Taichung official criticizes stagnation with aquarium not open after a decadeBy Tang Tsai-sheng and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerAn aquarium in Taichung’s Cingshui District (清水) that started development more than a decade ago under then-Taichung mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) still has no animals and has not opened, Taichung City Councilor Yang Tien-chung (楊典忠) said on Sunday. Under Hu, the aquarium was initially envisioned as a penguin conservation center and later an Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin conservation center, Yang said. “When Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) became mayor, the city pushed for its development as a jellyfish conservation center, and then as an all-purpose aquarium,” Yang said. The initial construction budget was NT$350 million (US$12.56 million), which was increased to NT$570 million when Lin decided that it should be an all-purpose marine conservation center, Yang said. “Following several unsuccessful attempts to find a bidder for the build-operate-transfer project, Nan Ren Hu in July stepped in after adjustments were made to the contract,” he said.

COVID-19: Group launches ‘I Support Taiwan Vaccine’ campaignBy Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with CNAFormer members of the Wild Lily student movement on Thursday launched an “I Support Taiwan Vaccine” campaign, urging people to register to receive locally produced COVID-19 vaccines. Former members of the Wild Lily student movement at a news conference in Taipei on Thursday hold placards calling for people to support the development of domestic COVID-19 vaccines. The Central Epidemic Command Center on Wednesday said that on Aug. 23, a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp would become part of Taiwan’s inoculation program. The FDA authorized the vaccine because those given it had neutralizing antibodies that compared favorably to those generated in people given AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, a concept known as immunobridging. National Taiwan University Graduate Institute of Journalism director Hung Chen-ling (洪貞玲) said that the I Support Taiwan Vaccine campaign aims to boost support for Medigen’s product and other domestic vaccines still in development.

COVID-19: Upfront fee for vouchers might be done away withBy Lee Hsin-fang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Executive Yuan yesterday signaled that it might do away with an upfront payment in its planned quintuple stimulus voucher program, as differentiating between who would qualify to have the NT$1,000 buy-in waived might cost too much to administer. Envelopes of Triple Stimulus Vouchers from a program last year are pictured in an undated photograph. Moreover, determining who is eligible to have the fee waived becomes more complicated with each condition, leading to enormous administrative costs, Su said. Last year, an upfront payment of NT$1,000 was exchanged for NT$3,000 of vouchers. The quintuple stimulus voucher program plan is for NT$5,000 of vouchers.

Amnesty concerned about electronic ID card securityLACKING SAFEGUARDS: Taiwan lacks cybersecurity mechanisms for an eID program, a critic said, while an Estonian hack saw 300,000 ID photographs stolenBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterAmnesty International Taiwan yesterday called for the establishment of a dedicated oversight body for the government’s planned electronic identification card (eID) program, citing potential privacy and security concerns. The NT$3.3 billion (US$118.45 million at the current exchange rate) eID program was initiated by the Ministry of the Interior to replace national IDs with cards containing electronic chips that store personal information. Along with calling for new cybersecurity laws and an independent regulatory body to oversee the program, Chiu and others demanded that the government allow people the choice to continue using traditional IDs. New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said the scheme must consider privacy concerns and potential human rights issues. “The current laws and regulatory bodies are insufficient for security protection and safety for use of eIDs,” he said.

Local semiconductor output is now projected to grow 24.7 percent from a year earlier to NT$4.01 trillion, the market information advisory unit of the Industrial Technology Research Institute said. IEK had in May forecast that output this year would increase 18.1 percent to NT$3.8 trillion. The IEK forecast that the local semiconductor industry would see quarterly increases in shipments in the second half of the year, paving the way for robust full-year growth in output. Among the four major segments of the semiconductor industry, IC design reported the highest sequential growth of 17.9 percent to NT$306.9 billion, IEK data showed. The IEK forecast that the four major IC segments would see a combined output of NT$1.05 trillion in the third quarter, up 6.8 percent from the previous quarter.

Nineteen eateries join this year’s Bib Gourmand listBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterNinety-one restaurants and street vendors in Taipei and Taichung made the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list this year, including 19 that were listed for the first time, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday. This year’s edition, with both the eateries awarded Michelin stars and the Bib Gourmand list, is to be officially released online on Aug. 25. The Bib Gourmand list would usually be announced prior to the guide’s official release. The Gulu Gulu Aboriginal live music restaurant in Taichung’s West District is pictured in an undated photograph. The Taichung restaurants and street vendors appearing in the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list this year are pictured in an undated illustration.

Taiwan, US hold first online coast guard discussionsBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterTaiwan and the US yesterday held the first coast guard working group meeting to discuss joint missions at sea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The videoconference was convened in line with a memorandum of understanding signed on March 25 that established a joint coast guard working group, the ministry said in a statement. Patrol vessel the Chiayi is pictured in Kaohsiung on April 29, the day the ship was handed to the Coast Guard Administration. Photo: CNADuring the meeting, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and the US Coast Guard exchanged opinions over maritime law enforcement, including fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities, and joint search and rescue missions, the ministry said. The meeting came after media reports on Tuesday said that Taiwan and US coast guard personnel had conducted a joint drill off the coast of Hualien County, reports that the CGA denied.

