title: Seoul plays down a report on Kim Jong-un’s health

content_text:
South Korea yesterday played down a report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was being treated after surgery, as speculation mounted over his absence from a key anniversary.

Pyongyang marked the birthday of its late founder and Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung, on Wednesday last week — by far the most important date in its annual political calendar — but Kim Jong-un was not in attendance.

Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, said that Kim Jong-un had undergone a cardiovascular procedure earlier this month and was recovering at a villa in North Phyongan Province.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks at a politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang on April 11.
 Photo: AP

“Excessive smoking, obesity and fatigue were the direct causes of Kim [Jong-un]’s urgent cardiovascular treatment,” it cited an unidentified source inside the nation as saying.

No confirmation of the report was immediately available, but it triggered widespread speculation, with CNN citing a US official as saying that Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim Jong-un was in “grave danger” after undergoing surgery.

“We have nothing to confirm and no special movement has been detected inside North Korea as of now,” a spokesman for South Korea’s presidential Blue House said in a statement.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency cited an unnamed government official saying that reports Kim Jong-un was seriously ill were “not true,” but there were no explicit denials that the leader, who is in his mid-30s, had had some kind of procedure.

Previous absences from the public eye on Kim Jong-un’s part have prompted speculation about his health.

In 2014, he dropped out of sight for nearly six weeks before reappearing with a cane. Days later, the South Korean spy agency said that he had undergone surgery to remove a cyst from his ankle.

“No one knows what’s going on inside North Korea,” said Martyn Williams, who is affiliated with the 38 North research Web site.

“Kim Jong Il [Kim Jong-un’s father] had been dead several days before it was announced and it took everyone by surprise,” he wrote on Twitter. “Kim Jong Un has been ‘missing’ before, and has always reappeared. That said, his absence this week was more notable.”

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


people: 蔣萬安 吳秉叡

title: Virus Outbreak: Legislature raises relief budget ceiling

content_text:
WASTEFUL:
 Wu Ping-jui said the KMT proposal would have given even high-income earners a subsidy, which would have affected people who need money the most

Lawmakers yesterday passed an amendment to the Act on COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Recovery (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例), raising the upper limit of a special budget to bail out industries and people whose livelihoods have been affected by the pandemic to NT$210 billion (US$7 billion).

The new limit represents a NT$150 billion increase to the budget’s ceiling, NT$60 billion, passed last month by the Legislative Yuan, and the amended act is to serve as the legal basis for a matching budget increase proposed this month by the Executive Yuan for its expanded economic stimulus package.

Depending on the development of the pandemic, a second special budget may be planned, but its amount must not exceed the current one, the amendment says.

An eyeglasses store in Taipei attracts business by holding a sale yesterday. Due to the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the legislature has passed the third reading of an amendment to add NT$150 billion to the relief budget.
 Photo: CNA

The planning and spending of the accompanying special budget, for which the Executive Yuan is soon to submit a request, would not be bound by limitations in the Budget Act (預算法), it says, meaning that funds allocated to one agency can be redistributed to another.

Exceptions are special budgetary items that have been annulled by the legislature, it adds.

The budget is to be sourced from surplus revenue from previous fiscal years and borrowing, which is not subject to rules in the Public Debt Act (公共債務法) that limit the amount of capital the government can borrow for the special budget in a fiscal year to 15 percent of the proportion used, the amendment says.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators hold placards at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday, calling for a cash stimulus for middle and low-income households amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times

Two proposals tendered by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus — to waive or reduce business tax for operators in sectors significantly affected by the pandemic and waive their import duties — were vetoed.

At the start of the legislative plenary session, KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) criticized the Executive Yuan’s policy for bailing out self-employed workers and freelancers, saying that requirements such as having participated in the Labor Insurance Fund and having an insured monthly salary of less than NT$24,000 to be eligible for a NT$30,000 subsidy are too strict.

He also criticized the Cabinet’s reluctance to issue cash handouts to people subject to an income tax rate of up to 20 percent, saying that what Taiwanese need now is a timely subsidy to help them through the pandemic, citing countries such as the US, the UK and Malaysia, which are giving citizens cash handouts.

However, the KMT caucus did not tender the proposal mentioned by Chiang.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said that the KMT proposal would have given even people earning an annual salary of NT$2.42 million a subsidy of NT$6,000.

Even lawmakers, whose annual salary is more than NT$2 million and who have no need for subsidies, would have received NT$6,000 under the KMT’s initial proposal, he said.

The KMT is trying to score political points with the proposal, but that would only encroach on the budget allocated for people who most need it; for example, taxi drivers, whose business has been seriously affected by the pandemic, he added.


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Researchers unveil new smart thermal imaging equipment

The National Health Research Institutes on Monday unveiled a new type of infrared thermal imaging camera that excludes nonhuman objects, such as hot coffee and cold drinks, from temperature readings, allowing disease prevention efforts to be more precise.

Equipped with multiple sensors, the system can simultaneously detect the temperatures of three to six people — even when they are moving and wearing a mask, cap or glasses — from a distance of 1m to 3m, said Liao Lun-de (廖倫德), head of the team that developed the device.

The camera uses artificial intelligence to detect the contour of a human face before it takes a temperature reading, so food and drinks carried by subjects would not trigger the system, Liao said.

A National Health Research Institutes researcher is displayed on a new thermal imaging system on Monday.
 Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times

In an experiment in which 200 anonymous participants in an open space passed by the camera separately, the temperatures recorded by the system were close to those of a forehead thermometer, he said.

If the system is deployed in an office building, people can swipe their identification cards before entering the detection area so the system can automatically build a database of individual temperatures, Liao said, adding that ear and forehead thermometers would require the additional step of creating and maintaining a handwritten log.

The team is working on enabling the system to use facial recognition, which could save even more time, he said.

When it detects an abnormal temperature, the system issues an alert, takes a picture and notifies disease prevention personnel via mobile phone and computer, reducing staff requirements and making data tracing easier, Liao said.

Many countries, particularly those covered by the government’s New Southbound Policy, have expressed an interest in the system, he said.

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


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Taiwanese shares plunge amid economic concerns

FINANCIAL TURMOIL:
 Heavy losses on US markets and reports that Kim Jong-un was critically ill sent the TAIEX plummeting 2.82 percent, led by bellwether stock TSMC

The TAIEX yesterday moved sharply lower across the board, falling almost 3 percent to end below 10,300 points, with market sentiment spooked by heavy losses on US markets in the wake of plunging crude oil prices.

Unconfirmed reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is in a critical condition after heart surgery triggered more selling, as investors grew concerned over potential geopolitical instability, traders said.

The TAIEX closed down 298.29 points, or 2.82 percent, at 10,288.42, on turnover of NT$183.281 billion (US$6.09 billion). Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$24.25 billion of shares on the main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.

“The tumbling oil prices signaled weak global demand, despite a recent cut in production by OPEC and non-OPEC countries,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said. “Along with the news on Kim’s health, investors simply rushed to cut their holdings in large-cap stocks to avoid more losses down the road.”

Huang said contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was hit hard by the global market turmoil, plunging 2.96 percent to close at NT$295. Led by TSMC, the bellwether electronics sector ended down 2.83 percent.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a key supplier of Apple Inc’s iPhone, shed 3.54 percent to end at NT$73.50, while Largan Precision Co (大立光), a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple, also fell 4.76 percent to close at NT$3,700.

“Petrochemical stocks came under heavy pressure in the wake of the fragile energy market. With the virus spread continuing, few can be sure how badly the disease will hurt the economy,” Huang said.

Among petrochemical stocks, Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) shed 4.19 percent to close at NT$57.20 and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) lost 2.69 percent to end at NT$79.50.

Given the volatility in global financial markets, investors sold financial shares, amid concern that local banks and insurance companies would incur losses from their overseas investments, Huang said.

That led to Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) falling 2.63 percent to NT$37 and Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) shedding 2.74 percent to NT$39.

“The TAIEX fell below the 10-day moving average of 10,314 today,” Huang said, adding that he sees the next support level at about 10,000 points.

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

companies: 台積電 Apple


content_text:
New car sales in Taiwan shrank 16.9 percent year-on-year to 12,926 units during the first 20 days of this month, indicating that the COVID-19 pandemic started affecting demand, Directorate-General of Highways data showed yesterday.

That represented a 33 percent decline from the same period last month.

For the whole of this month, new vehicle sales are forecast to contract by 8 percent year-on-year to about 32,000 units, Hotai Motor Co Ltd (和泰汽車) said, signaling its conservative view about the market this year.

Hotai, which distributes Toyota and Lexus vehicles, reported its sales were down 12.4 percent annually, or 33 percent monthly, to 4,369 units in the first 20 days of this month, the statistics showed.

