TAITRA launches virus aid siteONE-STOP SERVICE: The Web site provides medical workers, government officials and businesses access to educational videos and ways to buy medical equipmentBy Natasha Li / Staff reporterThe Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) yesterday launched the Taiwan Global Anti-COVID-19 Pavilion, an online information center, in cooperation with more than 2,000 local firms and 20 hospitals. With all information provided in English, the Web site offers a one-stop service catering to medical professionals, government officials, corporations and businesses, as well as individuals, Huang said. The Web site hosts a multitude of educational videos on epidemic prevention, and overseas medical personnel can even request video conferences with local doctors and healthcare providers, Huang said. “Companies that wish to purchase our medical equipment can do so through the Web site, as all products are clearly listed,” he added. “The Web site is also connected to Taiwan Centers for Disease Control’s 1922 COVID-19 hotline, which offers international patients more direct access to medical services,” Huang said.

Firms to spend NT$3bn on tripsKEEPING IT LOCAL: Although many firms had planned to hold trips overseas for their employees, they are instead opting to spend that money on domestic eventsBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterNearly 300 financial companies plan to spend NT$3.032 billion (US$101.3 million) subsidizing domestic trips for employees from this month to the end of the year to help boost the economy, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday. Banks plan to spend NT$1.36 billion, the highest among all industries, followed by insurers with NT$1.35 billion, securities companies with NT$185 million and accounting firms with NT$67 million, the commission said. Many firms had planned to organize overseas trips for their employees, or hold conferences and employee training courses abroad, Huang said. Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) yesterday said it would spend NT$700 million on domestic travel and training programs for its 58,000 employees. The company’s insurance unit, Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽), plans to spend NT$220 million on similar endeavors, it added.

Q3 labor demand forecast to be lowest in 11 yearsStaff writer, with CNAThe demand for workers from July to September is expected to rise by 21,100 from this quarter, the lowest level for the same period in 11 years, a survey published by the Ministry of Labor on Tuesday showed. The manufacturing sector has the highest demand, with a hoped-for workforce increase of 7,200 people, followed by the wholesale and retail sector, which wants to hire 3,000 additional staff, the survey found. People line up at a Tainan City Government office on May 23 to apply for emergency relief funds. Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei TimesThe demand for workers in the medical, healthcare and social services field was third, at 2,200. However, the third quarter of 2009 saw a net increase that was even lower, with just of 19,563 workers added, ministry data showed.

Global smartphone shipments to fall by 12 percent, IDC saysReutersGlobal smartphone shipments are to fall nearly 12 percent to 1.2 billion units this year, market research firm International Data Corp (IDC) said on Wednesday, citing lower consumer spending due to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. “What started as a supply-side crisis has evolved into a global demand-side problem,” IDC senior research analyst Sangeetika Srivastava said in a statement. Taipei-based research firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in April that it expected global smartphone production to slump a record 16.5 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier. In China, where the economy has begun to reopen and factories have resumed operations, IDC expects a single-digit decline this year. The research firm also expects upcoming 5G deployment to help smartphone shipments recover next year, adding that it does not expect growth to return until the first quarter of next year.

Virus Outbreak: Bureau questions six over ‘mask hoarding’By Jason Pan / Staff reporterThe Criminal Investigation Bureau yesterday said it had arrested six people on suspicion of illegally stockpiling and selling medical masks made by a factory in central Taiwan. Bureau officials told a news briefing that they had seized 180,000 masks after raiding the factory and several warehouses on Friday last week. Boxes of confiscated masks are stacked up at the Taichung Criminal Investigation Bureau premises yesterday. Lai said that the bureau started its surveillance in late April after receiving reports that a company based in Taichung’s Wurih District (烏日) had been “stockpiling” masks. Agents also found more than 10,000 defective items and faulty masks returned from pharmacies, which Lai said were used to supplement the under-the-table mask production.

CCP must make amends for Tiananmen: councilBy Chung Li-hua and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) human rights record has worsened since the Tiananmen Square Massacre 31 years ago, which it continues to cover up, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. On June 4, 1989, Beijing used military force to suppress a student demonstration calling for democratic reform in China, but the CCP still refuses to face the facts surrounding the massacre, the council said. The council called on Beijing to heed the calls of Chinese for democracy and to promptly reform its political system. Only then can the well-being of the Chinese public be improved and China effectively governed,” the council said. The council also called on China to release Taiwanese democracy activist Lee Ming-che (李明哲), who was imprisoned in China in 2017.

DPP urges Kaohsiung residents to voteDEMOCRACY IN ACTION: The resolution urges everyone to exercise their right to vote, which is the best expression of civil rights and enshrined in the ConstitutionBy Yang Chun-hui / Staff reporterThe Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Central Standing Committee yesterday unanimously passed a resolution urging Kaohsiung voters to exercise their right to vote in Saturday’s recall election of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜). Regardless of whether they support or oppose the recall, Kaohsiung residents should vote this weekend, the resolution says. Thanks to the hard work of Kaohsiung’s residents, a recall proposal surpassed a signature threshold and led to the first-ever recall vote of a mayor or county commissioner, it says. All Kaohsiung residents should vote, regardless of the outcome they support, so that they can express their opinion, he said. Asked to which side he is inclined to vote, Chen said that the opinions of the city’s residents should be respected.

Instead, he showed them videos about the racist origins of blackface and slavery in America, and they agreed to drop the makeup. “[I told them] about the history [behind blackface] and [said] you decide whether you want to do it.”These Instagram screenshots show popular YouTuber group Wackyboys performing the coffin dance in blackface. Photo: ScreenshotAlthough the crew decided not to do the skit, other Taiwanese groups have drawn fire for performing it in blackface. This follows popular dance group Luxy Boyz’ performance of the same dance in blackface last month at popular night club Omni. After complaints, the club and crew removed the videos and refrained from wearing blackface in subsequent acts.

