural Promotion Office Director Davide Giglio, second left, Papal Nuncio Arnaldo Catalan, center, and European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan chairman Giuseppe Izzo, second right, in an undated photograph hold signs that read: “Italy and Taiwan — Healthy Together” in front of boxes of medical supplies — including goggles, medical caps and protective shields — collected by Catholic groups in Taiwan that are to be shipped to Italy via the Holy See’s representative office in Taipei.
 Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The second wave of donations is being sent to northern, central and eastern European nations; certain US states; Latin American and Caribbean countries; nations covered by the New Southbound Policy; and other countries friendly to Taiwan, the ministry said.

The US is to receive 1 million masks from the second tranche for certain states hit hardest by the pandemic, on top of 2 million previously announced and a promised 100,000 per week, it said.

The ministry did not name which US states would receive the additional masks.

Minister of Foreign Afffairs Joseph Wu, left, and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen shake hands in front of a shipment of masks to the US at the AIT’s compound in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

After the US National Security Council last week tweeted its gratitude to Taiwan for the masks, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday also thanked Taiwan for the donations.

“During tough times, real friends stick together. The U.S. is thankful to #Taiwan for donating 2 million face masks to support our healthcare workers on the frontlines. Your openness and generosity in the global battle against #COVID19 is a model for the world,” he wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the British Office Taipei yesterday posted on Facebook a video showing British Representative to Taiwan Catherine Nettleton and other people clapping for Taiwan’s medical personnel.

After President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Tuesday took to Twitter to give her best wishes to Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday tweeted thanks to Taiwanese for their support, and expressed the hope that Japan and Taiwan would overcome the crisis together.

The government is also discussing a donation with Japan and would make an announcement after talks are finalized, the ministry said.


title: Virus Outbreak: Beijing prohibits studying in Taiwan

content_text:
DETAILS UNCLEAR:
 The University Entrance Committee for Mainland Chinese Students said it is not yet clear how the policy would affect universities in Taiwan

China is to ban its students from applying to study in Taiwan’s schools in the semester beginning in September, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and cross-strait relations, the Chinese Ministry of Education said in a statement yesterday.

Chinese students currently enrolled in Taiwanese universities can apply to remain there, it said.

The policy regarding the admission of Taiwanese students to universities in China remains unchanged, it added.

“The pressing matters at hand include how to address the current obstacles that Chinese students [enrolled in universities in Taiwan] face in returning to the schools to study. It is important to safeguard their legitimate rights,” it said, referring to the Ministry of Education’s Feb. 3 decision to stop Chinese students from returning to Taiwanese universities after the winter break to contain the viral outbreak.

To ensure the education rights of Chinese students, the ministry offered other learning resources, such as online courses, as alternatives.

During a regular news briefing yesterday, Mainland Affairs Council spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said it regrets that China has unilaterally halted Chinese students from studying in Taiwan.

Since Taiwan’s government allowed Chinese students to study in Taiwan from 2011, it has not altered its policy of welcoming Chinese students, he said.

Nearly 8,000 Chinese students have enrolled in Taiwan’s schools, although only 800 are currently in Taiwan, he said.

Universities in Taiwan this month would normally begin accepting applications from Chinese students, and publish the results no later than July, so that they would have ample time to prepare to come to Taiwan before September, University Entrance Committee for Mainland Chinese Students secretary-general Chang Hong-de (張鴻德) said.

The committee and its Chinese counterpart were not aware of the new policy until yesterday, Chang said, adding that the announcement came abruptly.

The committee requested that its counterpart confirm details with the Chinese government, such as how the restrictions apply, so it can better respond to the situation, he said.

Last year, 3,800 Chinese students were admitted to Taiwanese universities, including 800 high-school graduates, 1,500 university graduates and 1,500 graduates from junior college programs, Chang said.

About 40 percent of the Chinese students that apply to graduate schools in Taiwan are already in Taiwan studying for a bachelor’s degree, he said.

It is still difficult to estimate how the new restrictions would affect Taiwan, he added.

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title: Steel industry leery of EU tariffs

content_text:
The EU imposed anti-dumping duties starting yesterday on imports of cold-rolled stainless steel from Taiwan, Indonesia and China, a move that domestic steel manufacturers said could hurt the local industry.

European countries would levy anti-dumping tariffs of 6 to 7.5 percent on imports from Taiwan, 17 percent on imports from Indonesia and 14.5 to 18.9 percent on imports from China, the European Commission said on Wednesday, adding that the punitive measures would be in force for six months and extendable to five years.

The move came after a commission investigation initiated last year found that imports of hot-rolled stainless steel sheets and coils from Taiwan, Indonesia and China were being exported at a lower price than in their home markets, to the detriment of European producers.

The Taiwan Steel and Iron Industries Association said that domestic steel products are subject to the lowest tariffs, proving that there is only a small difference between product prices in Taiwan and Europe.

However, Europe and the US import the most steel from Taiwan, so the EU’s anti-dumping measures could have a significant negative effect on the local industry, the association added.

Anti-dumping rates of more than 50 percent have been slapped on steel products from China over the past few years, but only 18.9 percent has been imposed this year — not significantly different from the tariffs on products from Taiwan, the association said, adding that it expects that local producers would have a difficult time keeping China from grabbing part of their share of the European market.

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content_text:
The nation’s number of furloughed employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic jumped more than 800 over seven days to total 8,700 as of Wednesday, the Ministry of Labor said.

A total of 8,739 workers agreed to go on unpaid leave, up 823 from the end of last month, ministry data showed.

The number of employees on unpaid leave is the highest since February 2012, the data showed.

As of Wednesday, 370 companies had implemented unpaid leave programs, up by 62 companies over seven days, the ministry said.

Most of the companies are small enterprises with less than 50 employees, the ministry said.

The unpaid leave programs typically last less than three months, with workers taking five to eight days of unpaid leave per month, it said.

Hospitality and the food and beverage industry have been the hardest hit, with 2,979 workers on unpaid leave, followed by the metal and electromechanical sector with 2,302 furloughed workers, and the wholesale and retail sectors with 1,072 furloughed workers, it added.

Hospitality and the food and beverage industry have the highest number of employers implementing unpaid leave programs, with 7,916 workers at 308 companies as of Tuesday last week having agreed to go on unpaid leave, up from 3,835 workers at 109 companies as of the middle of March, the ministry said.

The nation’s jobless rate in February — 3.70 percent, up 0.06 percentage points from January — remained relatively stable, despite growing concern over the virus.