Nissan Motor Co and Honda Motor Co have been hit hardest by the pandemic, with new vehicle sales down 49 percent and 42.6 percent to 784 and 707 units respectively, the statistics showed.

That represented a monthly reduction of 38 percent and 37 percent respectively.

The pandemic’s impact could expand next month as Ford Lio Ho Motor Co (福特六和), the local subsidiary of US-based Ford Motor Co, has decided to halt production at its plant in Jhongli District (中壢), Taoyuan, from today to Thursday next week as a result of disruption to its component supply lines.

Ford Lio Ho would pay full wages to the 800 affected employees, the Taoyuan Department of Labor said.

The company posted an annual sales growth of 27.5 percent, or 9 percent monthly, to 784 units over the 20-day period.

Suzuki Motor Corp sold 266 units, which represent an 11.8 percent annual increase.

Overall, as of Monday new vehicle sales in Taiwan have grown 4.7 percent so far this year to 116,972 units, the statistics showed.

Hotai, the largest automobile vendor in Taiwan, saw sales jump 14.9 percent annually to 39,919 units, a 34.1 percent market share.

China Motor Corp (中華汽車) was second with 14,146 vehicles sold, down 8.2 percent from a year ago, while Nissan ranked third with 8,489 units sold, a drop of 17.2 percent.

China Motor and Nissan hold a 10.4 percent and 7.3 percent market share respectively.

Ford Lio Ho registered the strongest annual growth of 25 percent among the top-10 automakers by selling 5,698 vehicles as of Monday.

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

title: Virus Outbreak: New car sales down 16.9%


content_text:
NO ROOM:
 The global supply glut and lack of storage mean there are few buyers, while the world’s biggest independent oil storage firm said it is almost sold out

US oil prices yesterday rebounded above zero, a day after futures ended in negative territory for the first time as a coronavirus-triggered collapse in demand leaves the world awash in crude.

In afternoon Asian trade, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was changing hands at US$1.67 a barrel after closing at -US$37.63 in New York.

The massive sell-off came ahead of the expiry of next month’s futures contract later yesterday, as traders desperately sought to find buyers to take physical possession of the oil.

An oil drilling platform, left, on Monday is docked near oil containers close to a refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

However, with the glut in markets and storage facilities full, buyers were hard to come buy — and the price collapse on Monday indicated that traders were paying to have crude taken off their hands.

Traders are now more focused on the contract for June delivery, which had trading volumes more than 60 times higher.

That also rebounded yesterday, rising nearly 5 percent to more than US$21 a barrel following a close of US$20.43 a barrel in New York.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, was changing hands at US$25.40 a barrel for June delivery, down 0.16 percent.

Even though the industry has got used to volatility during the virus crisis, Monday’s carnage was without precedent and Trifecta Consultants analyst Sukrit Vijayakar described it as “one of the most extraordinary trading days in the history of any commodity.”

Oil markets have plunged in recent weeks as lockdowns, travel restrictions and business closures to fight the coronavirus around the world batter demand. The crisis was worsened by a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Riyadh and Moscow drew a line under the dispute and, along with other top producers, struck a deal to cut output by almost 10 million barrels a day earlier this month, but prices have continued to fall as analysts say the cuts are not enough, and as storage facilities reach capacity.

US crude’s collapse on Monday was triggered in part by the closely monitored WTI storage facility at Cushing, Oklahoma filling up, as well as traders closing out their positions before the expiry of next month’s contract.

“The WTI May futures contract is due to expire on Tuesday, forcing any holders of that contract to accept physical delivery,” Australia and New Zealand Banking Group said in a note. “With storage facilities filling up fast, particularly at the WTI pricing point, Cushing, there are fears that there will be nowhere to store it.”

Even if prices claw back the losses, the market is likely to remain hobbled by weak demand and oversupply.

“The underlying causes for that sell-off, a giant global supply glut and nowhere to store, remain the same,” Oanda Corp senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said. “Rallies in both Brent and WTI will remain very limited... If anything, more downside lies ahead for both.”

Earlier on Monday, US President Donald Trump said the US would take advantage of the historic drop in oil prices to replenish its national strategic stockpile, pending approval by Congress.

“We are looking to put as much as 75 million barrels into the reserves themselves,” he said.

Later in the briefing, he said that he would only buy that amount if Congress authorized the funding — or if the federal government could rent storage space to third parties for a fee.

Trump on March 13 said he planned to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to the brim.

As of Friday, it contained 635 million barrels of its current authorized limit of 713.5 million barrels.

Stored in a complex of four underground sites along the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana, the SPR has a total storage capacity of 727 million barrels.

Meanwhile, the world’s biggest independent oil storage company yesterday said that space for traders to store crude and refined fuels has all but run out as a result of the fast-expanding glut.

“The available capacity on the oil side is almost completely sold out for our terminals,” Gerard Paulides, the chief financial officer of Rotterdam-based Royal Vopak NV, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “For Vopak, worldwide available capacity that is not in maintenance is almost all gone and from what I hear elsewhere in the world we’re not the only ones.”

The firm is racing to complete maintenance to free up whatever space it can. It operates three main hubs: Singapore, Rotterdam and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.

Vopak is working at fast pace to bring back from maintenance at four tanks in Rotterdam.

“All the available capacity that is in demand will be used and is used,” Paulides said.

Additional reporting by Bloomberg

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

title: US oil prices return to positive territory


title: YouTube removes Tao dance video

content_text:
By Huang Ming-tang and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

YouTube has deleted a video showing Tao elementary-school students on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) dancing in traditional attire after it was erroneously flagged for “obscenity,” the children’s teacher said yesterday.

Yayu Elementary School teacher Yan Tzu-yu (顏子矞) said that when he logged into the school’s YouTube account recently, he was greeted with a message saying that a video he uploaded in 2018 of the children performing a Tao dance to mark the construction of a new classroom had been removed.

The video was flagged by a user, and after a review by YouTube staff was found to have breached the platform’s community standards, the message read.

A screen grab taken from YouTube on Monday shows a notification that a video featuring Aboriginal children dancing in traditional outfit at Yayu Elementary School in Taitung County’s Orchid Island has been blocked due to inappropriate content.
 Photo: Huang Ming-tang, Taipei Times

Yan said the misunderstanding likely stemmed from the Tao clothing worn by the children in the video.

Traditional clothing for Tao males is a cloth tied around the lower body in a manner resembling a modern-day thong, but does not carry any of the implications of a thong in Tao culture, he said.

“My word, in that case all of my flying fish season videos will be deleted,” he said, adding that he was frustrated because YouTube apparently did not respect cultural differences.

It was not the first time the school had had a controversial encounter. The school’s performance troupe, Flying Fish, performed at Poland’s 27th international children’s arts festival last year.

At the festival’s opening ceremony the troupe refused to carry China’s national flag as requested and instead carried Taiwan’s national flag when entering the arena, Yan said, adding that the move gained them praise from Taiwanese.

“Our culture on Orchid Island is beautiful and unique. These children put a great deal of effort into their dances — what is the problem?” Yan said.

Yan said he has contacted YouTube about the misunderstanding, but has yet to receive a reply.

The “thong-style” attire of the Tao is an element of the people’s seafaring culture, and helps them stay cool on Orchid Island’s hot tropical climate, Yan said, adding that the garment is custom-made for each Tao man by a Tao woman.

“That connection also serves as an emotional ‘bridge’ between the man and the woman who made the garment for him,” Yan said.

YouTube should recognize the difference between breaching social customs and traditional culture, and should avoid making “reckless judgments,” Taitung University professor Liu Chiung-hsi (劉炯錫) said.

Taitung County Indigenous People’s Bureau Director Fang Ming-tsung (方銘總) agreed, calling on YouTube to respect Aboriginal culture.

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


taiwan-subdivisions: 羅東 樹林

content_text:
DECODED:
 The driver tried to boost the train’s power by speeding up and slowing down repeatedly after it experienced intermittent power output, a report said

The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board yesterday released a report on the deadly Puyuma Express derailment on Oct. 21, 2018, showing that the train was traveling at 140kph when it entered a curve ahead of Yilan County’s Sinma (新馬) Railway Station, adding that the driver tried to decelerate the train only one second before it derailed.

Eighteen people were killed in the accident and 291 were injured.

The Executive Yuan’s investigation report published on Dec. 21, 2018, failed to appease the relatives of the deceased, who accused the Taiwan Railways Administration of putting the blame solely on the driver.

Taiwan Transportation Safety Board member Li Kang speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

The agency reached settlements with the families of only two of the deceased, as well as the injured passengers.

