Trump is bad news for TaiwanBy Linus Chiou 邱士哲Despite the three criminal indictments he is facing, former US president Donald Trump is actively campaigning for the presidency: By all accounts, his campaign is going well in parts of the Republican base. A New York Times poll published on July 31 found that 54 percent of Republican voters would support Trump if the election for the party’s presidential nominee were held today. For instance, in an interview with Fox News, Trump accused Taiwan of taking away semiconductor business from the US and said that Washington should have imposed tariffs on Taiwan. Nevertheless, some Republicans remain skeptical about supporting Kyiv, seeing the Ukraine war as a result of NATO’s expansionism. Trump believes that he could end the war in one day by pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to the negotiation table.

The KMT, Ukraine and stories of elephantsBy Teng Hon-yuan 鄧鴻源In the jungle of a southeast Asian country, an elephant calf fell into a deep well. The mother elephant was deeply upset and agitated. The mother elephant was afraid they would drown, so she got into the well and held the baby elephants above the water. The KMT also said that some Taiwanese were stupid enough to support Ukraine. If Taiwanese had not offered Ukraine assistance, who would help when it is in trouble?

TTL raises the prices of Taiwan Beer, cigarettesStaff writer, with CNATaiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (TTL) yesterday said that it has increased the recommended retail price of Taiwan Beer and its own-brand cigarettes due to rising raw material costs. TTL said it had raised the recommended retail price of Taiwan Beer products — Gold Label, Classic and 18 Days Draft — by NT$5 (US$0.16) per bottle or can, effective from Tuesday last week. In addition, the recommended retail price of TTL cigarettes has been raised by between NT$5 and NT$10 per pack, the state-owned company said. Cans of Classic Taiwan Beer are pictured in Taichung in an undated photograph. The latest price hike comes two months after TTL raised the price of kegs and bottles of Taiwan Beer products by 1 to 2 percent for large wholesalers and by 3 to 7 percent for small wholesalers.

July officially hottest month on recordbreaking point: The concern is not how hot it was last month, but that the record would soon be broken, and people have yet to adapt to this type of life, a scientist saidAPNow that July’s sizzling numbers are all in, the European climate monitoring organization made it official: Last month was Earth’s hottest month on record by a wide margin. It was so warm that Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization made the unusual early announcement that it was likely the hottest month days before it ended. “It’s a stunning record and makes it quite clearly the warmest month on Earth in 10,000 years,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany. And before the Holocene started there was an ice age, so it would be logical to even say this is the warmest record for 120,000 years, he said. “We should not care about July because it’s a record, but because it won’t be a record for long,” Imperial College of London climate scientist Friederike Otto said.

Union blasts TPP over sexy ‘flight attendants’ danceStaff writer, with CNAThe Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday accused the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) of “sexualizing and objectifying” female flight attendants with a dance routine at a campaign event for party chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Sunday. It called on Ko and TPP Taipei City Councilor Chang Chih-hau (張志豪), a former pilot who helped arrange the performance, to apologize for the dance, which it said compounded the difficulties and sexism faced by female flight attendants. Dancers perform at a campaign event for Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je in Taipei on Saturday. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei TimesThe union said that airlines made the sexualization and objectification of female flight attendants “a selling point” by forcing cabin crew to wear impractical and tight-fitting uniforms that are designed to be revealing. TPP spokeswoman Lin Tzu-yu (林子宇) said her party respects all vocations, as well as the professional judgement of the dancers involved in the performance.

Quite a few township mayors and elected officials across Taiwan have been prosecuted and sentenced for taking bribes or for obtaining fees fraudulently. Local governments are charged with executing a wide range of tasks, with nearly every project related to public construction, welfare and the economy. A local government official was once criticized for frequently authorizing the excavation of roads to install or repair pipes. Local officials find it difficult to get elected without being involved in factions, money, favors and connections. The crackdown on corruption is only an afterthought, while the solution to the problem lies in the moral insistence on “rejecting corruption.” If elected officials could abide by the law and act fairly and honestly, they would be able to achieve great political outcomes and a clean government.

Japan to part fund TSMC plantSUBSIDY: Whether the government would pay for half of the second TSMC plant would depend on what type of chips are to be made there, Yoshihiro Seki said The Japanese government is to pay for a significant part of a second Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) factory in southern Kumamoto Prefecture, leaders of the ruling party’s lawmaker coalition on chips said. Giving no support would be out of the question after the government pledged to shoulder half the cost of the first Kumamoto plant, said Akira Amari and Yoshihiro Seki, chairman and secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party’s group on semiconductors. Amari said about one-third of the cost is the norm for these types of projects, and the amount of support for the first was unusually large. The subsidies would

Agency warns farmers about risks of hot weatherBy Chiu Chih-juo / Staff reporterHumid hot weather in summer has led health officials to issue a warning for farmers, stressing four points: “shielding sunlight, hydration, rest and being alert.”Taiwan has about 1 million farmers, whose average age is older than other workers and their bodies are less capable of cooling off, Health Promotion Administration (HPA) officials said. Currently Taiwan has experienced a rise in temperature by 1.6°C compared with 2021, while with the seasonal change summers became longer from 120 to 150 days on average, Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said. Health Promotion Administration officials and guests hold placards at a news conference in Taipei on July 20 publicizing heat-risk prevention measures for farmers. Studies at Academia Sinica indicated the correlation of the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index with cases of heat exhaustion, the HPA said. “My tiller, plow and rice harvester all have air-conditioner added, and when operating the rice transplanter, I cover up its top with canvas to shield myself from the sunlight and to avoid heat-related injuries,” he said.