More Taiwanese against China: pollBy Chung Li-hua, Dennis Xie and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writersSeventy-three percent of Taiwanese do not consider the Chinese government a friend, a poll released on Tuesday by Academia Sinica showed — the highest figure since the poll started in 2012. The poll indicates that Taiwan is distancing itself from China, which is especially evident among the younger generation, researcher Wu Chieh-min (吳介民) said. Those who identify as both comprised 43 percent, the poll showed. Less than 30 percent of KMT supporters backed the protests, which garnered higher support from pan-green camp supporters, the poll found. The poll showed that Taiwanese support a free Hong Kong, as a majority of people agree with the mindset of “backing Hong Kong is supporting Taiwan,” Wu said.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has not stalled the deployment of 5G, Chunghwa Precision has “a cautiously optimistic view about the outlook for the third quarter,” it said in a statement. Chunghwa Precision Test Technology Co president Scott Huang, left, and new chairman Lin Kuo-feng pose for a photograph after an annual general meeting in Taoyuan yesterday. Photo: Hung Yu-fang, Taipei TimesFor the full year, Chunghwa Precision expects 5G applications and base stations to fuel demand for wafer testing services, given the complexity of 5G chips. As the pandemic is raising uncertainty about the global economy, Chunghwa Precision said it is closely monitoring how the disease would affect consumer demand. Chunghwa Precision president Scott Huang (黃水可) was re-elected and would take a seat on the board.

Green Party begins signature drive for referendum requestBy Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporterThe Green Party Taiwan has begun gathering signatures for a petition to hold a referendum on whether lawmakers should amend the Additional Articles of the Constitution to better reflect the “current needs” of the nation. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei TimesTaiwan should “cut its legal relationship with China,” Green Party Taiwan convener Yu Hsiao-ching (余筱菁) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. “This Constitution has never applied to Taiwan’s current situation.”The young generation needs a new constitution, Green Party Taiwan Secretary-General Rita Jhang (張竹芩) said. Yu said that the Green Party Taiwan supported Tsai in the election and could understand the president’s “more conservative” view on the matter. However, the party still believes that Taiwan should draw a clear line regarding its relationship with China, she said.

Prosecutors probe 92 arrested in Montenegro for fraudBy Chang Jui-chen and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office is investigating 92 fraud suspects arrested in Montenegro early this year, including one who is believed to have been forced into cooperating with the alleged scheme, prosecutors said yesterday. Prosecutors identified a woman “in her 20s” by the alias Hsiao Ping (小萍), who had been backpacking through Europe with her boyfriend when they ran out of money. An undated photograph shows Criminal Investigation Bureau personnel in Taipei escorting alleged members of a fraud ring who were extradited from Montenegro. Montenegrin investigators transfer evidence of alleged fraud by Taiwanese suspects to Criminal Investigation Bureau officials in an undated photograph. The members of the alleged fraud ring were arrested one day before they were to receive their pay for that month, he said.

Virus Outbreak: Stimulus coupon program a ‘triple deception’: KMTBy Lin Liang-sheng and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerA Ministry of Economic Affairs estimate of the economic benefits created by a stimulus coupon program is unrealistic, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers said yesterday, calling it an attempt to scam the public and self-delusion by the government. The program is unbecoming, as the government seems to be offering the world when it is only providing NT$2,000 in stimulus coupons, for which NT$1,000 must first be spent, he said. KMT Legislator Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) called the policy a triple deception: a deception of the public and officials deceiving themselves after deceiving deities. Tseng said that as the program has not resolved the potential problem of the substitution effect, the policy’s efficacy is dubious. The KMT finding faults with the coupon program is an admission that there is a possibility people would fail to use cash handouts or that cash handouts would trigger the substitution effect, he added.

Virus Outbreak: MOFA thanks Paraguay, US for evacuation helpBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked the Paraguayan and US governments for helping arrange a charter flight to evacuate 21 Taiwanese who had been stranded in the nation due to border closings, who are expected to return home today. Paraguay on March 25 stopped accepting civilian flights, except for humanitarian charters, due to COVID-19 concerns, the Republic of China (ROC) embassy in Asuncion wrote on Facebook. Photo copied by Lu Yi-shuan, Taipei Times, from the Facebook page of the Republic of China embassy in ParaguayIt sent staff to Silvio Pettirossi International Airport to help with the evacuees with customs clearance and boarding, the ROC embassy said. In Miami, the Taiwanese would board a flight operated by a Taiwanese airline, and were expected to arrive home late tonight, she said. Taiwan’s new ambassador to Paraguay, Jose Han (韓志正) on Tuesday presented his letter of credence to Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez, the embassy said.

National Health Research Institute president Liang Kung-yee yesterday talks to reporters about research on COVID-19 vaccines during the Central Epidemic Command Center’s daily news conference in Taipei. Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei TimesWhile disease prevention regulations are to be eased on Sunday, that does not mean doing away with all protective measures before an effective vaccine or medication is developed, Chen said. The center encourages people to visit restaurants and businesses that implement disease prevention measures, he added. The institute is cooperating with three local biotechnology firms on the development of four vaccines, and Academia Sinica is working with two others on two more vaccines, Liang said. Such research can be conducted for academic purposes and must be carefully reviewed, although the results would likely have very limited impact on the government’s disease prevention or control policies, he added.