The driver of Puyuma Express No. 6432 did not plead guilty. He said he was operating the train within the speed limit and that he had informed the agency that he had turned off the automatic train protection (ATP) system, which was designed to automatically slow down the train when it exceeded the speed limit.

When the Legislative Yuan on April 2 last year passed the Organic Act of the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (國家運輸安全調查委員會組織法), it also passed a resolution to require the board, which was established on Aug. 1, to reinvestigate the derailment and identify root causes, as well as any systemic issues facing the railway agency.

The board’s report said that the tilting train began to experience intermittent power output about 49 minutes after it departed from the Shulin (樹林) Railway Station in New Taipei City at 2:50pm, adding that its parking brake activated automatically, stopping the train from time to time.

The train’s reservoir was also found to be lacking in air pressure, which resulted in its power supply being suspended 13 times before the derailment, data collected by the board showed.

The investigation found that the driver tried to find a solution after he reported the problem to the Fulong (福隆) Railway Station master in New Taipei City between 4:05pm and 4:07pm.

He turned off the ATP system at 4:17pm and did not switch it back on again, even though he was told at 4:26pm that the unstable power supply could have something to do with problems with air compressors.

The driver tried to boost the train’s power by gradually increasing its speed to 140kph and slowing it down again, and he performed the maneuver 10 times, the data showed.

At 4:49pm, the train tilted to the left and derailed on a curve before the Sinma Station, overturning four of its eight carriages.

Although the driver said he had notified the train deployment office that he had turned off the ATP, the report found that he did not report doing so until 4:47pm, about two minutes before the train derailed.

When the train was traveling between Yilan County’s Luodong Township (羅東) and the Sinma Station, the speed handle was placed at 140kph and the braking handle was placed at 0kph, the report said.

An analysis of train speed records suggested that the driver realized that the train was speeding only one second before the derailment, and he tried to quickly stop the train by moving the speed handle to the “off” position.

However, he did not move the brake handle, the report added.

The ATP was working properly, despite being turned off, the board said.

However, instead of showing that the ATP was turned off, the train control and monitoring system (TCMS) — designed by Toshiba Corp — showed that the device was “out of order,” which could have misled the driver into thinking that the train’s unstable power output was caused by a the ATP malfunctioning.

Neither the manufacturer’s instructions about the interface nor the TRA’s maintenance manual informs drivers that the ATP would be displayed as being “out of order” when it is turned off, the board added.

The train’s function to tilt when passing through curves was intact, the board said.

Two of the train’s four air compressors displayed the same error code at 12:38pm and 12:40pm respectively, but the driver who operated the train during the previous shift said that he did not report the problems because he did not notice them.

Therefore, the train departed from the Shulin Station on time, the board said.

Investigators also found that the malfunction in the air compressors was caused by foreign objects that had accumulated on the heat transfer fins of the coolers.

Degraded hollow fiber membrane filters and oil separators also prevented the air compressors from functioning normally, they said.

The board said that the report presents only factual information that it collected from data decoded from the ATP and the TCMS, images collected from surveillance cameras, and extensive interviews with stakeholders in the case.

It would present its final report in August, when it would detail potential causes of the accident and make safety recommendations, the board added.

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

title: Puyuma driver tried to stop train in last second


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: ‘Once in a century’ contraction for Australia

Australia will suffer its biggest economic contraction since the 1930s in the first half of this year due to containment measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe said yesterday.

Describing the contraction as a “once in a century event,” Lowe said that national output would fall by about 10 percent in the first half of this year, with most of the decline likely in the June quarter.

Unemployment is seen at about 10 percent by June as total hours worked are likely to decline by about 20 percent, Lowe added.

The jobless rate last month was 5.2 percent.

“These are all very large numbers and ones that were inconceivable just a few months ago,” Lowe said in a speech in Sydney. “They speak to the immense challenge faced by our society to contain the virus.”

Earlier, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed jobs recorded by the tax office payrolls system fell 6 percent between March 14 and April 4, suggesting about 780,000 job losses.

Australia has so far avoided the high numbers of COVID-19 casualties reported around the world after closing its borders and imposing restrictions on public movement.

Though the increase in new infections has slowed significantly in recent days, the country still has more than 6,600 cases, and economists have warned the government against easing social distancing rules too soon.

As entire sectors of the economy shut down, the conservative government announced a A$320 billion (US$201.82 billion) fiscal stimulus plan, while the RBA went all in cutting the cash rate to a record low of 0.25 percent and launching “unlimited” quantitative easing.

Lowe yesterday said it was likely the cash rate would stay at that level for a number of years, as inflation was expected to remain subdued.

“We will not be increasing the cash rate until we are confident that inflation is going to be between 2-3 percent on a sustainable period,” Lowe said in response to questions.

“It’s quite likely that we have the current setting of interest rate for a number of years and this is reinforced by our target on three-year bond yield of 25 basis points,” he added.

Lowe said he was hopeful a recovery could begin within the next three to four months, if restrictions remained in place for now, but that a recovery would be slow.

“Whatever the timing of the recovery, when it does come, we should not be expecting that we will return quickly to business as usual,” he said. “Rather, the twin health and economic emergencies that we are experiencing now will cast a shadow over our economy for some time to come.”

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


title: Virus Outbreak: CPC posts pretax loss of NT$17.5bn

content_text:
CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday posted a pretax loss of NT$17.5 billion (US$581.36 million) for the first quarter due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and faltering crude oil prices.

“The spread of the coronavirus has greatly dampened market demand, leading to a drop in oil prices, which fell even further after the feud between major oil exporters started,” CPC vice president Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) told the Taipei Times by telephone.

By yesterday, the price of international benchmark Brent crude oil had recovered to around US$20 per barrel, but was down from US$61 to US$63 per barrel in January, Fang said.

Prices are pictured at a CPC Corp gas station in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo: CNA

Although the decline in oil prices might represent lower costs for CPC, Fang said that this is not reflected in its first-quarter losses due to the three-month interval between shipments and end sales.

“A shipment takes on average more than 20 days to arrive [in Taiwan] and needs another 20 days of precipitation before we can start the refining process,” he said.

“We are bearing costs tied to higher oil prices [from a few months ago] while quoting prices for domestic deliveries based on a formula that accounts for current market fluctuations,” Fang said, adding that mid to long-term contracts, such as three-year contracts, account for a considerable portion of the firm’s purchases.

Its weighted oil price formula — 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude — is adjusted on a weekly basis.

CPC’s losses were exacerbated by the cost of holding an inventory of a state-imposed 60-day reserve and a self-imposed reserve tied to daily operations, he said.

As the price of US oil futures plummeted on Monday, with benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) closing at a historic minus-US$37.63 for deliveries next month, Fang said that the CPC might see more losses this month.

However, this would not lead to negative prices for domestic deliveries, he said.

“Those [WTI prices] are quoted for the futures market... It is impossible for the [same] phenomenon to occur on the spot market, which takes into consideration factors such as operational costs and other costs,” he said.

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


content_text:
Lam Wing-kei (林榮基), a former manager of Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay Books, was attacked yesterday morning by two unidentified men who threw red paint at him at a coffee shop in Taipei.

The incident took place at about 9am close to Zhongshan MRT Station near Lam’s new bookstore, which is scheduled to open on Saturday.

Lam, who immediately notified the police, said the suspects were wearing baseball caps and appeared to be in their 30s.

Lam Wing-kei, a former manager of Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay Books, displays his clothes after two men threw red paint at him yesterday near his new bookstore in Taipei, which is scheduled to open on Saturday.
 Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times

They fled the scene on foot after splashing him with red paint, he said.

“It’s hard to imagine this sort of thing happening in Taiwan,” he said after the incident, adding that he believed the attack was orchestrated by authorities in China.

“Obviously, it was a threat, warning me not to open my bookstore,” Lam said.

Zhongshan Police Precinct said it was reviewing footage from surveillance cameras in the area to identify and find the attackers.

The incident occurred one day after Lam received a legal warning from a bookstore in New Taipei City, telling him that he was infringing on its trademark by giving his store a similar name in Chinese.

However, Lam expressed doubt about the company registered in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和), saying that it was probably a shell entity serving as a front for Chinese authorities, without elaborating.

The Mainland Affairs Council yesterday said that law enforcement would investigate the matter to determine whether the Chinese Communist Party or its affiliates were behind the legal challenge.

Lam was one of five shareholders and staff at Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, which sold books critical of Chinese leaders.

He disappeared into Chinese custody at the end of 2015, and was released on bail and allowed to return to Hong Kong in June 2016 to retrieve a hard drive listing the bookstore’s customers.

Instead, he jumped bail and went public, detailing how he was detained and blindfolded by police after crossing the border into Shenzhen, China, and spent months being interrogated.