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title: Number of furloughed workers in nation tops 8,700


title: US approves Google cable bid

content_text:
LINK TO TAIWAN:
 US authorities denied the company permission to use a direct connection between the US and Hong Kong, due to a significant risk to security

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday approved Google’s request to use part of a US-Asia undersea telecommunications network that is to take data to and from Taiwan under the Pacific Ocean.

Google agreed to operate the Pacific Light Cable Network System link between the US and Taiwan, but was not authorized to use the US-Hong Kong section.

The US Department of Justice on Wednesday urged the FCC to give Google owner Alphabet Inc permission to start using the connection between Los Angeles and Yilan County’s Toucheng Township (頭城).

However, the justice department rejected use of the connection between the US and Hong Kong.

“There is a significant risk that the grant of a direct cable connection between the United States and Hong Kong would seriously jeopardize the national security and law enforcement interests of the United States,” the justice department said, with the decision backed by the US departments of homeland security and national defense.

The FCC is allowing Google to operate the Taiwan link for the next six months, pending a final disposition of the application.

Google told regulators this year that it has “an immediate need to meet internal demand for capacity between the US and Taiwan, in particular to connect Google’s Taiwan data center to Google data centers in the United States and to serve users throughout the Asia-Pacific region.”

Without that “capacity, the value of large, recent capital investments Google has made in the United States is significantly reduced,” it said.

The justice department said that without temporary authority, “Google would likely have to seek alternative capacity at significantly higher prices.”

Google has also agreed to “pursue diversification of interconnection points in Asia,” as well as to establish network facilities that deliver traffic “as close as practicable” to its ultimate destination, the justice department said.

The US has expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. About 300 subsea cables form the backbone of the Internet, carrying 99 percent of global data.

A Facebook affiliate sought FCC approval to use a portion of the cable connecting the Philippines and the US to handle traffic.

Facebook on Wednesday said that it is “navigating through all the appropriate channels on licensing and permitting.”

Construction of the Google submarine cable connecting Taiwan and California was completed at the end of last year, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday, adding that Chunghwa Telecom would have to secure the commissions’ consent before it is allowed to use the infrastructure.

The Google cable is a partnership between Chunghwa Telecom and the US firm, NCC spokesman Hsiao Chi-lung (蕭祈宏) said, adding that Chunghwa in 2017 filed an application to build the cable.

Both have started testing the cable’s reliability, Hsiao said, adding that Chunghwa needs to secure the NCC’s approval to access it.

Officials must ascertain that use of the cable would not present potential threats to national security, which the NCC should take into account when it reviews the telecom’s application, he said.

Lee Ming-chung (李明忠), head of the NCC’s fixed network telecommunications division, said that the primary link of the Pacific Light Cable Network System is the one between the US and Hong Kong.

The one linking Taiwan and the US is a branch, Lee said.

The telecom joined the project amid increasing demand for the bandwidth, he said.

There is about 13,506km of cable in the network, but the telecom did not provide the length of the link between Taiwan and the US in its 2017 application, Lee said.

As the NCC has designated international undersea cables as critical national infrastructure in an amendment to telecommunications regulations, the telecom must ensure that it does not use any communications equipment manufactured in China, he said.

The telecom is also obligated to comply if law enforcement officials submit legal requests to obtain data transmitted through the cable, he said.

Chunghwa Telecom is still conducting tests on the cable, the company said, adding that the countries that have Pacific Light Cable Network System links should seek permission from their authorities to activate them.

The network would make a final announcement on when the cables would begin operations, it said.

Google, Facebook and Pacific Light Data Communication are collaborating on the project.

Google has its largest data center in Asia in Changhua County, which it has been operating since Dec. 11, 2013.

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content_text:
COMPUTERS

Asustek profit drops 31%

Laptop computer maker Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday reported that revenue last month fell 31.05 percent year-on-year to NT$26.36 billion (US$874.24 million). The company’s consolidated sales last quarter fell 17.55 percent year-on-year to NT$70.85 billion. Asustek attributed the decline to the COVID-19 pandemic, which hindered production in February and last month. Nevertheless, shipments last quarter were better than expected due to an increase in demand for PCs, as the pandemic helped boost the growing trend of distance learning and working from home, the company said, adding that it expects the pandemic to continue affecting shipments this month.

COMPUTERS

Acer revenue edges up 2%

PC maker Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday reported that revenue last month edged up 2.2 percent year-on-year to NT$24.07 billion. The company attributed the increase to a rapid resumption of production in China following lockdowns to contain the spread of the coronavirus, as well as a surge in consumer demand for PCs as people increasingly worked and studied from home. The company’s first-quarter sales fell 10.7 percent year-on-year to NT$48.85 billion. Acer said that it would continue to improve and broaden its business portfolio to weather volatile market conditions.

NOTEBOOKS

Compal sales decline 6%

Contract laptop computer maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) yesterday reported that sales last month fell 6.22 percent year-on-year to NT$80.77 billion. Its consolidated revenue last quarter declined 31.95 percent quarter-on-quarter and 13.56 percent year-on-year to NT$182.05 billion, in line with company expectations. Compal said that it shipped 3.7 million laptop units last month, up from 1.6 million units in February as production resumed in China. Shipments last quarter fell 16.1 percent to 7.8 million units from a year earlier, company data showed.

PANEL MAKERS

Virus boosts Innolux sales

LCD panel maker Innolux Corp (群創) reported that revenue last month increased 39.2 percent to NT$19.68 billion from NT$14.13 billion in February. The company attributed the increase to 48.6 percent sequential growth in shipments of TV and computer panels. Innolux’s consolidated revenue in the first quarter increased 15.9 percent year-on-year to NT$50.4 billion. That represented a quarterly contraction of 23.2 percent. Shipments of TV and PC panels fell 22.5 percent to 25.26 million units, worse than the company’s forecast of a high double-digit percentage decline. Separately, rival AU Optronics Corp (友達) reported that revenue last month increased 16 percent, from NT$17.69 billion in February, thanks to a more than 15 percent quarterly increase in shipments of PC and TV panels. The company’s consolidated revenue last quarter fell 19.5 percent year-on-year to NT$53.69 billion.

APPAREL

Quang Viet profit falls 33%

Quang Viet Enterprise Co (廣越), which makes down jackets and garments for brands such as Adidas AG, yesterday said that changes in its product mix led to revenue last month falling 32.66 percent to NT$582.64 million from NT$865.28 million a year earlier. The firm’s consolidated revenue last quarter fell 22 percent to NT$1.84 billion from NT$2.37 billion a year earlier. The firm projected that its annual revenue would fall 10 percent from last year due to the pandemic and foreign-exchange losses.

