Taipei relaxes public market restrictions
Taipei relaxes public market restrictionsSOCIAL DISTANCING: People visiting public markets are advised, but not required to wear masks, but vendors are obliged to do so as they interact with more peopleBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterTaipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday announced the relaxing of customer flow restrictions at the city’s public markets, and said that people do not have to wear masks if they maintain social distancing. The central government has not given any instructions for public markets, but if public transport restrictions can be loosened when proper social distancing is maintained, “then we can also cancel the foot traffic restrictions at public markets,” Huang said at the city’s COVID-19 prevention news conference. “However, just as with public transportation, we still suggest that people wear a mask when visiting public markets,” she said. Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang, center, promotes Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corp’s online shopping platform at the city’s COVID-19 prevention news conference yesterday. The decision was made on Monday at the city’s COVID-19 response task force meeting, she added.
Source:Taipei Times
June 10, 2020 15:56 UTC
Virus Outbreak: CECC mulls requiring two negative tests for discharge
Virus Outbreak: CECC mulls requiring two negative tests for dischargeAIR TRAVEL: CECC advisory specialist panel convener Chang Shan-chwen said some countries ‘are negotiating the possibility of resuming international travel with us’By Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported no new cases of COVID-19, and said that it is considering revising the discharge criteria for confirmed COVID-19 cases from three consecutive negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to two. Yesterday marked the ninth consecutive day of no new COVID-19 cases in Taiwan and the 59th consecutive day of no locally transmitted cases. The panel has submitted its recommendation and now the center would decide whether to adopt it, he added. “There are some countries that are negotiating the possibility of resuming international travel with us now — and the news from Vietnam is fairly accurate,” he said. Chen Tsung-yen also announced that Olympic table tennis player Chiang Hung-chieh (江宏傑) would serve as the center’s new disease prevention ambassador, helping it to promote the “new disease prevention lifestyle.”
Source:Taipei Times
June 10, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taiwan expects to resume pork exports
Taiwan expects to resume pork exportsStaff writer, with CNATaiwan would resume fresh pork exports in the second half of this year if the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) declares it a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)- free country where vaccination is not practiced, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said on Monday. After passing various tests and verification, the nation expects to receive notification from the OIE of its FMD-free without vaccination status in the middle of this month, the council said. That would make Taiwan one of only two Asian countries other than Japan with that status, it said. Taiwan currently exports only certain processed pork products to a handful of nations, the council said. The OIE is likely to formally notify Taiwan later this month after completing all required procedures, the council said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 10, 2020 15:56 UTC
Post-Han KMT must cross barrier
Post-Han KMT must cross barrierBy Tzou Jiing-wen 鄒景雯There is little doubt that Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) has developed a political brand for himself, and it is possible that this “Han brand” will persist. Han won the former election, but lost the latter, and yet his brand remains the most marketable in Taiwanese politics that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has under its umbrella. It remains a viable option for the KMT, even though it did not help Han survive Saturday’s recall vote. The “Han Kuo-yu barrier” is the precedent set by the number of votes Han received in the last presidential election. Han may be unwashed and somewhat dazed by the recall drubbing, but who in the KMT can counter him, now a liability, when he returns to KMT headquarters?
Source:Taipei Times
June 10, 2020 15:56 UTC
Tsai has chance to address FTA: AmCham chair
Tsai has chance to address FTA: AmCham chairBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterAs Taiwan’s relations with the US are better than ever, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has a chance to make progress on a US-Taiwan free-trade agreement (FTA) this year, American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) chairman C.W. Chin, left, and president William Foreman present the chamber’s annual white paper at its official release in Taipei yesterday. In its annual white paper released yesterday, AmCham for the second consecutive year urged the US government to enter into negotiations with Taiwan for a bilateral trade agreement. “We urge the US and Taiwan to handle their disagreements in a more practical and flexible way,” AmCham president William Foreman told reporters. AmCham also suggested that the US bring the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement process back on track as soon as the travel situation permits.