He fled to Taiwan in April last year, and subsequently raised nearly NT$6 million (US$199,322) via a fundraising Web site from September to November last year to fund his new bookstore in Taipei.

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

title: HK bookseller splashed with paint in Taipei


title: Virus Outbreak: New incentives aim to boost lending

content_text:
LEADERSHIP PERKS:
 The Financial Supervisory Commission reserved NT$180 million to reward banks that help their clients secure loans from the central bank fund

The government yesterday unveiled incentives for private banks in the hopes that they would join state-run lenders in bailing out business affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A deposit that banks are required to make to hedge against bad debts has been lowered from 1 percent to 0.5 percent of total accounts receivable when a bank issues a loan to a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) by tapping a NT$200 billion (US$6.64 million) fund provided by the central bank, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) told a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei.

That would allow the nation’s banks to save approximately NT$1 billion on such deposits, he said.

Minister Without Portfolio Kung Ming-hsin, front row center left, and central bank Governor Yang Chin-long, front row center right, lead a group of officials and representatives of the nation’s eight major banks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo: CNA

The commission has also set aside NT$180 million, or 2 percent, of a deposit insurance reserve fund to reward banks that help their clients secure loans from the central bank fund, Koo said.

The top three banks in number of loans issued, total amount of loans issued and fastest service on loans would have their deposit insurance premiums reduced, he said.

The money allocated for the rewards would likely be divided into portions of NT$90 million each, which would be tapped when banks are required to pay premiums in the second half of this and next year, he added.

In addition, processing fees for workers and small firms would be waived when they request loans from banks or are required to undergo credit history checks with the Joint Credit Information Center or the Taiwan Clearing House, Koo said.

This would save applicants about NT$300, he said.

As applications for subsidized loans available to workers and SMEs would be accepted until Dec. 31, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) was asked whether the preferential interest rates that accompany the packages would be canceled once they end.

If the pandemic does not abate after a prolonged period, the central bank would be able to double the fund to be loaned to workers and SMEs, Yang said, adding that he believes that the SME Credit Guarantee Fund of Taiwan, which offers loans of up to NT$150 million for SMEs, would be able to up the ante as well.

As of Monday, the nation’s eight state-owned banks had received 5,406 requests for loans from businesses and individuals, of which 3,300 requests totaling NT$40.2 billion had been granted, Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮) said.

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

people: 顧立雄 楊金龍 蘇建榮


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: UN urges action, Trump pledges immigration ban

The UN General Assembly yesterday demanded global action to quickly scale up the development of and access to medicines, vaccines and equipment to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, while US President Donald Trump pledged a temporary ban on immigration to the US because of the “invisible enemy” of the coronavirus.

The UN resolution asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to work with the WHO and make recommendations to ensure that all people have equitable and timely access to testing, medical supplies, drugs and future vaccines, especially in developing countries.

African officials have been outspoken about the need for medical supplies across the 54-nation continent, where health systems have historically been underfunded.

Africa has more than 23,000 infections across the continent, including more than 1,100 deaths.

In the US, Trump, who has encouraged anti-lockdown protests roiling parts of the country, said on Monday that he would halt immigration — a theme long popular with his supporters.

“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” he tweeted.

At least 22 million jobs have been lost in the US since sweeping lockdowns were implemented to slow the spread of the virus, and exasperation is growing in some parts of the country.

Singapore yesterday extended restrictions to fight the coronavirus until June 1, the city-state’s leader said, as health authorities yesterday reported 1,111 new cases taking the total to 9,125 due to a growing number of infections among migrant workers.

Meanwhile, several European countries, including Denmark, Austria, Spain and Germany, have begun gradually easing restrictions, allowing some people back to work, including hairdressers, dentists and construction workers.

However, in an indication that it will be a long time before life returns to normal, German officials yesterday announced they were calling off the world-famous Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, which typically draws about 6 million visitors each year.

In Italy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte confirmed that businesses can start reopening on May 4, but doused any hopes of a full end to the country’s strict lockdown.

“Many citizens are tired of the efforts that have been made so far and would like a significant loosening of these measures, or even their total abolition,” Conte said on Facebook. “A decision of that kind would be irresponsible.”

Spain is to begin allowing children out of their homes for brief periods starting Monday next week, but new coronavirus deaths in the country ticked up again yesterday, with 430 fatalities bringing the total death toll to 21,282.

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


content_text:
By Tsai Shu-yuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Parents should take their children for a dental checkup every six months to help detect factors that could affect teeth replacement, a dentist said.

Children normally shed their baby teeth between the ages of six and 12, which is an important stage for them, dentist Lin Chia-yung (林佳詠) of the Taichung Hospital Department of Dentistry said on April 10.

Severe dental caries could require root canal therapy or teeth extraction, or lead to permanent teeth loss, Lin said.

Parents have been reluctant to take their children to a dentist amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but children should visit the dentist at least once every six months, or once every three months when shedding their baby teeth, he said.

Lin cited a case at the hospital involving an eight-year-old boy, surnamed Fan (范), who was found to have 11 cavities as well as acute gingivitis.

Fan was afraid of visiting the dentist and was notorious for refusing to cooperate, Lin said, adding that the boy not only has a sweet tooth, but also has a habit of going to sleep with a piece of candy in his mouth.

He was placed under target-controlled infusion therapy, or extended anesthesia, while dentists cleaned his teeth and filled his cavities, which took more than two hours, Lin said.

The Health Promotion Administration provides subsidies for fluoride varnish applications for children under six, as well as for fissure sealants, he said.

Lin called on parents to instill proper dental care habits in their children.

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

title: Parents urged to take children to dental checkup


taiwan-subdivisions: 內湖 彰化

title: Taiwan Business Quick Take

content_text:
DISPLAYS

AU Optronics secures loan

Flat-panel maker AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) has secured a syndicated loan of NT$32.5 billion (US$1.08 billion) from 15 lenders, led by Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) and Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), it said in a news release yesterday. AUO plans to use the loan to fund its mid-term operating capital after posting losses of NT$19.19 billion for last year. As the syndicated loan is significantly oversubscribed, AUO said it has obtained a much higher bankroll than its original estimate of NT$26 billion.

COMPONENTS

Walsin sets conversion price

Passive components maker Walsin Technology Corp (華新科技) yesterday announced a conversion price of NT$240 per share for its first domestic unsecured convertible bond issue. The price represents a premium of 120 percent to its closing share price of NT$200 on Monday, it said in a regulatory filing. Walsin’s board of directors in late February decided on the NT$4.8 billion issue, with a maturity of four years and a zero coupon rate. The proposal was approved on March 25 by the Financial Supervisory Commission. Walsin plans to use the proceeds to purchase new facilities and equipment.

ELECTRONICS

Hon Hai expanding in Brazil

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is to set up assembly lines for Apple Inc’s iPhone SE in Brazil, the US-based media outlet 9to5Mac.com reported yesterday, citing recently published documents from Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency. The documents named Hon Hai’s local unit in Brazil, Foxconn Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda, as one of the manufacturers. Hon Hai’s move might be driven by the high taxes that the Brazilian government imposes on imported products, which can be reduced through investments in local production, the report said, adding that Hon Hai previously manufactured the iPhone XR in the country for the same purpose.

CONSTRUCTION

Chang Hong sets dividend

Chang Hong Construction Co’s (長虹建設) board on Monday proposed a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$6.3 per share based on last year’s earnings per share (EPS) of NT$10.93. The proposed dividend is the highest in six years and represents a payout ratio of 57 percent. It also indicates a dividend yield of 8.6 percent based on the stock’s closing price of NT$73 on Monday. The company added that it has signed a deal with a landowner in Taipei to jointly develop an office building project in Neihu District (內湖). Chang Hong reported a net income of NT$3.17 billion for last year, down 23.84 percent year-on-year, while revenue declined 20.56 percent to NT$9.62 billion.

FOOD

Namchow profit falls 19.9%

Namchow Holdings Co (南僑投資控股), which produces baking oil and frozen dough, yesterday reported that net income last month fell 19.9 percent year-on-year to NT$50.9 million, or EPS of NT$0.21, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the company swung back into profit last month, compared with losses of NT$65.01 million in February, net income in the first quarter still dropped 64 percent from a year earlier to NT$70.98 million, or EPS of NT$0.29. First-quarter revenue decreased 14.8 percent annually and 26.9 percent quarterly to NT$3.59 billion, the company said.

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


title: Cultural aid should help all artists

content_text:
Some people have said that the COVID-19 crisis is a combination of the 2003 SARS outbreak, the 2008 financial crisis and the 1930s Great Depression, but sometimes a crisis might be a turning point.

The 1997 Asian financial crisis turned out to be an opportunity for the rise of South Korea.