India delays shock curb on imports of laptops, tabletsBloombergIndia on Friday backtracked on its sudden plan to curb laptop and tablet imports without a license, giving companies three months to secure the permits. India’s trade regulator surprised the world’s biggest PC makers when it made licenses mandatory for imports of electronics from small tablets to all-in-one PCs. Customers look at Apple Inc laptop computers at the Apple Saket store during its opening in New Delhi on April 20. However, on Friday, India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued a new order saying companies can import electronic goods such as laptops, tablets and other PCs without a license until Oct. 31. It is also part of a wider state push to boost local production and create a world-class tech manufacturing industry in India.

Olympic swimming test competition in Seine canceled due to pollutionAFP, PARISThe pre-Olympics swimming test competition due to take place yesterday in the Seine in Paris was canceled due to pollution of the river, the international swimming federation said after analysis of the latest water samples. Following recent heavy rainfall, “water quality in the Seine has remained below acceptable standards for safeguarding swimmers’ health,” World Aquatics said in a statement yesterday. A crane yesterday dismantles a temporary venue to host a pre-Olympic swimming test competition on the Seine in Paris after the event was canceled due to pollution. Olympic open water swimming has frequently been hit by pollution concerns. The triathlon event in Sunderland served as the British leg of the World Triathlon Championship Series and coincided with the qualification period for the Paris Olympic Games.

ASEAN can help keep regional balanceBy Nigel Li 李澤霖Great power competition is expected to only continue to increase frictions along geopolitical fault lines. Caught between China and the US, no other regional organization recognizes this more acutely than ASEAN. “ASEAN centrality is not a panacea,” ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn said, but it is something that can be used to help deal with current and upcoming challenges. CRISIS MANAGEMENTThe problem remains that external powers might misunderstand the interests of ASEAN states. DIALOGUEDespite the challenges that Southeast Asian nations face, ASEAN continues to matter as it remains the key platform for regional cooperation.

Hou You-yi, Ko Wen-je cause stir at movie premiereStaff writer, with CNANew Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), both candidates in next year’s presidential election, yesterday made a rare appearance together at the premiere of a documentary in Taipei. New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi, left, and Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je shake hands at a documentary premiere in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei TimesFollowing the screening, Hou, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential nominee, said he was “touched” by Chiang’s efforts to pursue democracy in Taiwan. Ko — who has on more than one occasion expressed his admiration for Chiang and named his party after Chiang’s Taiwanese People’s Party, despite opposition from Chiang’s descendants — said he would “inherit” Chiang’s unfinished work. The premiere was held on the campus of the Blessed Imelda’s School in Taipei, where the cultural association was headquartered more than a century ago.

Police arrest Imran Khan after court convicts former PMAP, ISLAMABADPolice yesterday arrested former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan at his home in the eastern city of Lahore after a court convicted him in an asset concealment case and handed him a three-year prison sentence. Supporters of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan protest outside the press club in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir yesterday. Photo: AFPHis Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party condemned the ruling and said it would challenge the decision in a superior court. While a superior court can suspend the conviction, it is the country’s election body that has the final say on whether people can be in politics. “Instead Imran Khan used the time to delay the court proceedings and went back and forth to the high court and supreme court to halt this case,” she said.

Media get Taiwan history wrongBy Gerrit van der WeesThere is no doubt that US-China relations are tense, as — under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — the communist government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is increasing its political, economic and military pressure on democratically governed Taiwan. During the next three to four decades, the Chinese Nationalists occupying Taiwan continued their claim to rule China. And this leads to the second misconception one often finds in international media: That “one China policy” means that the West recognizes Taiwan as part of China. Thus, the international media would bring more balance to their reporting if they included language highlighting Taiwan’s own history, culture and existence separate from China. He now teaches the history of Taiwan at George Mason University, and US relations with East Asia at the George Washington University Elliott School for International Affairs.

Foreign exchange reserves hit record high US$566.49bnASSET ALLOCATION: US government bonds remain the safest asset, despite the US’ credit rating being downgraded by Fitch Ratings, an official saidBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterThe nation’s foreign exchange reserves last month grew US$1.66 billion to a new high of US$566.49 billion, helped by value gains in major reserve currencies other than the US dollar, the central bank said yesterday. It was the ninth consecutive month foreign exchange reserves increased, even though the New Taiwan dollar lost 1.04 percent against the greenback after foreign portfolio managers cut their holdings in local shares and wired cash dividends to their home nations, Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民) told a news conference. The currency movements were due to the dividend season last month and this month, Tsai said, adding that foreign institutional investors wired about US$7 billion abroad last month. Tsai said US government bonds remain the safest asset with the best liquidity, despite the US’ credit rating being downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrade would have little impact on the central bank’s asset allocation, as it would buy US government debt to better utilize the nation’s foreign exchange reserves, Tsai said.