China cargo giant pays huge bonuses
Cosco is among shipping companies distributing huge year-end bonuses to workers, Caixin said, citing employees at the company. Cargo containers are stacked at Yantian port in Shenzhen, China, on June 22 last year. The congestion has prompted the Yantian terminal to restrict acceptance of containers. The price of US imports from China was at the highest level for more than six years last month. “It’s not just China, all shipping operations have been affected worldwide,” Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd CEO Mark O’Neil said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 23, 2022 20:29 UTC
Male-female booze gap shrinks: study
The gap between the number of men and women who drink alcohol is shrinking, which is likely due to societal changes, the NHRI said. The government should amend the laws to require that the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption be made clearer on the packaging of alcoholic beverages, it said. The team used the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test developed by the WHO to define harmful consumption of alcohol. Over the same period, the number of women surveyed who engaged in harmful drinking grew from 1.32 percent to 1.72 percent, he added. “The gender gap in alcohol consumption has been shrinking in the past few years in South Korea and Japan as well,” he said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 23, 2022 20:29 UTC
Dredgers spotted near Cambodian base
Dredgers spotted near Cambodian baseSECRET AGREEMENT: China is paying for construction at Ream Naval Base, where dredging would be needed if larger military ships were to dock there, AMTI saidReuters, WASHINGTONDredgers have been spotted off Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, where China is funding construction work and deeper port facilities would be necessary for the docking of larger military ships, a US think tank said on Friday. A soldier stands guard at Ream Naval Base in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on July 26, 2019. It cited a 2019 Wall Street Journal report that said the deal granted China military access to the base in return for funding facilities improvements. AMTI said a commercial satellite image taken on Sunday last week showed two dredgers and barges for collecting dredged sand. A deep-water port would make it far more useful to both the Cambodian and Chinese navies,” it said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 23, 2022 14:13 UTC
China has erred in its reading of Lithuania
China has erred in its reading of LithuaniaBy Tommy Lin 林逸民Last year, China entered into a spat with Lithuania over Vilnius allowing Taipei to open a de facto embassy using the name “Taiwan.” Beijing recalled its ambassadors from Lithuania and downgraded its diplomatic ties with the Baltic state to the “charge d’affaires” level. In hindsight, China should realize that this move handed Lithuania on a plate to Taiwan. China, which has been using its economic clout to bully others, underestimated Lithuania. Now that the EU is aligning with the US to rein in China, Taiwan is an indispensable ally in the anti-China coalition. However, if the name has not worked its magic in diplomatic affairs in the past, it would only create further confusion now.
Source:Taipei Times
January 22, 2022 22:09 UTC
US dollar dips with Treasury yields, but rises for week
US dollar dips with Treasury yields, but rises for weekReuters, NEW YORK and LONDONThe US dollar declined on Friday, along with US Treasury yields, while investors looked ahead to next week’s US Federal Reserve meeting for more clarity on the outlook for rate hikes. Expectations that the Fed will tighten monetary policy at a faster pace than previously anticipated had driven a rise in yields and the US dollar earlier this week. US Treasury yields fell as stock market declines reflected poor risk appetite, while concerns about potential conflict in Ukraine drove demand for the safe-haven debt. Next week’s Fed meeting could shed some light on how fast it will tighten. Against the US dollar, the pound eased 0.24 percent at US$1.3560, its lowest level in more than a week.
Source:Taipei Times
January 22, 2022 19:00 UTC
F1 bans pre-race military flypasts
F1 bans pre-race military flypastsReuters, LONDONFormula One has banned pre-race flypasts by military aircraft this season, but Britain’s Red Arrows display team is exempt along with passenger jets using sustainable fuels. Silverstone Circuit managing director Stuart Pringle confirmed in a statement that the Red Arrows would remain part of the British Grand Prix buildup. The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team performs above the stands before the British Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 18 last year. The Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring has also featured historic plans owned by the energy drink company’s billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz. Nearly all private cars were banned from September’s Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, with most fans either cycling to the coastal circuit west of Amsterdam or taking a train.
Source:Taipei Times
January 22, 2022 18:58 UTC
Man sentenced in case of mislabeled Chinese masks
Lin’s activity was discovered on March 29, 2020, when customs officers at the Port of Keelung flagged a container containing masks. The ship’s manifest said that 69,570 masks from China were in the container and customs officers reported the shipment upon seeing that the masks had “Made in Taiwan” on them. The court found Lin guilty of defrauding the public, saying that his company was one of many recruited to manufacture medical-grade masks at the peak of the mask-rationing program, which ended late last year. The ruling, which can be appealed, came as a similar but separate case involving Lin and Chinese-made masks is being tried. In the ongoing trial, Lin is charged with fraud for allegedly disguising a batch of non-medical grade Chinese masks to make them look like they were made by his company.