The Great Depression made many stock investors jump off buildings, but it also brought then-US president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, which included the Works of Art Project and Works Progress Administration, where the US government paid artists weekly salaries to make murals, posters and sculptures.

The projects not only allowed nearly 4,000 artists to survive a difficult period, but it also helped those like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko thrive.

The global arts sector has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and many national governments have proposed relief packages for those in the arts. Last month, curator Hans Ulrich Obrist called on the British government to create a large-scale project — a version of the New Deal — so that British artists can continue to work during the crisis.

In Taiwan, the Ministry of Culture has proposed a bailout plan, but since early last month, people have criticized it because the Taipei Art Creator Trade Union is often excluded from the ministry’s consultation committee.

The union has more than 600 active members from various backgrounds — from arts and cultural workers to administrative and technical personnel. It provides legal consultations, contract templates and other services.

Artists often have an “artistic temperament” and tend not to ask for favors, not to mention fawn over the rich and powerful, so the government might have overlooked the real needs of the arts and cultural sector.

When formulating a bailout plan, the government should also listen to public opinion.

Over the past six years, NT$3.5 billion (US$116.27 million) has been spent on 2,200 pieces of public art, an average of one piece every day. Over the past 20 years, NT$7.5 billion was spent on public art projects, an average of 221 works per year. Having spent so much money, has art really become a part of daily life?

While the SARS prevention experience left a valuable legacy, public art projects seem to have only had a limited influence on the arts in Taiwan.

As the pandemic continues, policy must be adjusted, but what have been the effects of public works of art with sky-high prices? I have seen no in-depth research and statistics, only so-called “public art awards” that keep praising their selection every year, making government policy look good.

The artistic temperament often drives artists away from the tedious bidding and creation procedures required by public projects, so few artists submit projects and many know very little about it.

The result is that those making submissions tend to be the same familiar faces, while it is difficult for young emerging artists in need of help to benefit, adding to the difficulty of introducing new artists.

In the past, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems did not let artists create their own works — they only had to submit a proposal to join a bid.

For example, the creation of public art at the Shuanglian and Xiaobitan MRT stations was carried out by the department based on the plans proposed by the artists who won the bid. The artists would later achieve a lot in their careers: some attracted so many clients that they could hardly handle demand, others became university teachers.

This practice is similar to Roosevelt’s New Deal: subsidizing newcomers rather than established artists. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

As the crisis worsens, so does artists’ situations. The ministry has only proposed “subsidies to assist arts operations,” but independent sculptors, painters, playwrights and so on are not “operations” who can provide proof of operations difficulties.

A more practical approach would be to add flexibility to the existing system, and the government should learn from the New Deal as it subsidizes projects.

Lu Ching-fu is a professor in Fu Jen Catholic University’s applied arts department.

Translated by Lin Lee-kai

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


title: World Business Quick Take

content_text:
MACROECONOMICS

UK employment slows

Growth in the number of people on British companies’ payrolls last month slowed to 0.8 percent from 1.1 percent in February, preliminary tax data that have been released earlier than usual to give a clearer sense of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic showed. “These experimental statistics show a softening picture in March, but cover the month as a whole, including the period before the coronavirus restrictions were in place,” Office for National Statistics official David Freeman said. The agency also reported a 12,100 monthly increase in the number of unemployment benefit claims last month, far below the median forecast of 172,500 in a Reuters poll of economists.

AUTOMAKERS

PSA vehicle sales fall 30%

French automaker PSA Group — owner of the Peugeot, Citroen and Opel brands — yesterday said it sold nearly 30 percent fewer vehicles during the first quarter of this year, as lockdowns due to the pandemic kept consumers away. The group suffered a less severe drop in revenue, which fell 15.6 percent to 15.2 billion euros (US$16.5 billion). The automaker sold 627,000 vehicles in the first quarter, compared with nearly 886,000 vehicles a year earlier. The second quarter is likely to be much more difficult for the automaker as lockdowns across Europe, its major market, have hobbled production and sales across the region this month. PSA now expects Europe’s auto market to shrink 25 percent this year.

BANKING

BOJ expects rising bad loans

Japanese lenders must brace for rising bad-loan costs and investment losses even as the financial system shows resilience to the COVID-19-fueled economic slump, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said yesterday. If the downturn is prolonged, more companies at home and abroad could face solvency problems, raising credit costs, it said in its semi-annual Financial System Report. Losses on banks’ securities investment “could deteriorate” due to financial market moves, and foreign currency funding might become destabilized, it said.

GAMING

Components limit Switch

Nintendo Co has asked its partners to increase Switch production to sate a surge in global demand during the pandemic, but a lack of key components, such as memory, might curtail efforts to boost output. The Kyoto-based company has instructed suppliers to meet a revised forecast for 22 million units in the fiscal year ending March 2021, people familiar with the matter said. That is about the same level as the previous year, but up from expectations of a slight decrease in production of the three-year-old console.

SOFTWARE

SAP co-CEO stepping down

German software giant SAP AG co-CEO Jennifer Morgan is stepping down after just six months in the job, as the company switches back to a solo boss to steer it through the pandemic. Morgan, 48, became the first woman to head a company listed on Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index when she was appointed co-CEO, alongside Christian Klein, in October last year. “More than ever, the current environment requires companies to take swift, determined action which is best supported by a very clear leadership structure,” SAP said in a statement on Monday. In a decision it said was “mutually agreed” with the supervisory board, Morgan is to leave on Thursday next week, while Klein stays on as sole CEO.

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


content_text:
Fitch Ratings has lowered its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year to 0.3 percent, steeply down from its previous estimate of 2.3 percent growth before the COVID-19 pandemic that could push the global economy into a recession.

The growth update suggests a nearly 90 percent cut after the virus spread from Asia to Europe and the US last month, which is unfavorable to Taiwan’s exports of electronics used in smartphones, laptops and other consumer gadgets, the ratings agency said.

The global economy is set for a 1.9 percent decline, induced partly by lockdowns to contain the virus, while China’s GDP growth might dwindle to 1.6 percent, Fitch said.

Taiwan’s projected slowdown falls somewhere between a 0.8 percent increase in 2008 and a contraction of 1.6 percent in 2009, when a global financial storm hit, it said.

The agency also revised the credit outlook for Taiwanese banks to “negative” from “stable” as the operating environment deteriorates.

Global central banks have cut interest rates to avert a credit crunch and financial market volatility is putting pressure on fees and investment income, Fitch said.

The Taiwanese government has announced measures to mitigate the shock, including a rate cut of 25 basis points, and a relief and stimulus program of NT$1.05 trillion (US$34.88 billion), equivalent to 5.4 percent of GDP, Fitch said.

Return on assets for banks could fall to 0.4 percent this year, from 0.6 percent last year, due to slower loan growth, narrower interest margins, and weaker fees and investment income, but higher credit losses, it said.

The bad loan ratio could rise to about 2 to 2.5 percent, assuming impaired loan ratios for stressed sectors — such as tourism, transport, electronics and retailers — rise to 6 percent, it said.

Corporate borrowers, especially small and medium enterprises, would be the most affected, as lockdown measures cause supply chain disruptions and dampen end-market demand, it said.

Taiwan is less susceptible to capital flight this time due to ample system liquidity backed by its strong foreign-exchange reserves, Fitch said.

However, economic uncertainty will weigh on banks’ earnings, it said.

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

title: Fitch lowers Taiwan GDP growth forecast to 0.3%


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Virgin Australia goes into voluntary administration

Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd, Australia’s second-largest airline, yesterday announced it had entered voluntary administration as it seeks to strengthen its finances amid a debt crisis.

Virgin said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange that it had appointed a team of Deloitte administrators to “recapitalize the business and help ensure it emerges in a stronger financial position on the other side of the COVID-19 crisis.”

Virgin is one of the first major airlines to seek bankruptcy protection in response to the pandemic. Virgin’s administrators have taken control of the company and will try to work out a way to save either the company or its business.

A man yesterday walks past a sign for Virgin Australia in the departures area of Adelaide Airport in Australia.
 Photo: AFP

The move came after the Australian government refused Virgin’s request for an A$1.4 billion (US$888 million) loan.

Rival Qantas Airways Ltd argued that it had three times more revenue than Virgin and was therefore entitled to an A$4.2 billion loan if the smaller airline was not to gain an unfair advantage.

“Our intention is to undertake a process to restructure and refinance the business and bring it out of administration as soon as possible,” administrator Vaughan Strawbridge said in the statement.

Virgin would continue to operate its scheduled international and domestic flights, the vast majority of which have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Virgin is struggling to repay A$5 billion in debt after several loss-making years.

Some analysts predict that if the airline survives, it will drop international services and focus on the Australian domestic market.