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title: Taiwan Business Quick Take


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: FSC asks banks to expedite review of small loans

FINANCIAL BURDEN:
 Banks should decide whether to approve loans of less than NT$5 million within 15 days to lessen pressure on firms affected by the pandemic

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has asked banks to expedite the review and processing of loans of less than NT$5 million (US$165,827) to help companies affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Banks should decide whether to approve such loans within 15 working days, the FSC said, adding that it could further reduce the review period to within seven days for loans under NT$1 million.

“Banks usually have a set of procedures for arriving at a decision, such as interviews with applicants, credit checks, collateral appraisal and on-site examination,” a commission official said by phone.

Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo speaks at a meeting of the Finance Committee at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

“We are not asking them to skip any steps as they still need to monitor loan quality. However, we hope they can make a decision faster on whether to approve or reject a loan to lessen the pressure on borrowers,” the official said.

The commission, which last month asked all banks to provide loan extensions for businesses hit by the pandemic, ordered banks to approve the extension within two weeks, but left it to banks to decide on the duration of the extension and the interest rate.

As of Monday, local banks have received 2,322 applications totaling NT$35.18 billion from affected businesses, and approved 510 applications, or a total of NT$7.39 billion in loans, commission data showed.

To provide an incentive, the commission would reward banks that offer the most assistance to affected firms by allowing them to launch new programs or products in the future.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) yesterday said that the measure might not be helpful to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Among the nation’s 1.46 SMEs, 89 percent, or 1.3 million, have never applied for credit, Tseng told a meeting at the Legislative Yuan.

“The interest rate for loans of less than NT$2 million is just 1 percent, which should be attractive to borrowers. We can help enterprises that have never applied for a bank loan,” FSC Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said.

Compared with the state-run banks, privately owned banks have offered less help, approving 117 applications or NT$2.78 billion in loans, accounting for 23 percent and 37 percent respectively of the total, commission data showed.

“It is not that we are less willing to help affected businesses, but as a private company, we have to scrutinize loan applications, as we are under more pressure if our non-performing loan ratio rises,” a bank manager said by phone on condition of anonymity.

If the government eases its regulations on non-performing loan ratios, such as allowing banks to write off bad debts later, banks would be less conservative, he said.

people: 曾銘宗 顧立雄


content_text:
RECESSION:
 Even with unprecedented levels of monetary and fiscal stimulus, the global economy is not likely to return to its pre-crisis trend until at least 2022, experts said

The COVID-19 pandemic is set to rob the global economy of more than US$5 trillion of growth over the next two years, greater than the annual output of Japan.

That is the warning from Wall Street banks as the world plunges into its deepest peacetime recession since the 1930s, after the virus forced governments to demand that businesses close and people stay home.

Although the downturn is predicted to be short-lived, it would take time for economies to make up the lost ground. Even with unprecedented levels of monetary and fiscal stimulus, GDP is unlikely to return to its pre-crisis trend until at least 2022.

Miguel Diaz, who works for the City of Hialeah, hands out unemployment applications to people in their vehicles in front of the John F. Kennedy Library on Wednesday in Hialeah, Florida.
 Photo: AFP

That is a similar timescale to the aftermath of the global financial crisis more than a decade ago, though the recovery could yet prove even more sluggish than economists are predicting.

It underscores the massive task for policymakers, who must deliver enough stimulus to drive the rebound, but avoid reopening their economies too soon and allowing the virus to return.

“Trajectory matters a whole lot,” said Catherine Mann, chief economist of Citigroup Inc, which expects a global hit of about US$5 trillion. “If your trajectory is positive, that is supportive of business confidence and supportive of individuals feeling they can go get a job. That’s a critical ingredient going into the second half of the year and 2021.”

JPMorgan Chase & Co economists put the lost output at US$5.5 trillion, or almost 8 percent of GDP, through the end of next year.

The cost to developed economies alone would be similar to those witnessed in the recessions of 2008-2009 and 1974-1975.

Morgan Stanley said that despite an aggressive policy response, it would be the third quarter of next year before GDP in developed markets returns to pre-virus levels.

Deutsche Bank AG said the “lingering cost and scarring effect” would leave the US and EU economies alone US$1 trillion below pre-virus expectations by the end of next year.

The WTO on Wednesday said that the pandemic could cause a deeper collapse of international trade flows than at any point in the postwar era. The IMF is due to announce its latest forecasts as part of its spring meeting — to be held virtually — next week.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde yesterday said that each month of lockdown is costing the eurozone economy 2 to 3 percent of economic output.

The numbers risk masking the human toll of the crisis. As well as the mounting death count, businesses would lose income and many would be forced to close. Millions of employees would be cast out of work.

The International Labour Organization said this week that more than 1 billion workers are at high risk of a pay cut or losing their job.

“It is going to be temporary, but it is putting stress on everything,” Blackstone Group CEO Steve Schwarzman told Bloomberg Television this week.

Governments will need to coordinate. The Bank for International Settlements has said that disjointed national efforts could lead to a second wave of cases, a worst-case scenario that would leave US GDP close to 12 percent below its pre-virus level by the end of this year.

Berenberg chief economist Holger Schmieding said that governments might need to keep heavy restrictions on travel later this year or next year to prevent the pandemic from recurring.

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title: Virus Outbreak: World economy faces US$5 trillion hit


content_text:
CASH IS KING:
 Cash-rich conglomerates such as Victor Li’s CK Group are in a position to invest, as other firms struggle to survive the COVID-19 crisis, an analyst said

Asian tycoons are looking to snap up assets pummeled by the COVID-19 pandemic at bargain prices, but they are also facing hurdles as more governments seek to deter foreign takeovers of local firms.

Top executives of companies based in China, Hong Kong and Singapore have over the past three months told investors that they are looking for acquisitions.

These executives include Victor Li (李澤鉅), who took over Hong Kong’s CK Group from his father, Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), two years ago, and billionaire Guo Guangchang (郭廣昌), founder of the predatory Chinese conglomerate Fosun Group (復星集團).

Major stock indices in the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region all plunged about 20 percent in the first quarter — their worst rout since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis — making everything from retail chains to hotels and property developers attractive to suitors.

Cash-rich conglomerates such as Victor Li’s CK Group are in a position to invest as others struggle to survive the pandemic, said Jonathan Galligan, group deputy head of research at securities brokerage CLSA Ltd.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for any company with cash,” Galligan said. “If you look at what’s happened in the global market, right now cash is king.”

Victor Li, 55, now chairman of CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd (長和集團), CK Asset Holdings Ltd (長江實業) and Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd (長江基建), on March 19 told analysts that the group’s cash flow and balance sheet are strong, and that the effects of the coronavirus offers “opportunities to look at new acquisitions.”

He did not elaborate.

The market rout has come as Victor Li’s biggest test since his father passed on the baton in May 2018. Li Ka-shing, 91, went to Hong Kong as a refugee, but went on to transform a plastic flower business into a telecommunications-to-ports global empire.

