Ministry announces Europe scholarship programBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday announced a Taiwan-Europe Connectivity Scholarship program to attract more European students to study Mandarin in the nation and advance bilateral relations. Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei TimesThe umbrella program includes three projects targeting the Czech Republic, Hungary and the UK, Chen said. In the project targeting Hungary, 11 local universities would provide 30 scholarships per year to students from nine Hungarian universities, Chen said. The foreign ministry offers subsidies to local universities based on their scholarship quotas, while they should provide a monthly stipend of at least NT$15,000 to each recipient, Chen said. The ministry plans to extend the program to other European countries, especially those that have established representative offices in Taiwan, Chen said.

Taiwan Cooperative Financial pursues stable profit growthBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterState-run Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co (合庫金控) is pursuing stable profit growth this year on the back of economic improvement at home and abroad, although the operating environment remains challenging, the company said yesterday. Vehicles drive past a Taiwan Cooperative Bank branch on Guan Chien Road in Taipei on Feb. 12, 2019. Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co yesterday said it is pursuing stable profit growth this year on the back of economic improvement at home and abroad, although the operating environment remains challenging. It said that its main subsidiary, Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行), which generated 85.15 percent of overall earnings last year, would boost reverse mortgage operations and lending to urban renewal projects. Taiwan Cooperative Bank would seek to expand its business overseas, especially in Southeast Asia and the US, it said.

EDITORIAL: Charge hikers for needless rescuesAs a hiking craze continues to boom in Taiwan, the strain it is putting on the nation’s emergency rescue services has become a serious issue. Some incidents have been serious, and the government and hiking experts have urged people to research, prepare and train before heading into the mountains. The headline of an article in the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in August last year read: “Treating helicopters as taxis,” showing how bad the problem has gotten. The government should perhaps charge for all search-and-rescue missions — not just helicopter rescues — that are clearly due to neglect. Missions typically involve more than 20 personnel, but while no law prevents hikers from calling for help, neither does a law allow departments to charge for rescues.

Taishin Financial upbeat over income, silent on life dealBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterTaishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) yesterday gave a rosy outlook for fee income and the interest rate spread this year, but was silent on progress toward acquiring Prudential Life Insurance Co of Taiwan (保德信人壽). Taishin Financial in December last year submitted an application with the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) regarding its bid for the local unit of US-based Prudential Financial Inc. The commission has not yet approved the deal and on Monday said that Taishin Financial had failed to explain the financial resources it would use for the acquisition. The entrance of Taishin Financial Holding Co’s headquarters in Taipei is pictured on Dec. 9, 2019. Taishin Financial has a 22.55 percent stake in CHB.

ChipMOS expects revenue increase this yearBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterChipMOS Technologies Inc (南茂科技), a driver IC and memorychip tester and packager, expects revenue to increase by a double-digit percentage this year, fueled by strong demand and price hikes amid a supply crunch, company chairman Cheng Chih-chieh (鄭世杰) told an investors’ teleconference yesterday. “We are quite bullish about ChipMOS’ business outlook this year, as the company is benefiting from improving semiconductor demand and short chip supply,” Cheng said. The driver IC and memorychip tester and packager yesterday said it expects revenue to increase by a double-digit percentage this year, fueled by strong demand and price hikes amid a supply crunch. To cope with strong demand, ChipMOS plans to allocate 20 to 25 percent of its revenue this year to add new capacity, the firm said. ChipMOS said that it expects to distribute a higher cash dividend next year.

Bus crashes into mountain, killing sixBOROUGH OUTING: The cause of the accident along the Suhua Highway is still being investigated, with the driver saying that it was because the brakes were not workingBy Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNASix people died yesterday when a tour bus carrying 45 passengers crashed into the side of a mountain along the Suhua Highway. A tour bus is pictured in Yilan County’s Suao Township after it crashed into the side of a mountain along the Suhua Highway yesterday afternoon. Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei TimesThe bus had been manufactured in January 2018 and had passed its regular inspection this year, the Directorate-General of Highways said. New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) Office said that the bus was carrying residents of the district’s Fusing Borough (復興). That includes a basic coverage of NT$2 million in compulsory vehicle liability insurance and NT$2 million in travel agency liability insurance, Insurance Bureau Director-General Shih Chiung-hwa (施瓊華) said.