Source:Taipei Times
June 10, 2020 15:56 UTC
Post offices open on two Saturdays for vouchers
Post offices open on two Saturdays for vouchersCONVENIENCE: Normally, only 284 post offices stay open on Saturdays, mostly until noon, but the postal firm has decided to open all offices to distribute the vouchersBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterMore than 1,200 post offices nationwide will be open on two Saturdays — July 18 and July 25 — for people to purchase Triple Stimulus Vouchers, Chunghwa Post said yesterday. In addition to electronic vouchers, people can purchase physical vouchers at post offices and convenience stores nationwide. Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times“We have 284 post offices that are open on Saturdays and most of them are open only until noon. To make it convenient for office workers to purchase vouchers, we are planning to have all of our post offices — 1,299 in total — to remain open the entire day on July 18 and July 25,” Chunghwa Post associate manager Kuo Chun-yang (郭純陽) said. “Our experience tells us that we have more customers on weekends than during the week, as most office workers might not have time to run errands on weekdays and would take advantage of Saturday to visit a post office.
Source:Taipei Times
June 10, 2020 15:56 UTC
New Party seeks to recall TSP’s Chen
New Party seeks to recall TSP’s ChenREVENGE MOVE? From left, New Party members Lin Ming-cheng, Wang Ping-chung and Su Heng in Taipei yesterday announce plans to launch a campaign to recall Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei, who represents a Taichung consituency. Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei, left, talks to reporters in Taichung yesterday after the New Party announced plans to launch a recall campaign against him. If 70,000 out of the 100,000 voters who voted against Chen on Jan. 11 voted to recall him, a recall election would succeed, Wang said. New Party member Lin Ming-cheng (林明正), called on the KMT to “man up” and initiate recalls for 10 pan-green legislators for supporting the recall campaign against Han.
Source:Taipei Times
June 10, 2020 15:56 UTC
Memorial hall could be transitional justice hub
Memorial hall could be transitional justice hubBy Tsao Chin-jung 曹欽榮Taiwan finds itself in a period of transitional justice. The best place for implementing these ideas is the museum at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. During the first name rectification campaign in 2007, almost 100 White Terror and 228 Incident victims and family members stepped into the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall for the first time in their lives to express their support for changing the name to National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. Wu’s article brought up the complicated issue of whether the memorial hall should be kept. The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, the National Human Rights Museum, the National 228 Memorial Museum and the Transitional Justice Commission should work together with private museums to gain an understanding of what most members of the public are thinking.
Source:Taipei Times
June 09, 2020 15:56 UTC
Japan proposal on Diaoyutais protested
The islands — known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan — are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea claimed by Taiwan, China and Japan. The protesters had hoped to deliver the letter to an association official in person, but no one from the association immediately responded to their requests. The ministry has expressed its serious concern about the matter to Japan, while reiterating Taiwan’s sovereignty over the islands, Ou said. Taiwan’s sovereignty rights over the islands would not be altered just because another country or its local government renames them, she said. The nation’s abiding position is that any disputes should be resolved through peaceful means, and Japan and China should restrain themselves to avoid escalating tensions in the region, Ou said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 09, 2020 15:56 UTC
CPC says workers in recruiting scam to be dismissed
CPC says workers in recruiting scam to be dismissedBy Natasha Li / Staff reporterEmployees allegedly involved in a company recruiting scam would be dismissed, state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. Uncovered earlier this year by the Ministry of Justice’ Agency Against Corruption and the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office, the scam was allegedly orchestrated by a CPC employee surnamed Huang (黃). Employees who used the scheme to bypass the entry exam would have their contracts terminated, it said, citing rules stipulated on its exam prospectus. To maintain the fairness of its recruiting system, CPC said that it is enforcing stricter identity controls at exams and assessing the performance of new employees. China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) is also threatening to terminate employees who used proxies to take the entry exam.