Virgin Australia’s major shareholders are Singapore Airlines Ltd and Etihad Airways PJSC as well as Chinese investment conglomerates Nanshan Group Co (南山集團) and HNA Group Co (海航集團). British billionaire founder Richard Branson holds a 10 percent stake.

The Australian government and businesses fear that a collapse of Virgin would leave Qantas with a virtual monopoly in the domestic aviation market.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was encouraged that “10 parties have shown interest” in Virgin’s future and have approached administrators to discuss financial deals.

“If we’d not taken the actions that we have and not demonstrated the patience that we have, then all we may have ended up doing is sending A$1 billion to foreign shareholders and that was never part of my plan,” Morrison told reporters.

“Our plan was always about seeing two viable airlines on the other side,” he added.

Virgin filled a gap left when Qantas’ former main domestic rival, Air New Zealand-owned Ansett Australia, collapsed in 2001.

Brisbane-based Virgin has 130 aircraft and employs 10,000 staff.

Opposition lawmakers and union leaders called for the government to bail out Virgin to save jobs and low-price domestic airfares.

“This crisis isn’t a result of market failure, it’s a result of a government decision to shut the market,” opposition Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese said. “That’s why talk of market-based solutions at the moment is a triumph of ideology over common sense.”

In the US, major airlines are getting US$25 billion in government aid to pay workers and avoid massive layoffs. The assistance includes a mix of cash and loans, with the government getting warrants that can be converted into small ownership stakes in the leading airlines.


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Huawei’s growth vanishes in Q1 on COVID-19 woes

Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) rapid growth slowed to a crawl in the first quarter after COVID-19 depressed demand for smartphones and networking gear around the globe.

Huawei reported a 1.4 percent gain in revenue to 182.2 billion yuan (US$25.7 billion) in the period, down from 19 percent over all of last year.

Its net profit margin shrank to 7.3 percent from 8 percent a year earlier, it told reporters.

Employees stand in a near-empty Huawei store in Guangzhou, China, on Thursday last week.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

The novel coronavirus has hammered demand for the smartphones Huawei relies on to compete with Apple Inc and drive growth, especially now the global rollout of 5G networks has decelerated.

Huawei has warned of a challenging year with the US bringing unprecedented scrutiny to bear on a company it considers a threat to national security, a claim the firm has consistently denied.

“While our growth rate has slowed, this is a resilient performance in the face of both the Entity List and the coronavirus,” Huawei vice president Victor Zhang (張國威) told reporters on a call.

Huawei is now relying on its home market more than ever to drive its business. While China experienced its first economic contraction in a decade in the first quarter, it is recovering its footing after reining in COVID-19.

China’s phone market shrank last month, according to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

However, Apple saw its iPhone shipments rebound last month, suggesting demand in the premium segment might have been delayed rather than extinguished.

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


title: China remains world’s top executioner: report

content_text:
‘UNFORTUNATE’:
 The number of executions in the world dropped by 5 percent last year, when Taiwan did not carry out the death penalty, but sentenced two people to death

Although the number of executions declined worldwide last year, China remained the world’s top executioner with more than 1,000 deaths, while Saudi Arabia executed 184 people, its highest in the past few years, Amnesty International Taiwan executive director Chiu Ee-ling (邱伊翎) said yesterday.

“A total of 20 countries carried out the death penalty in 2019. Seven of those countries are in the Asia-Pacific region. Overall, the worldwide total that we can [officially] confirm came to 657 people executed last year, a reduction of about 5 percent from 2018,” she told a news conference in Taipei as she presented the Chinese-language version of Amnesty International’s Death Sentences and Executions 2019 report.

“Taiwan did not have any executions last year, but it is unfortunate that we had two court rulings handing out the death penalty. Also, two inmates on death row died last year — one due to illness, while the other committed suicide,” she added.

Amnesty International members hold placards at a news conference in Taipei yesterday at which the group released its global report on death sentences and executions.
 Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times

Amnesty International’s adviser on the death penalty Chiara Sangiorgio said via video link-up that China was the country with the highest number of executions.

Although China keeps its execution numbers a state secret and does not release them to the outside world, the group was able to obtain the information that executions last year topped 1,000, she said.

Many countries, including China and North Korea, carried out the death penalty without transparency, so the organization was left with the task of verifying the exact figures, she added.

Following China, the four countries with the highest number of executions were Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt, the report said.

Only 13 countries had performed executions in each of the past five years, which shows that countries that carry out the death penalty are becoming a small minority, it said.

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


content_text:
RUNNING OUT OF STEAM:
 The world’s top athletic shoes maker said that it still needs the consent of its workers’ union as well as the government to make a final decision

Pou Chen Corp (寶成工業), the world’s largest maker of sports shoes, apparel and accessories, is mulling pay cuts and furloughs for its Taiwanese employees as orders slump amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Taichung-based company — whose clients include Nike Inc, Adidas AG, Puma AG, New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc and Timberland Co — is contemplating temporary pay cuts of 10 percent, furloughs and other cost-saving measures that would affect 3,000 employees in Taiwan and officials based in overseas factories.

Pou Chen spokesman Ho Ming-kun (何明坤) told reporters that the firm has not made a final decision, as it requires the consent of its workers’ union and the government.

New Balance shoes are worn by the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard during the second half of a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Jan. 14.
 Photo: AFP

The 51-year-old company is seeking to furlough employees for six days per month for three months, which might be extended depending on how the pandemic pans out, Ho said.

“It is better to be furloughed than laid off” in hard times, local Chinese-language media quoted Pou Chen employees as saying after a meeting with officials about the issue on Monday night.

Pou Chen’s first-quarter revenue tumbled 22.4 percent year-on-year to NT$59.46 billion (US$1.98 billion), the weakest in six years, company data showed.

Orders have reportedly plummeted 50 percent in the current quarter, with little visibility beyond, analysts said.

Nike, Adidas and other international sports brands have shut down retail outlets in the US, Europe and elsewhere to support social distancing orders by governments around the world to curb the spread of the virus, analysts said, adding that indefinite suspensions of major sports events have compounded the problem.

The company’s original equipment manufacturing (OEM) business for major footwear brands reported that sales declined by up to 16.4 percent year-on-year in the first two months of this year, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a note earlier this month.

“Pou Chen’s OEM shoe sales volume was 322.4 million units in 2019, down 1.1 percent year-on-year,” Yuanta said. “Given that 60 percent of its OEM shoe business is from the EU and US markets, which will likely be impacted by COVID-19 in the first half of 2020, we estimate its OEM shoe business sales would fall by up to 10 percent year-on-year this year.”

The proposed 10 percent pay cuts would apply to employees and officials, including CEO Tsai Pei-chun (蔡佩君), daughter of the company’s founder, Tsai Chi-jui (蔡其瑞), media reports said.

It would be the first time Pou Chen had invoked such measures to stay afloat, and it said it hoped employees would understand and help the company survive the crisis. Pou Chen employs 350,000 workers at factories in China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Operations in overseas markets are not covered by the belt-tightening scheme, local media said.

Shares of Pou Chen yesterday fell 5.54 percent to NT$27.30 in Taipei trading, underperforming the broader market’s 2.82 percent decline, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.

Earlier, the firm’s Vietnamese unit, Pouyuen Vietnam Co, suspended production for two days after failing to meet local rules on social distancing to curb the outbreak.

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

title: Virus Outbreak: Pou Chen mulls pay cuts, furloughs


people: 張其祿 賴香伶

content_text:
Virus Outbreak: TPP calls for landlords to reduce ‘outrageous’ rents

BIRD IN HAND:
 The head of Tsuei Ma Ma said it would not be easy for landlords to find new tenants if existing occupants leave because they cannot pay the full rent

Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers yesterday urged landlords nationwide to reduce their rents amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The global spread of the novel coronavirus has led to an increase in the number of people who are unemployed and has affected disadvantaged groups, the TPP legislative caucus told a news conference in Taipei.

Low-income families were already struggling before the pandemic, it said, adding that rent alone puts an enormous amount of pressure on those families.

Taiwan People Party legislators Jang Chyi-lu, left, and Lai Hsiang-lin hold a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday to call on landlords to lower rents amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times

Over the past few years, not only have property prices soared, but rent has also gone up “outrageously,” TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said.

Now, in the midst of the crisis, many shop owners have found themselves unable to pay rent, he said, adding that some restaurants have already gone out of business.

Some landlords — including the central and local governments — have begun to lower rent for their tenants, Jang said, citing as examples the Taiwan Railways Administration and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp, which have vowed to cut rent by at least 25 percent.

Landlords should sympathize with tenants and reduce or delay rent payments, the party said.