CK Hutchison — the main flagship, whose stock has tumbled 22 percent this year — said that it had as of December last year HK$145 billion (US$18.7 billion at the current exchange rate) in cash and liquid investments.

That is 3.6 times its short-term debt and 1.7 times its debt maturing over this year and next year, S&P Global Ratings said.

The group last year spent US$5.5 billion acquiring assets, including British pub operator Greene King PLC, following about US$15.2 billion of purchases the previous year, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

The chaos triggered by the coronavirus poses another challenge for prospective buyers. Governments are pre-emptively trying to ward off predatory buying, with policymakers from Australia to Spain, Italy and Germany introducing or considering stricter rules to help shield strategically important domestic companies.

The regulatory barriers could make some acquisitions more difficult, far from the days when Chinese conglomerates such as HNA Group Co (海航集團) loaded up on debt and paid top dollar for assets such as US technology firms and European aviation businesses.

“For companies like [Victor] Li’s, they depend very much on acquisitions to grow, and that could be a big challenge in the long term,” University of Hong Kong management and strategy professor Jackie Yan said.

However, Victor Li is no stranger to being rejected by overseas regulators.

Australia in 2018 rejected CK Group’s bid to buy APA Group, an operator of gas pipelines, for A$13 billion (US$8.18 billion at the current exchange rate) on national security concerns.

Had it been successful, that would have been CK Group’s biggest overseas purchase.

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title: Asian tycoons hunt for bargain deals after rout


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Presale property market remains sluggish: survey

The climate gauge for the presale property market in northern Taiwan last month flashed a “blue” light for the fourth month in a row, as transactions remained sluggish amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a report by Chinese-language Housing Monthly (住展雜誌) showed yesterday.

The market sentiment reading stood at 30.7, 1.8 points higher than the level in February, as the sub-indices on new supply and the number of prospective buyers showed a mild improvement, while transactions, advertisement batches and price concessions saw little change, the monthly survey found.

“The findings suggest the market remained in the woods, although the climate gauge stopped losing further ground,” Housing Monthly research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said.

Presale projects totaled NT$50 billion (US$1.66 billion), despite a jump in COVID-19 infections in Taiwan, mainly attributable to people returning from abroad, it said.

Presale projects valued at more than NT$1.5 billion were seen in Taipei’s Zhongshan (中山), Daan (大安) and Xinyi (信義) districts, as well as in New Taipei City’s Sindian (新店) and Jhonghe (中和) districts, the survey showed.

About 700 newly completed homes in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊) and Taoyuan came on the market, it said.

The volume represented a sizable retreat from the same period last year, reflecting a drop in confidence among developers and builders.

The market reported 6,000 advertisement batches to help facilitate deals, quite low for the spring sales season, Ho said.

However, the number of potential buyers saw a mild gain, at 18.9 groups per week last month, compared with 17.9 teams per week in February, it said, adding that 1.6 of them made purchases, compared with 1.5 one month earlier.

Ho said it would be a mistake to interpret the small advance as a sign of recovery, noting that February is usually a low season for the property market and the absence of a concrete improvement is concerning.

Buying interest among people with real demand also took a nosedive from the middle of last month, when the virus swept across Europe and the US.

On the other hand, investors started to make inquiries, as some apparently sought shelter in real estate given the volatility in financial markets, Ho said.

The pandemic is likely to continue to affect the market in the near term, the analyst said.

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taiwan-subdivisions: 信義 大安 新莊 新店 中和 中山


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: BOJ downgrades economic assessment for all regions

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) cut its assessment of all nine of the nation’s regions in its quarterly “Sakura” report on local economies.

It was the first time since 2009 that the BOJ downgraded every region at once, another sign of the widespread damage the COVID-19 pandemic is doing to Japan and other countries.

Hours earlier BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda sounded the alarm in a speech to the bank’s branch managers.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, second left, attends a quarterly meeting of the central bank’s regional branch managers in Tokyo.
 Photo: Reuters / Kyodo

“The spreading novel coronavirus is having a serious impact on our economy,” he told them, citing across-the-board weakness in exports, tourism, consumer spending and factory production. “The economic outlook is extremely uncertain.”

Responding to the recent jump in the nation’s infection numbers, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this week was forced to declare a state of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka and prefectures, which together generate half of the nation’s economic output.

The governor of Aichi Prefecture yesterday called on the prime minister to add his province to the list of those in crisis.

“All nine regions revised down their assessments from the previous ones in January 2020, due mainly to the impact of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus and reported that their economy had been weak or facing strong downward pressure,” the BOJ said in its survey.

One respondent working at a Kyoto hotel said the number of visitors to the city was down sharply. The virus has hit the regional tourism industry harder than the global financial crisis, the person said.

Another person at a machinery maker on the island of Kyushu said business was being hampered by trouble in the supply chain.

The flow of parts from China still had not recovered, the person said, even though factories on the mainland are getting back to work.

The Bank of Japan next meets on April 27 and 28, when it is due to update quarterly economic projections.

The forecasts are likely to be dire, unless the BOJ skips making them as the US Federal Reserve did last month. Private sector economists now see Japan’s economy shrinking more than 10 percent this quarter.

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Virus claims record number of dead in the US, Europe

The COVID-19 pandemic has notched up another round of record death tolls in the US and Europe, dousing the optimism of US President Donald Trump, who insisted that there was “light at the end of the tunnel.”

As of yesterday, the novel coronavirus had killed more than 87,000 people and infected more than 1.5 million, according to an Agence France-Presse tally, sparing almost no nation and tipping the world into a devastating economic crisis as global commerce shudders to a halt.

For the second straight day, the US on Wednesday grieved nearly 2,000 deaths, as flags flew at half-mast in hardest-hit New York.

A worker moves a body from a refrigeration truck serving as a temporary morgue to a vehicle at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York City on Wednesday.
 Photo: AFP

There was also a record death toll of 938 over 24 hours in Britain.

France saw its total number of dead climb to more than 10,000 as the country prepared to extend its strict lockdown measures.

Spain and Italy were still seeing hundreds of deaths per day, despite tentative signs that the disease might have peaked.

The pandemic was marching into areas previously only lightly affected: In Africa, Ethiopia declared a state of emergency and Liberia said that it was locking down its capital, Monrovia.

Its deadly tentacles also crept deep into the Amazon rainforest, with the first case detected among the Yanomami, an indigenous community isolated from the world until the mid-20th century that is vulnerable to disease.

Nevertheless, some glimmers of hope shone in the darkness, with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo saying that the epidemic curve seemed to be flattening.

