Tennis stars back ‘bold’ WTA move in ChinaPENG SHUAI: The WTA’s move to suspend its tournaments in China could potentially cost it hundreds of millions of dollars because the country is one of its biggest marketsAFP, WASHINGTONTennis stars threw their support behind the Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) move to suspend its tournaments in China over concern for Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai (彭帥), as calls grew yesterday for other sports organizations to take action. WTA chairman and CEO Steve Simon reiterated his calls for China to conduct “a full and transparent investigation — without censorship” into Peng’s claim that Zhang “forced” her into sex. Women’s Tennis Association chairman and CEO Steve Simon attends a retirement ceremony for Martina Hingis in Singapore on Oct. 29, 2017. Photo: APThe WTA’s move to suspend its tournaments in China, including Hong Kong, won the immediate backing of some of the biggest names in tennis, among them men’s No. It could potentially cost the WTA hundreds of millions of dollars because China is one of its biggest markets.

Pandemic taking toll on people with mental illnessBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterPeople with a mental illness and their families face difficult challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Eden Social Welfare Foundation said on Wednesday, urging the government not to suspend necessary support services. Local COVID-19 outbreaks in May and a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert in effect from the middle of that month led to visiting restrictions at healthcare and long-term care facilities, as well as the suspension of community services and activities. The restrictions have caused many people with mental illness to be separated from their families or caregivers, leading to worsened conditions and causing some family members to feel helpless and isolated as support services were suspended, the foundation said. Eden Fountain House director Liao Fu-yuan (廖福源) said that based on the calls the foundation received from families of people with mental illness, they faced five common challenges. The foundation said as the pandemic can worsen at any time, the government should understand the needs of people with mental illness and their families, and prepare to provide necessary support services should another local outbreak occur.

EDITORIAL: Chinese miscalculation a real threatWhen analyzing Taiwan-China tensions, most people assume that the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) consists of rational actors. These assumptions have underpinned recent analyses — including by Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) — concluding that there is no immediate danger of a Chinese attack against Taiwan. “The Chinese Communist Party leadership increasingly favor bold and decisive action justified on national security grounds. The days of [former Chinese leader] Deng Xiaoping’s [鄧小平] ‘hide your strength, bide your time’ are long over,” he said. The risk of Chinese miscalculation through overconfidence is real.”This should give the government pause.

EU unveils ‘Global Gateway’BloombergThe EU is seeking to mobilize 300 billion euros (US$340 billion) in public and private infrastructure investments by 2027 to offer developing countries an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The EU’s “Global Gateway” project, unveiled yesterday, outlines spending on digital infrastructure, transport, energy and health projects. Photo: AFP“The EU will offer its financing under fair and favorable terms in order to limit the risk of debt distress,” the European Commission said in a statement. “Global Gateway has the potential to turn the EU into a more effective geopolitical player,” German Ambassador to the EU Michael Clauss said. “For many partner countries, the offer of a rules and values-based cooperation at eye level will be an attractive alternative to the Chinese Belt and Road initiative.”

Japan, US ‘could not stand by’: AbeINVASION: Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said: ‘A Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency, and therefore an emergency for the Japan-US alliance’Staff writer, with Reuters and CNAJapan and the US could not stand by if China attacked Taiwan, and Beijing needs to understand this, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday. Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe speaks via video link to a forum organized by the Institute for National Policy Research in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times“A Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency, and therefore an emergency for the Japan-US alliance. Of course, this is also in the interest of the whole world,” Abe said. British Secret Intelligence Service Chief Richard Moore speaks at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London on Tuesday.

US, China in hypersonic weapon ‘arms race’: officialReuters, WASHINGTONThe US and China are engaged in an arms race to develop the most lethal hypersonic weapons, US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said on Tuesday, as Beijing and Washington build and test an increasing number of the high-speed next-generation arms. “There is an arms race, not necessarily for increased numbers, but for increased quality,” Kendall said in an interview at his Pentagon offices. “It’s an arms race that has been going on for quite some time. Hypersonic weapons travel in the upper atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound, or about 6,200kph. Arms makers Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp and Raytheon Technologies Corp have all touted their hypersonic weapons programs to investors as the world’s focus shifts to the new arms race for an emerging class of weapons.

China has no jurisdiction over Taiwanese: MOFAPOLITICAL TOOL: The ministry shared three rules it follows when Taiwanese are arrested overseas, after a report was released on deportations to ChinaBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter, with AFPTaiwan and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and the Chinese government has no jurisdiction over Taiwanese nationals, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. The ministry was responding to a report by rights group Safeguard Defenders on Tuesday that said Beijing has pressured foreign governments to deport hundreds of Taiwanese to China. More than 600 Taiwanese were extradited from numerous countries to China between 2016 and 2019 in an effort to “undermine Taiwanese sovereignty,” the report said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs logo is pictured at the ministry in Taipei in an undated photograph. Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei TimesThe ministry yesterday listed three rules when handling Taiwanese allegedly involved in telecommunications fraud in other nations.

Heritage expert Rabindra Puri gestures during an interview in June at his house, in Bhaktapur some 12km east of Kathmandu. Her Kathmandu temple is only open to the public one day a year, but officials removed the work for safekeeping in the 1970s — after which it disappeared. “Our art for us is not just art, they are gods to us,” said heritage expert Rabindra Puri, who campaigns to repatriate stolen Nepali heritage and has assembled a collection of replicas for a planned museum on the issue. In March, the Dallas Art Museum and the FBI returned to Nepal a stolen 12th to 15th-century androgynous stone sculpture of Hindu deities Laxmi-Narayan. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art handed over a 10th-century stone sculpture of the Hindu god Shiva in September, the third item it has repatriated to Nepal since 2018.