ACT urges Mailiao Harbor be used as LNG terminal siteBy Hsieh Chun-lin and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerAir Clean Taiwan (ACT) yesterday suggested southern Yunlin County’s Mailiao Harbor (麥寮港) as a potential location for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, saying that it would save algal reefs and 20 million lives in western Taiwan. Addressing Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) in a news conference at the Legislative Yuan, ACT Yunlin representative Lin Fu-yuan (林富源) blasted CPC Corp, Taiwan’s planned location for its third LNG terminal. From left, Lin Fu-yuan, spokesman for Air Clean Taiwan’s (ACT) Yunlin branch, Taisi Village Sixth Naphtha Cracker Pollution and Harm Self-help Association director Hwang Yuan-her, ACT director Jeremy Yang and ACT chairman Yeh Guang-perng hold a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei TimesHe suggested the Port of Taipei for the Taoyuan terminal and Mailiao Harbor for another site, as the southern port at Mailiao is lying idle and is near an empty plot of land. ACT chairman Yeh Guang-perng (葉光芃) said the agency’s unsolicited upgrade has caused the regions’ leaders to mistakenly believe that they are meeting the standards, he said.

Mailiao cannot replace Datan: MOEA‘IMPOSSIBLE’: An LNG plant and terminal can be built in Mailiao to replace coal-fired plants, but not as a substitute for the Datan project, Wang Mei-hua saidBy Angelica Oung / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday dismissed reports that the government is planning to replace the third liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal project in Taoyuan with an LNG terminal in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮). “Mailiao is also 180km from the Datan Power Plant where the gas is needed. Photo: CNAWang said the ministry would “heartily approve” the construction of an LNG power plant and receiving terminal at Mailiao, not to replace the third LNG terminal, but to replace coal-fired plants, which release far more pollutants into the air. Taiwanese voters will go to the polls on Aug. 28 to decide the fate of the third LNG terminal. There are to be three other referendums on the ballot, including one calling for the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to be activated.

Growth in property market for northern Taiwan remains sluggish, survey showsStaff writer, with CNAThe housing market in northern Taiwan remained sluggish last month, a survey released on Thursday last week by Chinese-language My Housing Monthly showed. Under My Housing Monthly’s color-coded system, “red” indicates overheating, “yellow-red” shows fast growth, “green” represents stable growth, “yellow-blue” signals sluggish growth and “blue” indicates contraction. The housing market in northern Taiwan remained sluggish last month, a survey released on Thursday last week by Chinese-language My Housing Monthly showed. Amid cautious sentiment among developers, new residential property listings in northern Taiwan totaled about NT$30 billion (US$1.06 billion) last month, down from about NT$50 billion in January, Ho said. The survey was conducted before the government unveiled its latest measures to rein in speculation in the property market.

Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Andy Chiu holds up a sign during a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei TimesSung had authorization to log into the bureau’s Marine Technician Management System, the prosecutors’ office said. Some people would rather pay to obtain a license because the test is too difficult, he said, adding that the bureau should change the test as well. Bureau Director-General Yeh Hsieh-lung (葉協隆) said that prosecutors had charged Sung and 50 other people, adding that the bureau has revoked 18 yachting licenses. To prevent similar incidents, the bureau would limit the authority of personnel issuing yachting licenses, and they would rotate jobs every three years, Yeh said.