“We are hopefully heading towards a final stretch, the light at the end of the tunnel,” Trump said.

Worldwide, medical facilities were at the bursting point as they struggle with a relentless procession of critically ill patients.

In hard-hit Guayaquil, Ecuador, sick patients were passing out before arriving at emergency rooms and older people were slumped outside in wheelchairs at overwhelmed hospitals.

At the global level, the WHO and Trump were embroiled in an ugly war of words, with Trump accusing the UN body of “blowing it” and being too close to China.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged unity at a time of global crisis, saying: “If you don’t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it.”

“It’s like playing with fire,” he added.

Governments have been wrestling with the problem of when to exit lockdown procedures and reboot a global economy that is effectively in a deep freeze.

The WTO said that the pandemic was likely to spark the deepest recession “of our lifetimes,” with global trade poised to plummet by one-third.

The Bank of France estimated that the country’s economy shrank about 6 percent in the first quarter — the worst performance since the end of World War II.

European powerhouse Germany was expected to contract an eye-watering 10 percent as the eurozone squabbled about pooling debt for “coronabonds” to help its worst-affected members, such as Spain and Italy.

In Miami, hundreds lined up in their vehicles to get unemployment forms after a Web site crashed due to a surge in demand.

US data indicated that 10 million people have lost their jobs in the world’s top economy, which is closed for business.

Late yesterday, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal ruled that a blanket government ban on masks was unconstitutional.

Partially overturning a lower court’s ruling, a three-judge panel said that while the government had the right to ban the wearing of masks at unlawful assemblies, a ban on masks at legal public gatherings was unconstitutional.

In October last year, during the height of pro-democracy protests, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) invoked colonial-era emergency powers for the first time in more than 50 years that allowed her to enact a new regulation banning masks.

At the time, many protesters wore masks to hide their identities from the authorities and also from their employers, particularly if the firms had close connections to Beijing. Protesters also wore masks to protect themselves from tear gas.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Taichung requests hostess bars and dance halls close

NEW PRECAUTIONS:
 Taichung said that some, businesses must take down the names and telephone numbers of its clients upon entry

The Taichung City Government is asking all hostess bars and dance halls to suspend operations as part of an administrative order from the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), the city said yesterday.

The CECC on Wednesday issued the order after a hostess in Taipei tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Individuals or establishments that breach the order face fines of NT$3,000 to NT$15,000, in accordance with the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), the municipality said.

Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said that similar businesses — KTVs, saunas, bars, nightclubs, “special service” cafes and arcades — are to continue to follow prevention guidelines, such as wearing masks, taking temperatures and observing social distancing.

The government is also enforcing new regulations for these establishments to record the names and telephone numbers of clients upon entry.

Lu said that the new regulations are being put in place not just because of the hostess case in Taipei, but also because of similar cases in the past.

The high client turnover at these businesses makes it difficult to track individual customers, adding to the difficulty of disease prevention and increasing the risk of local cluster infections, Lu said.

The city recognizes the concerns from the management of these businesses, but it asks them for their understanding and compliance in these trying times, Lu said.

Businesses must take special measures to maintain public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lu added.

Meanwhile, hostess bars on Wednesday closed early for establishment-wide disinfection after the Taipei Department of Health visited regarding the employee.

Hostesses typically come from third-party companies and do not have standing contracts with the hostess bars themselves, a source said, adding that the hostess who tested positive had been dispatched to other bars.


content_text:
COME AND SEE:
 The president invited the WHO’s leader to visit Taiwan and see its commitment to making global contributions ‘in the face of discrimination and isolation’

Taiwan knows better than anyone what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, as she protested an accusation by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that Taiwan was organizing a racist campaign against him.

At a WHO news conference on Wednesday, Tedros was asked for comment on US President Donald Trump’s remark that the US might cut funding to the WHO.

After calling on the US and China to jointly fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Tedros then accused Taiwan of having launched racist attacks against him three months ago, saying that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was aware of the attacks and had even engaged in slandering him.

While several African leaders voiced support for Tedros on social media, his remarks provoked angry responses from across party lines in Taiwan.

“I strongly protest the accusations today that Taiwan is instigating racist attacks in the international community. Taiwan has always opposed all forms of discrimination. For years, we have been excluded from international organizations, and we know better than anyone else what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated,” Tsai wrote on Facebook in English.

“I want to take this opportunity to invite Director-General Tedros to visit Taiwan and experience for himself how committed the Taiwanese people are to engaging with and contributing to the world, even in the face of discrimination and isolation,” she said.

Taiwan’s medical workers and volunteers can be found worldwide, Tsai said.

“We have never let our inability to join international organizations lessen our support for the international community,” she said.

Meanwhile, the ministry demanded that Tedros issue a correction and apologize to the Taiwanese public for his “baseless accusations.”

As the most important global health body and its leader, the WHO and its director-general are subject to the supervision of the world’s citizens regarding their response to the pandemic, the ministry said in a statement.

The criticism of Tedros’ performance in tackling the pandemic was made online by people of unknown identity and nationality, and cannot be directed nor controlled by the ministry, it said.

The ministry again called on Tedros to put aside his political discrimination; maintain his neutrality and professionalism; invite Taiwan to fully participate in all WHO meetings and mechanisms regarding the pandemic; and restore Taiwan’s observer status in the World Health Assembly (WHA).

Asked about Tedros’ remarks, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, said that Tsai has invited Tedros to visit Taiwan.

The government welcomes Tedros to come and see how the mobilization of the entire nation and the character of Taiwanese have supported Taiwan’s disease prevention efforts, Chen said.

Rather than scold Taiwan, Tedros could spend some time learning from it, Chen added.

At a weekly news conference, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said that the WHO leader’s “fabrications” had left her shocked and dumbfounded.

“Even though Taiwan was long ago abandoned by the WHO, the government would never attack the WHO, nor is it at all interested in engaging in racial discrimination or personal attacks of any kind against Tedros,” she said.

“We urge those in the WHO management who share Tedros’ sentiments to put politics aside and renounce [Beijing’s] ‘one China’ principle, to facilitate efforts to save lives” amid the pandemic, she added.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said that Tedros singled out Taiwan because he does not dare answer criticism from other nations and that Taiwan’s achievement in containing the disease makes him ashamed.

The criticism against Tedros is about his performance, not the color of his skin, the DPP said in a statement, also asking him to apologize to Taiwan.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokeswoman Hung Yu-chien (洪于茜) said that a WHO executive should not attribute all of the criticism they receive to Taiwan without concrete evidence, adding that the global health body should not ignore the nation’s long-running appeals to rejoin the WHA.

The KMT supports any rational and flexible diplomacy that helps Taiwan return to the WHO, she said.