Source:Taipei Times
June 09, 2020 15:56 UTC
Turtle Island visit offer creates waves
The Tourism Bureau agency has invited those who used to live and work on Turtle Island to return for a visit on Aug. 1, including those who attended elementary school on the island, teachers, military personnel, police, doctors and nurses. Turtle Island is visible off the coast of Yilan County yesterday. Photo: Chang Yi-chen, Taipei TimesIt also invited people whose names include the word “turtle” to visit the same day and take a free tour of the island. People are welcome to call her “a turtle island owner,” she wrote. Turtle Island is open to the public from March to November, with the number of visitors capped at 1,800 per day, to protect its ecosystem.
Source:Taipei Times
June 09, 2020 15:56 UTC
Asustek looks ahead after Q1 revenue hit
The PC market is no longer on an upward trend,” Asustek chairman Jonney Shih (施崇棠) told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in Taipei. Citing heavy market uncertainty fostered by the pandemic, Shih said that Asustek’s revenue might be affected in the second half of this year. Asustek Computer Inc chairman Jonney Shih answers a shareholder’s question at the company’s annual general meeting in Taipei yesterday. The company yesterday reported that sales last month increased 29.03 percent year-on-year to NT$30.17 billion (US$1.01 billion). Analysts forecast that the company’s second-quarter revenue would increase from the previous quarter due to rush orders driven by work-from-home demand.
Source:Taipei Times
June 09, 2020 15:56 UTC
Johnny Chiang calls on Tsai to restrain DPP
Chiang led attendees at a meeting at the KMT’s headquarters in Taipei in a minute of silence for Hsu before the meeting started. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei TimesHan’s recall and Hsu’s death were two hard pills to swallow for KMT members during a time filled with sorrows, worries and anger, Chiang said. However, while Hsu’s death saddened his supporters and people close to him, a DPP councilor ridiculed his death with inappropriate remarks, Chiang said, referring to comments made by DPP Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) on Sunday on Facebook. Describing Hsu’s death as “horrifying,” Liang added: “Were the bets that high?” — an apparent reference to rumors that Hsu had engaged in underground gambling on the results of the recall election. Tsai should launch an investigation into who had made groundless comments through fake accounts, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 08, 2020 15:56 UTC
Taipei offering the elderly NT$1,000 as stimulus effort
Taipei offering the elderly NT$1,000 as stimulus effortBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Taipei City Government is to give elderly residents NT$1,000 (US$33) if they link their Triple Stimulus Vouchers with their Taipei Elderly Card, Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) said yesterday. Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang, right, talks to reporters during a visit to Neihu Flower Market yesterday. Photo: Kuo An-chia, Taipei TimesThe central government is to offer senior citizens who link their elderly card to the voucher program a NT$2,000 return after they spend NT$3,000, but the Taipei City Government would offer another NT$1,000, adding up to NT$3,000 in return, she said. The city government hopes that the more than 400,000 Taipei Elderly Cards would be used in ways that would help stimulate the city’s economy, she said. Huang also encouraged other city residents to use their EasyCards with the voucher program.
Source:Taipei Times
June 08, 2020 15:56 UTC
CTBC and SinoPac report annual drop in net profit
CTBC and SinoPac report annual drop in net profitBy Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporterCTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) and SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) yesterday reported that net profit for last month fell year-on-year, due to less income from interest and fees. CTBC Financial’s profit declined 4.5 percent to NT$3.35 billion (US$112.37 million), as profit at its banking unit, CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行), plunged 29.6 percent to NT$1.83 billion. There was “less interest income due to the central bank’s rate cut of 25 basis points in March,” CTBC Financial head of financial management Chiu Ya-ling (邱雅玲) told the Taipei Times by telephone. SinoPac Financial’s profit plummeted 9.8 percent annually to NT$963 million, as its banking unit, Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行), saw its profit tumble 21 percent due to higher loan-loss provisions and lower interest income. For the first five months, SinoPac Financial’s profit totaled NT$4.51 billion, down 20 percent from a year earlier, it said.
Source:Taipei Times
June 08, 2020 15:56 UTC