Source:Taipei Times
January 22, 2022 03:59 UTC
Netflix customer forecast disappoints, shares plunge
Netflix customer forecast disappoints, shares plungeBloombergNetflix Inc expects to add just 2.5 million subscribers this quarter, a number that falls short of Wall Street’s estimates and would mark the slowest start to a new year for the company in at least a decade. Netflix added just 18.2 million customers in last year, down about 50 percent from the record year before. Netflix has delivered on that promise for a decade, growing year after year to more than 200 million subscribers. However, now that the company has signed up so many customers in North America and much of Europe, growth becomes challenging. Netflix added 7.14 million customers in Asia Pacific and 7.34 million in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Source:Taipei Times
January 22, 2022 03:53 UTC
Philippine neutrality amid tensions
Philippine neutrality amid tensionsBy Lucio Blanco Pitlo IIIAs cross-Taiwan Strait tensions heat up, the Philippines expressed its desire to stay neutral on the flashpoint. The arena might also expand to the broader South China Sea, where Beijing, Taipei and Manila, among others, occupy contested geological features. Moreover, while cross-strait developments are disconcerting, they do not attain the same level of media coverage and public attention as the South China Sea. This is especially so if US assets that would respond to a Taiwan emergency sail from or fly from Philippine bases under the EDCA. Whether Manila’s neutrality holds and whether its view influences that of its Southeast Asian neighbors, only future events will tell.
Source:Taipei Times
January 21, 2022 22:03 UTC
China rate cut expected before July: analysts
China rate cut expected before July: analystsMONETARY EASING: After China’s central bank cut lending rates on Thursday, ecomomists think that one more rate reduction could be in store by mid-yearBloombergChina’s central bank could further ease monetary policy in the first half of this year to stave off headwinds and ensure economic stability, a Bloomberg survey of economists showed. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is expected to lower the amount of money banks must keep in reserve in the first quarter of this year, bringing down the ratio for major banks to 11 percent. Major policy interest rates — the one-year medium-term lending facility rate, one-year loan prime rate and seven-day reverse repurchase rate — are likely to be reduced by 10 basis points each in the second quarter, the survey said. People walk past the headquarters of the People’s Bank of China in Beijing on Sept. 28, 2018. The central bank cut borrowing costs earlier this week, with banks following the move on Thursday by reducing the interest rate on one-year and five-year loans.
Source:Taipei Times
January 21, 2022 20:29 UTC
Political wins and pendulum effect
Meanwhile, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has called for an end to ideological labeling to mitigate the antagonism between the pan-green and pan-blue camps. The bigger the margin of victory, the more likely the pendulum effect. Whether the pendulum effect comes into play depends on how the DPP responds to its victories. Adopting narratives that reduce political polarization might limit the pendulum effect. As for the TPP, its call to cease political labeling might seem reasonable, but it needs to be coupled with action.
Source:Taipei Times
January 21, 2022 16:37 UTC
Ministry seeks to reassure companies in Nicaragua
Ministry seeks to reassure companies in NicaraguaTRANSITION PERIOD: With the Central American nation switching recognition to China, the ministry said it would help firms expand into markets such as ParaguayBy Lu YI-hsuan and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday sought to reassure Taiwanese businesses with operations in Nicaragua that their interests would be protected after the Central American nation last month severed relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing. Isaac Chiu, Deputy Director-General of Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of International Cooperation and Economic Affairs, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Nicaragua is one of the largest importers of Taiwanese fishery products, while Taiwan is Nicaragua’s largest market in Asia, Ministry of Economic Affairs data show. The foreign ministry made the remarks in condemnation of Beijing’s “shock” at Slovenia’s plan to open reciprocal representative offices with Taiwan. “The fact that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a free and democratic nation has already won the respect of the world,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a regular news conference in Taipei.
Source:Taipei Times
January 20, 2022 22:08 UTC
Foreign investment falls 18.24%
Foreign investment falls 18.24%Staff writer, with CNAForeign direct investment (FDI) fell 18.24 percent to US$7.48 billion last year from a year earlier as COVID-19 spread worldwide, the Investment Commission said yesterday. The number of approved applications from foreign investors fell 20.68 percent year-on-year to 2,711, it said. Foreign investment is mainly in financial services and insurance, wholesale and retail trade, real-estate activities, information and communication technologies (ICT), and electronic parts and components manufacturing, the commission said. The commission attributed the sharp decline in FDI to a continued worldwide rise in COVID-19 cases that affected foreign investors’ policies toward direct investment in Taiwan. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s approved foreign-bound investments rose 6.73 percent last year from a year earlier to US$1.26 billion, the commission said.
Source:Taipei Times
January 20, 2022 20:29 UTC
EU to unveil plan to fund chip production next month
EU to unveil plan to fund chip production next monthBloombergThe EU is to publish early next month proposed legislation to make the continent a leader in chip production, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced yesterday. The European Chips Act would further adapt state aid rules “under a set of strict conditions,” the head of the EU’s executive arm said during a virtual address at the World Economic Forum. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Jan. 7. Photo: ReutersThe EU wants to become more involved in chip production, with a target of producing 20 percent of global semiconductor value by 2030, up from 10 percent. Currently, the EU is a world leader on chip research and production equipment, but lags behind in producing chips, particularly state-of-the-art versions.
Source:Taipei Times
January 20, 2022 20:29 UTC
High Court overrules death sentence for convicted murderer
High Court overrules death sentence for convicted murdererStaff writer, with CNAThe Taiwan High Court yesterday overturned Wang Ping-hua’s (王秉華) death sentence for fatally stabbing a man and sentenced him to life in prison. Convicted murderer Wang Ping-hua is escorted by security officers at the Taiwan High Court yesterday. Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei TimesAfter the murder, Wang’s then-wife notified authorities and convinced her husband to turn himself in. High Court spokeswoman Lien Yu-chun (連育群) said that the district court had ruled that Wang’s surrender had been on the behest of his wife, and was therefore passive and not voluntary. As a result, Wang did not qualify for a lighter sentence, as the statute of self-surrender did not apply to his actions.
Source:Taipei Times
January 20, 2022 04:01 UTC