Additional reporting by Sean Lin, Sherry Hsiao, Shih Hsiao-kuang and Yang Chun-hui

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title: Virus Outbreak: Tsai rebuffs Tedros’ racism accusation

people:
羅致政
蔡英文
Kolas Yotaka
陳時中


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Senhwa Biosciences, NIH working on COVID-19 drug

Senhwa Biosciences Inc (生華科) yesterday said it has partnered with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to evaluate the efficacy of a new drug, dubbed Silmitasertib, for treatment of COVID-19.

The drug, developed by Senhwa Biosciences to treat cancers, such as bile duct cancer, medulloblastoma and pediatric brain tumor, showed promise in human tests to curb the ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus from proliferating.

“With the attribute, the drug is expected to help combat the novel coronavirus. We have not tested the drug on patients with COVID-19 in Taiwan, but the US NIH, looking forward to the drug’s efficacy, will run some trials in the US,” Senhwa Biosciences CEO Soong Tai-sen (宋台生) said by telephone.

The company would offer the drug for free to the US agency during the tests, but it is difficult to forecast when the trials would be completed, Soong said.

The New Taipei City-based firm has no intention of running human trials for COVID-19 treatment in Taiwan, as it has put all of its resources into its clinical trials on cancer treatment, but it is willing to partner with other companies and provide its drugs for free, Soong said.

The University of California San Francisco’s Quantitative Biosciences Institute last month identified 69 drugs or experimental compounds that might be effective in treating COVID-19, including the Silmitasertib, Soong said.

Silmitasertib could promote the formation of street granules by disrupting casein kinase 2, a protein kinase that performs diverse functions related to cell survival, thus preventing viruses from gaining ingredients such as nucleic acids to create a new virus, Soong said.

“Silmitasertib offers two advantages. First, its safety has been proven during our previous tests on about 300 people for cancer treatment. And second, we have about 120kg of Simitasertib in storage in the US, which would be convenient in terms of delivery to the NIH,” he said.

Given that Silmitasertib, unlike other potential new drugs under testing for COVID-19, such as remdesivir, does not directly attack the coronavirus or reduce lung damage, it is more likely to be used as a adjuvant drug, Soong said.

However, whether it would be effective and how it would be used with other medication would be determined by the NIH, Soong said.

Silmitasertib marks the only CK2 inhibitor present in clinical trials, he said.

The drug is undergoing a few human tests, including a Phase II trial for bile duct cancer in Taiwan, the US and South Korea, a Phase II clinical trial for medulloblastoma, sponsored by the National Institute of Health-Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, and a Phase I study for advanced basal cell carcinoma, it said.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Japan to fund production shift out of China

content_text:
DIVERSIFICATION:
 Tokyo is to allocate US$2.2 billion to help bring manufacturing of high value-added products back to Japan and other goods to Southeast Asia

Japan has earmarked US$2.2 billion of its record economic stimulus package to help its manufacturers shift production out of China as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts supply chains between the major trading partners.

The extra budget, compiled to try to offset the devastating effects of the pandemic, includes ￥220 billion (US$2 billion) for companies shifting production back to Japan and ￥23.5 billion for those seeking to move production to other countries, according to details of the plan posted online.

The move coincides with what should have been a celebration of friendlier ties between the two countries.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) was supposed to be on a state visit to Japan early this month, but what would have been the first visit of its sort in a decade was postponed a month ago amid the spread of the virus.

No new date has been set.

China is Japan’s biggest trading partner under normal circumstances, but imports from China slumped by almost half in February as the disease shuttered factories, in turn starving Japanese manufacturers of necessary components.

That has renewed talk of Japanese firms reducing their reliance on China as a manufacturing base.

The Japanese government’s panel on future investment last month discussed the need for manufacturing of high value-added products to be shifted back to Japan, and for production of other goods to be diversified across Southeast Asia.

“There will be something of a shift,” Japan Research Institute economist Shinichi Seki said, adding that some Japanese companies manufacturing goods in China for export were already considering moving out. “Having this in the budget will definitely provide an impetus.”

Companies, such as automakers, that are manufacturing for the Chinese domestic market, are likely to stay put, he said.

Japan exports a far larger share of parts and partially finished goods to China than other major industrial nations, according to data compiled for the panel.

A February survey by Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd found 37 percent of the more than 2,600 companies that responded were diversifying procurement to places other than China amid the novel coronavirus crisis.

It remains to be seen how the policy would affect Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s years-long effort to restore the nation’s relations with China.

Asked about the move, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) said: “We are doing our best to resume economic development.”

“In this process, we hope other countries will act like China and take proper measures to ensure the world economy will be impacted as little as possible and to ensure that supply chains are impacted as little as possible,” he told a briefing on Wednesday in Beijing.

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title: Virus Outbreak: Cabinet unveils tourism aid package

content_text:
The Cabinet yesterday unveiled subsidies and loans to aid businesses in the tourism and hotel sectors, which officials said have borne the brunt of the economics effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the plan, travel agencies, hotels, amusement parks and bed-and-breakfasts (B&Bs), as well as tour guides, would be eligible for paid training programs at the minimum hourly wage of NT$158 for 120 hours, which would provide up to NT$18,960 (US$629) for each worker furloughed during the pandemic, Minister Without Portfolio Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) told a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei.

Travel agencies, hotels and amusement parks could apply for loans of up to NT$50 million each, while B&Bs would be eligible for loans of up to NT$16 million each, Kung said.

Minister Without Portfolio Kung Ming-hsin, left, and Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung participate in a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo: CNA

As with self-employed workers and freelancers, tour guides would be eligible for a subsidy of NT$30,000, he said.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has earmarked NT$1.5 billion for subsidies to aid hotels and B&Bs, he said.

Hotels would receive between NT$200,000 and NT$10 million as part of the plan, depending on their size, while B&Bs and those that have received the “Taiwan Host” certification from the Tourism Bureau would receive between NT$50,000 and NT$100,000 respectively, he said.

Meanwhile, the nation’s five largest travel agencies, which typically arrange 500 tours annually, would receive a subsidy of up to NT$25 million, he said.

Mid-sized travel agencies and hotels would be eligible for loans ranging from NT$150 million to NT$500 million, which are to be provided through additional funding in a NT$150 billion package for mid-sized companies that the central bank announced last week, he said.

As of Wednesday, 364 tourism establishments had applied for loans totaling NT$3.8 billion, and 91 had been approved, he said.

The relief measures would benefit about 200,000 workers in the tourism and hotel industries, he said.

The ministry would raise the guarantee for loans taken out by mid-sized travel agencies and hotels from NT$1.2 billion to NT$2.2 billion, which would help them secure an additional NT$10 billion in loans, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said.