Sports Administration Director-General Chang Shao-hsi sits alone on a July 21 flight to Tokyo to attend the Olympic Games. That arrangement was necessary to allow social distancing between the athletes, which would not have been possible in business class, as there are only 36 seats in that section, it said. It flew all Taiwanese athletes in business class on their return from Tokyo after the Games. After submitting his request to resign, Chang was told to first go to Tokyo to handle matters related to the athletes. DPP caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said that somebody has to take full responsibility for letting athletes sit in economy class, as it was a mission handed down by the president and the premier.

Dad gets 10 years in gas station deathBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterThe Kaohsiung branch of the Taiwan High Court yesterday handed a heavier, 10-year sentence to a man after his three-year-old daughter died from an air pump at a gas station. The High Court found Kuang guilty of deliberately causing injury to a child resulting in death. The incident took place in January 2019, when Kuang drove to a gas station in Kaohsiung for the self-service car wash, as his daughter sat in the front passenger seat. He was found guilty of failing to look after the girl and allowing her to play with the air pump. The High Court ruled that Kuang had directly caused the girl’s death, most likely by putting the air nozzle in her mouth.

A teacher attends an online English class from her home in New Taipei City on May 19. In the first half of the year, the computer and IT services sector posted record combined revenue of NT$209.2 billion, up 12.4 percent year-on-year, the ministry said. The computer programming industry’s revenue rose 11.3 percent from a year earlier to NT$157.1 billion, while the IT services industry increased by 15.8 percent to NT$52.1 billion, it said. However, the technical support and professional services sector’s revenue declined 1.1 percent from a year earlier to NT$74.1 billion, the ministry said. Overall, the technical support and professional services sector reported first-half revenue edging up 0.4 percent to NT$144.6 billion, the ministry added.

Department of European Affairs Deputy Director-GeneralKendra Chen attends a news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei yesterday. Department of European Affairs Deputy Director-General Kendra Chen (陳詠韶) told an online news briefing yesterday that the ministry has twice urged the office to ensure that the divers can enter Cyprus and participate in the competition. “The case is pertinent to national dignity and people’s rights,” and the ministry would do its best to ensure the divers join the competition, she said. The divers are communicating with the ministry in the hope that they can enter Cyprus and join the competition, he said. To ensure that the divers can enter Cyprus, the association might suggest that they identify as coming from China and undergo PCR testing before their flight, he said.

Nearly 90 percent of public identify with Taiwan: pollBy Chen Yu-fu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerNearly 90 percent of the public identify themselves as Taiwanese and about two-thirds said they are willing to fight for the country in case of war, a survey released yesterday by the Taiwan New Constitution Foundation showed. The question about national identity showed that 89.9 percent identify themselves as Taiwanese and 4.6 percent as Chinese, while 1 percent consider themselves to be both, the poll showed. Asked about Taiwan’s future, 50.1 percent of the public support maintaining the “status quo,” 38.9 percent back independence and 4.7 percent favor joining China. Asked about the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics, 65.1 percent of respondents said they referred to the country’s Olympic delegation as “Taiwan” in conversation, while 27.6 percent said they called it “Chinese Taipei” or “Zhonghua” (中華), the poll showed. The poll, conducted from Tuesday to Friday last week, collected 1,071 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Group urges deeper ties with the BalticCOMMON VALUES: The government could consider creating ‘travel bubbles’ with the region and including Baltic languages in foreign ministry exams, lawmakers saidBy Chien Hui-ju and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Legislative Yuan’s Friendship Association With the Baltic States yesterday urged the government to adopt policies to deepen relations with central and eastern Europe. The ministry should consider including eastern European languages in its exams, as fluency in Baltic languages would increase the efficiency of promoting bilateral relations, he added. The ministry should also initiate a review on how to best utilize its offices in the Visegrad Group to interact with more European countries, he said. Chang Liao suggested stepping up interaction between the legislatures of Taiwan and the Baltic states. The countries in central and eastern Europe have experienced similar oppression that Taiwan has undergone, and they also strive to achieve democracy and liberty, he said.

Environmental Impact Assessment: What happens to bento boxes after downing that chicken leg with rice? During his bachelor existence, he admitted, he always threw empty bento boxes in with other non-recyclable solid trash. Cleaned bento boxes, ready for recycling. Used paper tableware is pictured in January last year. Yet used bento boxes are often trucked a considerable distance — Tainan, for instance, is over 200km from the nearest recycling plant — and processing them requires significant amounts of electricity and water.

Deterrence key to managing China threat: MoriartyStaff writer, with CNA, WashingtonThe US will have to bolster its regional deterrence capability to manage the threat to Taiwan posed by an increasingly assertive China, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman James Moriarty said. American Institute in Taiwan Chairman James Moriarty talks to the media in Taipei on April 15, 2019. However, there is “no hope” that this approach would succeed, given what Taiwanese have seen happen in Hong Kong, Moriarty said. “Unfortunately, I fear that we’re at a stage where deterrence is probably the most important thing Taiwan can do,” he said. Asked if Washington should replace its policy of “strategic ambiguity” with an explicit guarantee to defend Taiwan, Moriarty expressed skepticism.