Rules to release positive cases to be relaxed todayASYMPTOMATIC: People who test positive for COVID-19 overseas and those who test positive in quarantine may get out of isolation early, public health authorities said Modified standards to allow people who have tested positive for COVID-19, but have no symptoms, to be released from isolation after arriving from overseas are to be implemented today, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that from today, asymptomatic individuals who test positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Taiwan would be divided into two groups. The first group is “arriving travelers who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in other countries and later tested negative twice before entering Taiwan,” Chen said. He said that they would be released fromBy Lee I-chia

KMT calls on Facebook not to meddleBy Lin Liang-sheng and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerChinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) yesterday called on Facebook not to “interfere in Taiwan’s politics,” after the platform suspended the account of an environmental campaigner for a “violation of community standards.”Rescue Datan’s Algal Reefs Alliance convener Pan Chong-cheng’s (潘忠政) Facebook account was temporarily suspended on Sunday for sharing a post about former Taoyuan city councilor Wang Hao-yu (王浩宇) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that reportedly made allegations about Wang’s sexuality. Pan said he shared the post after Wang accused him of corruption, which Pan said was not true. From left, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Jennifer Chen, Cheng Li-wun and Alex Fai hold a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. The KMT regrets the suspension, Fai said, adding that he hoped Facebook would “carefully review its decision.”KMT Legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said the party would collect evidence proving that the DPP was involved, and would “file a report with prosecutors and the Control Yuan.”“The whole country is concerned about the referendum to protect the algal reefs, which shows that everyone wants to discuss the protection of the ecosystem,” she said. “A healthy democracy is a place where people can discuss public policy.”Facebook said in a statement that the post contained language of a sexual nature involving minors, which was the reason for the 30-day suspension.

US approves trials of new cancer drug delivery procedureBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) yesterday said that a new cancer drug delivery system — DBPR115 — developed by an affiliated institute has obtained approval from the US Food and Drug Administration as an investigational new drug that can enter phase 1 clinical trials. IBPR Director Chang Jang-yang (張俊彥) said that drugs can be used to treat cancer cells, but high doses often cause severe side effects, as they can also damage normal cells. Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei TimesThe new system more effectively delivers drugs to targeted cancer cells, reducing the side effects, Chang said. The new delivery system uses a small molecule to replace the antibody and bind it to the drug, delivering it to targeted cancer sites more efficiently, increasing drug concentration at targeted tumor sites for a better therapeutic effect with reduced side effects, Tsou said. The small molecule drug delivery system can also enhance the drug’s ability to recognize signals from cancer cells more effectively, he said.

China breached HK declaration: UK‘NONCOMPLIANCE’: Changing Hong Kong’s election rules violates the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Dominic Raab said, but Beijing said the UK had no say in the matterThe GuardianBritish Secretary of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab on Saturday accused China of breaching a legal deal over the governance of Hong Kong, amid criticisms of Beijing’s attempts to tighten its control over the territory. “The UK will continue to stand up for the people of Hong Kong. China must act in accordance with its legal obligations and respect fundamental rights and freedoms in Hong Kong,” Raab said. Tensions have been growing since China imposed a National Security Law in Hong Kong, making it easier to clamp down on protesters. The joint declaration was signed by the UK and China in 1984.

KMT sidelines foreign influence bill‘MOUTHPIECE FOR CHINA’: DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei slammed the KMT, saying that the bill is much needed in the face of Beijing’s attempts to influence TaiwaneseBy Chien Hui-ju and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerDemocratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) on Saturday slammed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) after the latter returned a draft foreign influences transparency act to the legislature’s Procedure Committee earlier in the week. Last year, the DPP and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party proposed a foreign hostile forces transparency act and a foreign forces and agents act respectively. Compared with other pan-green camp bills proposed over the past year, undeclared foreign agents would face a bigger fine under the new proposed bill, while people who failed to register as foreign agents would have faced fines of NT$200,000 to NT$700,000. The proposed foreign influences transparency act would have given regulators the information they need to be aware of influence, for example by requiring lobbyists to disclose the foreign governments for which they work or depend on for funding, he said. In response to Chen, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said that “if Chen really cares about the issue, she should not have added her personal political agenda” to the bill.