The ministry hopes that the funds would soon be approved by the Legislative Yuan so that they could be distributed by the end of this month, he said.

When asked how the government plans to aid travel agencies affected by a ban on hosting inbound and outbound tourists, which ends at the end of next month, Lin compared the pandemic to a health check-up for travel agencies, saying that businesses that have been overly reliant on the Chinese market have suffered from over-investment and harmful competition, while others have become more competitive.

While the government would help travel agencies through the pandemic to keep the unemployment rate down, it would be only natural for these businesses to transition or be phased out if they cannot find prospects for long-term sustainability, he said.

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content_text:
China on Tuesday reported zero COVID-19 deaths for the first time since it began publishing daily figures on infection rates in January, and at midnight on Wednesday it lifted the lockdown on Wuhan.

While China appears to be experiencing a downward trend of the virus, the governments of Taiwan and other nations around the world should treat the news with extreme caution for a number of reasons.

First, it is important to recognize that Beijing has a long history of massaging statistics, most notably its own economic data. Many observers believe China routinely exaggerates GDP growth by about 2 percent.

Concerns that China has been cooking the books on COVID-19 infection data were given added weight on Wednesday last week, when Bloomberg reported the leak of a classified US intelligence report for the White House on China’s accounting of the virus.

The report concluded that Beijing had been intentionally under-reporting total cases and deaths, and that its data is “fake.”

It is certainly in the interests of the Chinese Communist Party to play down the crisis — to mitigate the damage of its initial cover-up, get China’s economy moving again, and provide good news for both internal and external consumption.

Second, there is increasing evidence to suggest that Chinese-made COVID-19 testing kits are inaccurate. The Slovak government purchased 1.2 million Chinese antibody testing kits for 15 million euros (US$16 million). On delivery they were found to be unreliable and unable to detect COVID-19 in its early stages.

Other European nations, including Spain, the Czech Republic and Turkey, have also returned Chinese testing kits after finding them to be faulty. Turkish officials reported an accuracy rate of less than 35 percent for the first batch of testing kits the nation received.

Coupled with reports from within China during the early stages of the outbreak that testing kits were inaccurate and were returning false negatives, this indicates a further problem with the reliability of Chinese data.

Third, many people infected with COVID-19 are asymptomatic. This makes accurately measuring the spread of the virus within a population extremely difficult.

China’s National Health Commission, as of Wednesday last week, had changed the way it reports COVID-19 data eight times and now it includes asymptomatic infections in its daily figures.

From Tuesday last week to Tuesday, 68 percent of confirmed cases in China showed no symptoms.

This initial dataset indicates that the stealthy nature of the virus is going to pose a significant problem for China’s government as travel restrictions are lifted and people return to work.

Fourth, many experts worry that the lifting of China’s lockdown measures could trigger a second wave of the virus, as the strict quarantine measures might have prevented the buildup of herd immunity.

Raina MacIntyre, a biosecurity professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, told Bloomberg that even if there had been many times more cases than officially reported by the Chinese government, less than 1 percent of the population would have been infected in its first wave, “leaving most people in China susceptible.”

“The global pandemic will not be contained until we have a vaccine, or most of the population is infected,” MacIntyre added.

David Heymann, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine agreed: “The concern is what will happen after they end these measures.”

It seems likely that reports of China having beaten the virus will prove to be a false dawn.

In Taiwan, we must remain vigilant: The world is not yet out of the woods.

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title: EDITORIAL: China’s lies and dubious statistics


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Starbucks expects 47 percent drop in Q2 earnings

Starbucks Corp on Wednesday forecast a 47 percent slump in second-quarter earnings, scrapped its full-year forecast and warned that the financial hit from the COVID-19 pandemic would extend into the final quarter of this fiscal year.

The company also said it would temporarily suspend its share buyback program and take steps to cut costs, but would maintain its quarterly dividend.

Starbucks said it now expects to report second-quarter earnings of about US$0.28 per share, reflecting the impact of lost sales for the period as well as higher costs.

A Starbucks employee wearing a mask works at a drive-through in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday.
 Photo: AFP

It had reported US$0.53 per share in the year-earlier period.

The world’s largest coffee chain said same-store sales in the US began to decline on March 12 and have steadily worsened.

The company also said revenue in China faced a shortfall of about US$400 million compared with its expectations, with a 50 percent decline in comparable store sales for the second quarter that ended last month.

Like most other restaurants, Starbucks had to close its cafe areas and move operations to drive-through, carry out and delivery only in response to customer concerns and government mandates to help stop the spread of the deadly virus by limiting social contact.

The company expects to report its second-quarter earnings on April 28.

Starbucks said that a sharp slowdown from the coronavirus pandemic would worsen before getting better, with the financial impact extending as far as September.

The company based its assessment on the tentative recovery in China, Starbucks’ most important market, along with the US.

The coffee chain went through social distancing and mandatory closures in the Asian nation earlier in the year, giving the company an early glimpse at how the situation would play out in the US and elsewhere.

US same-store sales growth was 8 percent in the quarter through March 11, the company said in a filing. That was the strongest pace in four years, but was derailed as the pandemic spread. By the end of the month, sales had settled into a decline of 60 to 70 percent.

Starbucks said it has US$2.5 billion in cash and US$3.5 billion in short-term borrowings, giving it enough liquidity to get through the tough times.

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title: Taiwan Ratings lowers credit rating on Yulon Motor

content_text:
Taiwan Ratings Corp (台灣信評) yesterday lowered its long-term issuer credit rating on Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) from “twA-” to “twBBB+,” saying its profitability could remain weak amid ongoing business restructuring and a likely weaker dividend payout from affiliate Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產).

The local arm of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings affirmed the short-term “twA-2” rating on Yulon Motor with a stable outlook, in keeping with its view that it could improve its debt to EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, ratio over the next one to two years.

The downgrade came 10 days after Yulon said it accumulated losses of NT$23.88 billion (US$792 million) as of December last year, more than 50 percent of its share capital, which it attributed to unprofitable units Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷) and Dongfeng Yulon Motor Co (東風裕隆), a joint venture with China’s Dongfeng Automobile Co (東風汽車).

Luxgen Motor Co president Tsay Wen-rong poses next to a Luxgen URX sports utility vehicle at a news conference in Taipei on Dec. 16 last year.
 Photo: Wu Chia-ying, Taipei Times

Affiliate Hua-chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (HAITEC, 華創車電) also contributed to the losses, the firm said.

Yulon’s debt leverage has nearly doubled after its consolidation of HAITEC and the prospect of a significant improvement over the next one to two years is limited, Taiwan Ratings said.