Tsuei Ma Ma Foundation for Housing and Community Services CEO Lu Ping-yi (呂秉怡) said that for most tenants, rent is their largest expense, consuming about 30 to 50 percent of their income.

As a result, when problems with their jobs arise, rent becomes a heavy burden, he said.

Lu echoed the party’s call for landlords to lower rent for tenants from a “philanthropic” perspective.

It would not be easy for landlords to find new tenants for their properties under the current situation should existing ones leave because they cannot pay the full rent, he said.

Instead of spending months without rental income, landlords might as well cut rent by 20 to 30 percent, he added.

TPP Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said that the government should set up a platform to help tenants struggling to pay rent due to a decrease in or loss of income negotiate rent deferrals with their landlords.

It should also ensure that when it lowers rent for businesses operating on publicly owned real estate, those cuts are extended to the businesses’ subtenants, she added.


title: China Steel slashes prices for June

content_text:
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s largest steelmaker, on Monday announced that it would slash steel prices for June deliveries after earlier cutting prices for next month, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to weigh on market demand.

Seeking to relieve some of the pressure from the crisis on downstream industries, the company said the latest price adjustments should help customers rise up to the challenge of a business downturn.

The price cuts should also help customers reduce inventory, improve financing and increase their competitiveness, CSC said in a statement.

A worker cuts steel plates at a China Steel Corp factory in Kaohsiung on Aug. 26, 2016.
 Photo: Reuters

The company is to cut June prices by NT$900 (US$29.89) per tonne for hot-rolled steel plates and hot-rolled steel coils, as well as hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel pipes.

Prices for electro-galvanized sheets and hot-dipped galvanized steel coils would be reduced by NT$600 per tonne, CSC said.

The price adjustments, averaging 1.68 percent, represent the company’s largest cuts so far this year.

Citing similar attempts to revive the steel industry by Chinese industry peers Baoshan Iron & Steel Co (寶鋼) and Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corp (鞍鋼), CSC said it expects the industry to recover, bolstered by government stimulus measures to cushion the economic blow from the pandemic.

Earlier this month, CSC reported a 19.03 percent year-on-year drop in first-quarter revenue to NT$77.92 billion, the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2016.

While shipments for last month improved compared with February’s level, the company said costs of raw materials, including coking coal and iron ore, remained heavy.

CSC posted pre-tax losses of NT$2.01 billion for the first two months of this year.

Shares of CSC fell 2.55 percent to NT$19.10 in Taipei trading yesterday. They have dropped 17.36 percent this year, compared with the broader market’s 11.67 percent fall over the same period, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.

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


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Foreign ministry calls on WHO to detail its response to early reports about virus

The WHO Secretariat should clarify how it responded to reports from various nations at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus repeated his claim that Taiwan had not sounded the alarm on human-to-human transmission.

Tedros made the remark at the global health body’s regular news briefing on Monday, when he was asked how it responded to and acted on Taiwan’s e-mail on Dec. 31 last year warning about potential human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus.

“News resources today indicate that at least seven atypical pneumonia cases were reported in Wuhan, China. Their health authorities replied to the media that the cases were believed not SARS; however, the samples are still under examination, and cases have been isolated for treatment. I would greatly appreciate it if you have relevant information to share with us,” the Centers for Disease Control said in the e-mail.

When he revealed the e-mail’s existence on April 11, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said in Taipei that “isolated for treatment” implies that health experts should be on guard about human-to-human transmission of a disease.

“There was no reference made in that query to anything other than what had been previously reported in news media,” WHO Health Emergencies Program executive director Michael Ryan told Monday’s news conference, after summarizing the content of the e-mail.

When the news conference’s coordinator signaled that they were ready to take another reporter’s question, Tedros said that he wanted to make his stance clear again.

“The first e-mail was not from Taiwan. Many other countries have already, well, asked for clarification. The first report came from Wuhan, from China itself,” Tedros said. “Taiwan didn’t report any human-to-human transmission. This has to be clear.”

“The e-mail from Taiwan, like other entities, was to ask for clarification. Nothing else,” he said.

Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) yesterday said in a statement that the key is how the WHO Secretariat assessed and responded to the reports it received, rather than which nation filed the report first.

The WHO Secretariat should further explain what reports it had received at the onset of the disease last year and how it acted on the reports, she said.

Taiwan’s report to the WHO Secretariat was fulfilling its responsibility to maintain the global healthcare system, Ou said, again urging the WHO to adhere to its founding purpose and help all nations contain the “Wuhan pneumonia” crisis with professionalism and impartiality.

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


content_text:
Senhwa Biosciences Inc (生華科) yesterday said that it plans to conduct animal testing of its experimental new drug Silmitasertib to see if it can curb replication of the novel coronavirus.

The firm’s announcement came after preliminary testing by the National Health Research Institutes found that the drug is capable of inhibiting the related human coronavirus OC43’s (HCoV-OC43) nucleocapsid protein, which plays an important role in virus proliferation.

Senhwa earlier this month asked the agency to run an initial trial after the University of California, San Francisco last month identified Silmitasertib among 69 drugs or experimental compounds that might be effective in treating COVID-19.

However, as only National Taiwan University Hospital has access to the novel coronavirus, the agency could not test the drug against it, so HCoV-OC43 was targeted instead, the company said.

“As HCoV-OC43 is highly similar to the novel coronavirus in terms of genome sequence, we were excited about the test results, as they might suggest that the experimental drug, originally designed as a cancer treatment, could be an anti-viral drug,” a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone.

Encouraged by the outcomes, Senhwa, which previously said that it had no intention of conducting anti-viral tests as it wanted to focus on trials for a cancer treatment, changed its mind and plans to conduct testing later this month at the earliest.

The testing, to be conducted on mice, would begin after the protocol with contract research groups is set, Senhwa said, adding that the testing is expected to finish within one month.

“We would not test against the novel coronavirus, as we do not have a biosafety level 3 lab, which is necessary given the high contagion risk. However, we would test against other viruses,” said the official who declined to be named.

Senhwa would apply with international foundations for sponsorship to run human testing if the animal testing has promising results, the official said.

The company said that it would share its results with the US National Institutes of Health, with which it has partnered on the drug’s development.

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, the firm said.

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

title: Virus Outbreak: Senhwa to start tests on new drug


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: Convenience stores start to take orders of masks via kiosks

Starting today, people can order their two-weekly quota of nine masks at the nation’s four major convenience store chains, giving consumers another option for purchasing masks, the Central Epidemic Command Center said yesterday.

Masks are to be available for order during specific time frames announced by the government, with the first one starting at 8am today and ending at 8pm on Friday.

Consumers can place their orders using self-service kiosks at more than 10,000 FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, OK Mart and Hi-Life convenience stores.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, announces the government’s latest mask policy at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
 Photo courtesy of Central Epidemic Command Center via CNA

They have to present their National Health Insurance (NHI) cards and pay for the masks with the order.

The orders can be picked up between Thursday next week and May 13 at the designated convenience store.

People can also have the masks delivered to Pxmart or Simple Mart stores for pickup, but the two supermarket chains cannot take orders because they do not have NHI card readers, an Executive Yuan official said on condition of anonymity.

The official did not offer details on the frequency or timing of future purchases at convenience stores.

Consumers still have the option of preordering masks online and collecting them at convenience stores, the official said.

Since a mask rationing program started on Jan. 31, the quota for each person has been increased from two to three per week and then to nine every two weeks, while the sales platforms have been expanded from pharmacies to include a government Web site and a mobile app.

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


content_text:
Virus Outbreak: IBM Q1 revenue falls, pulls forecast on COVID-19 woes

International Business Machines Corp (IBM) reported a drop in first-quarter revenue and pulled its profit forecast for the year, signaling that the COVID-19 pandemic has become another hurdle for the company in its transition to cloud computing.

Sales declined 3.4 percent to US$17.6 billion in the period that ended on March 31, the Armonk, New York-based company said on Monday in a statement.

Analysts, who recently updated their projections to adjust for the pandemic, expected revenue of US$17.7 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Journalists photograph the automated guided bus Olli at the IBM booth during a media walkabout at the CeBIT fair in Hanover, Germany, on March 19, 2017.
 Photo: EPA-EFE

New chief executive officer Arvind Krishna, who took the reins from Ginni Rometty earlier this month, has the challenge of leading the 108-year-old tech giant through the economic shocks stemming from the pandemic.

The company has been trying to boost its share of revenue from hybrid-cloud software and services, which lets customers store data in private servers and on multiple public clouds, including those of IBM rivals Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp.

IBM bought Red Hat Inc for US$34 billion in 2018 to boost this effort. It has also heavily promoted its Watson artificial intelligence systems.

“For the next few months, we have to be focused on the stability of the business and be sure we preserve our liquidity and balance sheet,” Krishna said on a conference call with analysts, becoming the first IBM chief executive in decades to join an earnings call.