Local biogas industry to benefit from Danes’ tipsBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterMuch more than pig waste can be turned into biogas and Taiwan can learn from Denmark, which is a world leader in biogas technology, Council of Agriculture (COA) Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) told a Denmark-Taiwan Net Zero Agriculture 2050 forum in Tainan on Monday. “Taiwan has been promoting biogas production from pig manure since 2017, but pig manure alone is not efficient,” Huang said. Biogas is also a great way to optimize the use of organic waste from agriculture, livestock farms, households and industry, Monsted added. By 2030, the Danish Biogas Association aims to replace natural gas in Denmark with biogas or biomethane. The Circular Taiwan Network estimates that the local biogas industry has the potential of generating NT$10 billion (US$359.58 million) per year, while creating 4,500 job opportunities.

Moderna warns against Omicron vaccine struggleAFP and AP, LONDON and NEW YORKExisting COVID-19 vaccines will struggle against the fast-spreading Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the head of vaccine manufacturer Moderna said yesterday. Pfizer, another US drug maker, on Monday said that it began on Friday testing its current COVID-19 vaccine against the Omicron variant. However, the testing could show that existing shots “protect less,” which would mean “that we need to create a new vaccine,” he said. “Friday we made our first DNA template, which is the first possible inflection of the development process of a new vaccine,” he said. Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday broadened its recommendation for COVID-19 booster shots for all adults as the new Omicron variant is identified in more countries.

Loan-to-deposit ratios at domestic banks hit new low of 69.93 percent in OctoberBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterDomestic banks’ overall loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) hit a new low of 69.93 percent at the end of October, from 70.07 percent in September, as deposits at the banks exceeded their lending, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) reported yesterday. Combined deposits increased by NT$355 billion (US$12.77 billion) from September to NT$47.65 trillion, while total loans increased by NT$179 billion to NT$33.32 trillion, commission data showed. In October, the gap between deposits and loans increased to NT$14.33 trillion, the data showed. Profit from banks’ domestic operations increased 17 percent annually to NT$191 billion, while profit from their overseas branches increased 48 percent to NT$26 billion, the data showed. However, profit from their Chinese operations declined 33 percent to NT$3.1 billion, due to lower investment returns and higher loan-loss provisions, the commission data showed.

Extraditions of Taiwanese to China a concern: groupBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterAbout 610 Taiwanese nationals accused of crimes in other countries were extradited to China from 2016 to 2019, international non-governmental organization (NGO) Safeguard Defenders said yesterday, calling on the international community to intervene in the practice. About 610 Taiwanese nationals accused of crimes in other countries were extradited to China from 2016 to 2019. But one group that has received far less attention to date: hundreds of Taiwanese nationals have been detained and forcibly extradited to mainland China from around the world,” the group said in a news release yesterday. In 2014, China began pressuring Kenya over a group of more than 70 Chinese and Taiwanese nationals wanted for suspected telecommunications fraud, and in 2016 Kenya agreed to transfer some of them to China, it said. “At least two of the Taiwanese nationals were later shown delivering televised forced confessions in China,” it said.

Taiwan, South Korea ink deal to prevent double taxationBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterTaiwan and South Korea have signed an agreement to prevent double taxation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that the government is also seeking trade pacts with Australia and India. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade revenue last year reached a new high of US$35.74 billion, Chow said, adding that Taiwan and South Korea are each other’s fifth-largest trading partners. Asked if there is any progress negotiating a Taiwan-India free-trade agreement, Chow said that the government continues to push for a deal. In the post-pandemic era, many countries are rebuilding resilient supply chains based on shared values, Chow said, adding that Taiwan and Australia are reliable partners. Taiwan is Australia’s 10th-largest trade partner and one of Canberra’s few main partners that have not signed a bilateral trade agreement with it, Chow said.

Indonesian president reassures firms after court rules against investment lawReuters, JAKARTAIndonesian President Joko Widodo yesterday said that his government would ensure legal certainty for investors, offering continuity guarantees amid jitters and confusion over last week’s court ruling against a controversial job creation law. The Indonesian Constitutional Court, ruling on Thursday a case brought by labor unions, said there were procedural flaws in the formation of the legislation passed last year, which the government had touted as potential a game-changer in luring foreign investment to Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. The “omnibus” law saw the revision of more than 70 existing laws, in an effort to reduce red tape and streamline new business permitting. The president said that the court had ruled that the law would remain in effect pending the changes, which his Cabinet would address as quickly as possible. Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto yesterday said operations of the Indonesia Investment Authority, its sovereign wealth fund, would remain unchanged, despite the ruling.

Baltic delegation shows solidarity with TaiwaneseStaff writer, with CNAThe head of the Lithuanian parliament’s Taiwan friendship group yesterday said he and other lawmakers from Baltic states are visiting Taiwan to show their support for the country amid Chinese threats. “We are here to express solidarity with you,” Lithuanian Member of Parliament Matas Maldeikis told President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) during a visit yesterday morning. Lithuanian Member of Parliament Matas Maldeikis, left, bumps elbows with Premier Su Tseng-chang, who met a delegation of lawmakers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania yesterday in Taipei. Their visit marks the first time lawmakers from all three Baltic states have sent a joint delegation to Taiwan, Tsai said. “Taiwan and the Baltic nations share similar experiences of breaking free from authoritarian rule and fighting for freedom,” she said.