“We expect Yulon Motor’s operating loss to remain high this year due to expenses associated with the downsizing of HAITEC, but the amount would be materially lower from last year,” Taiwan Ratings said.

Yulon recognized large asset impairments after signing a joint venture contract with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and turned HAITEC into an investment holding company.

Losses from Yulon’s Luxgen business is also likely to narrow because the subsidiary would only to have pay royalties for new models to the joint venture rather than sharing development costs like before, the ratings agency said.

The consolidation of HAITEC has negatively affected Yulon’s income statement and burdened its balance sheet given large debts and minimal cash.

Yulon Motor plans to lower its debt leverage in the next one to two years by selling some of its financial assets and industrial land.

However, the timeline for the planned sales remains uncertain and a weak domestic economy renders the move unfavorable.

Furthermore, weak auto demand in China could stifle Yulon’s efforts to improve its EBITDA next year, Taiwan Ratings said.

Yulon Motor’s EBITDA relies heavily on cash dividend payouts from Yulon Nissan, whose performance largely depends on the investment income from Nissan branded operations in China.

It could remain weak next year if sales of Nissan-branded cars in China disappoint this year due to an economic slowdown and potential material shortages caused by the pandemic.

Dongfeng Motor resumed sales of Nissan-branded vehicles in February in China, where the pandemic appears to be under control, Taiwan Ratings said.

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title: Trump, Biden need a PRC policy

content_text:
To prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from interfering in the US’ November election the way it did with Taiwan in January, US President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, should present a united front on US-China policy.

Beijing’s anti-US propaganda campaign long has been under way, with the usual accusations of “hegemonism,“ “containment” and “keeping China down” — all intended to put policymakers and opinion leaders on the defensive by invoking China’s “century of humiliation” at the hands of the West.

The campaign has two other purposes. First, it seeks to further exacerbate political divisions in US society, and to destabilize and enervate governmental institutions.

The second is to affect US national security policymaking in ways that advance the strategic interests of Beijing and Moscow at the expense of the US, and its security allies and partners.

Now the COVID-19 pandemic has arrived conveniently in time to stall the US economy, and deepen partisan divisions over the cause of the outbreak and the government’s response.

It also has opened a whole new disinformation front, with Beijing sources accusing the US Army of releasing the disease, denying its Chinese origins, and labeling US officials as racist and xenophobic.

The presidential candidates have the pandemic and a host of other domestic and foreign policy issues to debate between now and November.

However, the one issue they need to remove from partisan contention is the US’ single most important national security challenge: the existential threat posed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Given their respective histories on China, they should be able to present a united front and eliminate Beijing’s efforts to further inflame US society, and debilitate the US government and military establishment.

They should start by fully embracing the core US national security reality embodied in the National Defense Strategy, which says that “China … seeks Indo-Pacific regional hegemony … and displacement of the United States to achieve global preeminence.”

Put more bluntly, since the PRC under Mao Zedong (毛澤東) gained political power “out of the barrel of a gun,” it has seen the US as the implacable enemy standing in the way of its goal of world domination.

The “anti-imperialist” campaign started with Mao’s “wars of national liberation” throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Then China joined with North Korea in the invasion of South Korea, pitting their combined communist forces against the US. That ended in a stalemate, with the war against the non-communist South defeated, but with the aggressors in Beijing and Pyongyang still in power to fight another day.

A decade later, China was again in the business of killing Americans, this time in Vietnam. It succeeded in helping communist North Vietnam invade and conquer the anti-communist government and people of South Vietnam after their US allies abandoned them, despite 15 years of sacrifice.

While Mao was busy engaging in foreign adventurism, his Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward at home caused the deaths of up to 50 million Chinese, and the physical and mental enslavement of the rest.

By 1972, then US-president Richard Nixon was determined to alter the geopolitical dynamic.

“China must change. The world cannot be safe until China changes,” he said.

He and his national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, offered China US protection from the Soviet Union, eventual diplomatic recognition and abandonment of Taiwan.

Beijing was asked only to become a more cooperative member of “the family of nations” and to start by persuading Ho Chi Minh to allow a face-saving US withdrawal from Vietnam.

Instead, China collected the diplomatic, economic and security benefits of Nixon’s opening, watched with satisfaction the US’ dying agony in Vietnam and resumed pursuit of the next step in its expansionist program — retaking Taiwan through coercion or by force.

When then-US president Jimmy Carter shifted diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, an outraged US Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) to state the US’ strong interest in Taiwan’s security and its transition from dictatorship to democracy.

After firing missiles toward Taiwan in 1995, Chinese military officials asked how the US would respond if China carried its attack further.

Joseph Nye, the US Department of States’ Asia official, did not invoke the TRA, saying instead: “We don’t know; it would depend on the circumstances.”

That message of strategic ambiguity has not deterred China from preparing an arsenal of attack submarines and anti-ship missiles to keep the US Navy from intervening against a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

Beijing continues a relentless pressure-campaign to gain Taiwan’s submission by repeatedly threatening force and often finds sympathetic voices in the West — Kissinger warned Taiwan that “China will not wait forever.”

However, Beijing’s program of disinformation and disunity goes beyond Taiwan.

As the US Department of Defense’s Indo-Pacific Strategy Report states: “The Chinese Communist Party undermines the international system from within by exploiting its benefits while simultaneously eroding the values and principles of the rules-based order.”

One way of doing that is to sow distrust in the integrity of Western political institutions.

Candidates Trump and, presumably, Biden can dissuade Beijing from meddling in the November election by committing to implement the China policies articulated in the cited strategic documents.

That means continuing and expanding the freedom of navigation operations the US Navy is conducting in the South and East China seas, and elsewhere. It means deepening the US’ security commitment to Taiwan, and removing the ambiguity that keeps Beijing planning when and how to strike.

It means maintaining the economic pressures of tariffs to induce fair PRC trade practices and sanctions to stop it from undermining maximum pressure on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

And it means decoupling China from the US’ vital communications systems and pharmaceutical supply lines.

A recent Foreign Affairs article cited a Chinese source as warning that “the United States could be ‘plunged into the mighty sea of coronavirus’ if China imposed controls on the export of basic pharmaceutical ingredients and face masks.”

There seems to be not much that is beyond the pale for a CCP system that herds a million Uighurs into brutal concentration camps, harvests organs from Falun Gong followers, allows a deadly flood of opioids into the US and, with reckless disregard, unleashes a pandemic.

Trump and Biden surely can agree on that threat, and the urgent need to confront and defeat it.

Joseph Bosco served as China country director in the office of the US secretary of defense. He is a fellow at the Institute for Taiwan-American Studies and a member of the advisory committee of the Global Taiwan Institute.

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