Moving forward, the focus would be on hybrid cloud and AI, with quantum computing “coming down the road,” he added.

Shares fell about 3 percent in extended trading after closing at US$120.41 in New York on Monday. The stock has declined 10 percent this year.

IBM saw a sales slowdown in cognitive software last month as the pandemic took hold and the economy wound down.

In the near-term, the company expects that clients will postpone projects, particularly involving software, while demand for hardware should remain stable, executives said on the call.

Earnings, excluding some costs, were US$1.84 a share in the quarter, compared with the average analyst estimate of US$1.81.

Cloud revenue increased 19 percent to US$5.4 billion in the first quarter.

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


content_text:
In the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the international community, which largely follows a “one China” policy, was mostly oblivious to the fact that Taiwan’s health and medical network is in no sense subordinate to that of China or even connected to it. By pretending that Taiwan is part of China, many countries effectively allowed Taiwan to become orphaned from international health and medical networks.

In the process of controlling the coronavirus, Taiwan was for a time dragged down by China. It was treated as part of the outbreak zone and made subject to travel bans or restrictions by countries such as Italy.

Later on, China wanted to declare victory in the fight against the pandemic, but Taiwan was still discovering imported cases of COVID-19 among citizens returning from abroad. To claim that it had achieved zero new cases, China took the “bold step” of excluding Taiwan from its COVID-19 statistics.

It can be seen from this that even though China uses the rhetoric of “one China” to promote its unification strategy, it sees “one China” as dispensable under certain circumstances.

As for Taiwan, China sees it as a toxic issue that causes nothing but trouble.

Taiwan should exert the same boldness in its interactions with the international community as China did when excluding Taiwan. When deciding what to call itself, it should avoid using language that could cause confusion about Taiwan’s separate identity.

“Taiwan and China — one country on each side” is not so much an independence slogan as an accurate description of reality. For Taiwanese to call themselves “Taiwan” in their dealings with the international community does not symbolize Taiwanese independence — it merely reiterates the reality that Taiwan is not governed by China.

Changing the nation’s title in the Chinese language would involve amending the Constitution, but that does not mean that Taiwan can only use one name in English. In its foreign relations, the nation can follow the principle of highlighting “Taiwan” when naming itself in foreign-language documents, while doing its best to avoid formulas that are too similar to those of China.

This would help to ensure that the international community clearly recognizes the political reality that Taiwan and China do not own or rule one another.

For example, Taiwan does not use the title “Republic of China” when it takes part in international sports events or WTO meetings. These are all technical details of the way that administrative documents are translated into foreign languages. They also constitute a pragmatic approach to events concerning foreign relations that does not involve amending the Constitution or altering the cross-strait “status quo.”

Taiwan cooperates with the international community. Its performance as an outstanding member of the international community has been clear for all to see during the course of the pandemic and China cannot be allowed to steal Taiwan’s limelight.

As for China, its neglect of its duties as a member of the international community has attracted widespread condemnation, as has its dreadful record on human rights.

Hopefully the Taiwanese government will seize this rare opportunity and make good use of all available possibilities to make the international community clear about Taiwan’s sovereignty and independent status, while drawing a clear line between Taiwan and China.

Liu Chi-wei is a lawyer and director of the Northern Taiwan Society.

Translated by Julian Clegg

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

title: Virus a time for Taiwan to iron out its identity


content_text:
Data of the dead: Virtual immortality exposes holes in privacy laws
A lack of regulation means the deceased may be brought back to life in virtual form — without their consent

Have you ever wanted to talk to a loved one after they died? It used to be that only necromancers and mediums could claim to contact the dead, but soon digital versions of the deceased could be living just a few clicks away.

From South Korea to the US, tech start-ups are looking at ways to keep the dead alive in a digital afterlife that data experts say poses myriad legal and ethical questions the world is yet to properly address.

“Technically, we can recreate anyone online given enough data,” said Faheem Hussain, a clinical assistant professor at Arizona State University’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society.

“That opens up a Pandora’s box of ethical implications,” he said.

Most services only allow people to sign up to their own digital afterlife while they are still alive.

However, the lack of regulation on the issue leaves the door open for others with access to the data of the deceased to bring them back to life in virtual form — raising concerns about privacy and consent, data experts said.

“In most countries in the world, the data of the deceased are not protected,” said Edina Harbinja, a senior lecturer in media and privacy law at Aston University in Birmingham, England.

“So, nothing in law would prevent the creation of an avatar or android that would resemble the dead,” she said.

That could happen without the consent of the deceased, and the data used could infringe on other people’s privacy if it includes, for example, conversations the person had with friends and others, she said.

From virtual reality (VR) to artificial intelligence (AI), advances in technology have spurred a series of initiatives offering different shades of virtual immortality in recent years.

In February, a South Korean broadcaster aired a tearful reunion between a mother and her deceased seven-year-old daughter who was recreated through VR as a digital avatar modeled upon a child actor using photos and memories from her mother.

Other companies have been looking at social media as a source of information to create chatbots that could impersonate us after we are gone.

ETER9, a social network set up by Portuguese developer Henrique Jorge, pairs each user with an AI “counterpart” that learns to copy their online behavior and can post comments and content on their behalf — even after they are dead.

“When a user decides to keep his counterpart active for eternity, he will have the extension of himself alive forever,” Jorge said in e-mailed comments.

“Some years from now, your great-grandchildren will be able to talk with you even if they didn’t have the chance to know you in person,” he said.

US-based Eternime offers a similar service, while Replika, a company in California, creates digital alter egos that users can talk to when in need of a confidant or companion.

Other start-ups like SafeBeyond and GoneNotGone allow people to record videos and messages that will be dispatched to their loved ones after death, like letters from the grave marking birthdays or other life events.

While some people might find comfort in the idea of living on digitally after they die, data experts warn that holes in data protection laws make it possible to virtually resurrect someone without their permission.

Wills can provide some guidelines if they contain directions on how to dispose of the deceased’s digital assets, but in some countries there is no guarantee these will be honored, Harbinja said.

In Britain, for example, decisions around what to do with data are seen as personal wishes — akin to preferring cremation rather than burial — that can be overridden by executors and heirs and are not enforceable in court, Harbinja said.

A few European countries allow heirs to exercise data protections granted to the living, such as the right to access or erase personal data or move it from one social media platform to another.

ETER9 founder Jorge said his social network deals with some of those issues by allowing users to set up their account to stop generating posts on their behalf once they have died.

Users can also nominate a person to be responsible for their account after death.

However, even those safeguards bring about some ethical conundrums, such as whether it would be right to pull the plug on a digital avatar that someone had set up as a perpetual testament to their life, Harbinja said.

“Should the data protection and other laws cater for the rights of the family or of the deceased?” she asked. “And where do we draw the line between life and death, or between remembering someone and recreating someone?”

With the number of Facebook profiles belonging to dead people expected to outnumber those of the platform’s living users within a few decades, data privacy questions are becoming more pressing, Carl Ohman at the Oxford Internet Institute said.

Besides helping bereaved people grieve, the data left behind by the deceased can provide future generations with an unprecedented insight into our society, said Ohman, a digital afterlife expert.

“This [Facebook] is the biggest archive of human behavior ever assembled in the history of our species,” he said by phone.

And leaving companies which stand to make money from that archive to decide what to do with it could be problematic, he added.

Some might decide to delete profiles that are not profitable, destroying valuable historical data, while others could create avatars that do things their living versions would have not approved of in a bid to increase returns, he said.

One solution would be for the industry to come together and self-regulate around ethical standards similar to those adopted by archeological museums — treating the data of the deceased as if they were “digital human remains,” Ohman said.

Companies could make aggregated and anonymized data of deceased people public for researchers to study, releasing more detailed information — particularly about relevant historic figures — as the years pass, he said.

At the same time, full digital resurrections should be limited to people who consented to it in life, and they should be made fully aware of how their data is going to be displayed post mortem, leaving no room for later modifications, he added.

Guessing how the digital afterlife world will develop — and how popular virtual avatars could become — might take longer still.

The ETER9 Web site, which has been under maintenance for weeks, has about 70,000 users, Jorge said, compared with Facebook’s 2.5 billion.

The Eternime project counts on almost 47,000 subscribers, but is currently on hold due to a lack of funding, its founder said.

Hussain said it is important to start a global conversation to address some of the issues the industry poses before they come to the fore.

This is particularly true at a time where online interactions are ballooning as the new COVID-19 pandemic forces many to stay home, he added.

“Human society as a whole is creating more digital footprints than ever before,” he said.

“One of the certainties in life is that we are going to be dead, so where’s the design for that?” he said.

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