Eye On Taiwan

Taipower’s win again in Taiwan soccer Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:36 PM PDT Taipei Times Date: Apr 27, 2020 By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter Taipower yesterday recorded their third straight win to start the Taiwan Football Premier League season, consolidating their grip on first in Taiwan’s top division soccer, while Hang Yuen and Taiwan Steel also notched victories in the third round. The weekend’s four matched saw visiting Taipower shut out Min Chuan University 2-0 at the university’s Taoyuan campus, while Hang Yuen, at home at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District won by the same score against NTUPES. Hang Yuen had 22-year-old Brazilian striker Luan Anderson to thank after he netted a brace with a goal on either side of halftime. Anderson, who studies at Nanhua University in Chiayi County, told reporters after the game: “I had been on the starting line-up for all three games, and the games have players with higher skill levels compared with university league games.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s economy turns sluggish in March due to COVID-19 pandemic Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:33 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date:\ 04/27/2020 By: Pan Tzi-yu, Tsai Fan-min and Ko Lin CNA file photo Taipei, April 27 (CNA) Taiwan's economic indicators signaled economic sluggishness in March for the first time in four months due to the adverse effects of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the National Development Council (NDC) said Monday. The composite index of monitoring indicators flashed a yellow-blue light at 20 points, down from 24 and a green light in February, according to data compiled by the NDC, Taiwan's top economic planning agency. The NDC uses a five-color system to gauge the country's economic performance, with blue indicating economic recession, yellow-blue representing sluggishness, green signifying stable growth, yellow-red referring to a warming economy and red pointing to overheating. Out of the nine factors in the composite index for March, the sub-indexes for monetary aggregates (M1B) and manufacturing shipments remained green lights, while the sub-index for exports flashed a blue light, compared with a green light a month earlier, the NDC said.    [FULL  STORY]

Virus Outbreak: Banks approve NT$81.6bn of loans for virus-hit firms Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:28 PM PDT Taipei Times Date: Apr 28, 2020 By: Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter From left, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Chu Tzer-ming, Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong and Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo attend a meeting at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times Local banks had approved 5,056 loan applications totaling NT$81.6 billion (US$2.72 billion) for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as of Wednesday last week, surging from 510 applications totaling NT$7.39 billion two weeks earlier, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) data showed yesterday. Eighty-seven percent of the loans, or 4,177 applications for NT$71.7 billion, were provided by state-run banks, for an average of NT$17 million per application, the data showed. Private banks lent NT$9.9 billion to 879 firms, for an average of NT$11 million per application, data showed. “It seems that the government did not have a strong incentive to encourage private banks to help affected businesses,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan reports zero new cases and 15th straight day of no domestic cases Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:25 PM PDT Radio Taiwan International Date: 27 April, 2020 By: Natalie Tso The Grand Hotel lit up its Zero lights on Sunday to celebrate 14 straight days of no domestic cases.（photo: Grand Hotel） Taiwan reported zero new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. It was also the 15th straight day of no new domestic cases. The total number of cases rests at 429, of which just 13% (55 cases) are domestic. The vast majority — 343 cases — are imported, while an additional 31 are from a cluster infection on board a navy ship. So far, six people have died of COVID-19 in Taiwan, and 290 have recovered. The rest are being treated in isolation wards.     [FULL  STORY]

Show Lo’s mum reportedly says Grace Chow destroying his career Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:21 PM PDT Straits Times Date: April 28, 2020 By: Lim Ruey Yan Grace Chow with Madam Lin Hsiang-lan (above), mother of Show Lo. Chow has unfollowed Madam Lin’s Weibo account after announcing the break-up.PHOTO: LIN HSIANG-LAN/ WEIBO Taiwanese pop star Show Lo's mother has weighed in on his side on his break-up with Chinese Internet celebrity Grace Chow. Chow, 31, wrote an explosive post on Weibo last Thursday, announcing that she had broken up with Lo, 40, for some time and accused the singer of cheating on her and having improper relationships with several women. According to Taiwan's Mirror Media, Madam Lin Hsiang-lan has criticised Chow in private, saying that the Chinese influencer should have settled the matter quietly instead of blowing it up in public. Madam Lin said she treated Chow like her daughter-in-law while she and Lo were dating, but with her outburst, Chow would destroy Lo's entertainment career.    [FULL  STORY]

E. Taiwan dance troupe dancing coronavirus blues away on beach Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:17 PM PDT Posuo's next and final performance will be at their native Hualien's Qixingtan Beach Taiwan News Date: 2020/04/27 By: Lyla Liu, Taiwan News, Staff Writer “Little Days on the Beach” being performed on Yilan’s Waiao Beach. (Facebook, Posuo photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese dance group Posuo (婆娑舞集) performed on Waiao Beach in Yilan County Sunday (April 26) and is slated to take the show to their hometown, Hualien, in early May. Despite the cloudy Yilan weather, 300 people gathered on the beach on Sunday to see Posuo dancing beautifully to a cello, with the endless ocean in the background, CNA reported. [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan orders checks of confined entertainment venues after fire Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:13 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/27/2020 By: Liang Pei-chi, Yeh Su-ping and Evleyn Kao Deputy Interior Minister Hua Ching-chun (花敬群) Taipei, April 27 (CNA) The government will ask all local governments to carry out complete fire safety inspections of karaoke bars and similar venues after a deadly fire broke out at a popular karaoke outlet in Taipei, Deputy Interior Minister Hua Ching-chun (花敬群) said Monday. The fire broke out on the fifth floor of a 14-floor building housing the Linsen branch of Cashbox Partyworld KTV and left at least five people dead and one person in critical condition. The Taipei City Fire Department later found that the business's fire alarm, smoke alarm, sprinkler and emergency broadcasting systems were turned off at the time of the blaze. "If the company wanted to turn those systems off, it shouldn't have opened for business yesterday," Hua said, describing it as "gross human negligence" to turn off major alarms in a confined, crowded space.    [FULL  STORY]

Virus Outbreak: App to show crowds at 234 spots Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:09 PM PDT DISEASE PREVENTION: The app is available for iOS devices, while Android users would be able to download it before tomorrow to monitor vehicle and foot traffic Taipei Times Date: Apr 28, 2020 By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter A worker sprays disinfectant on a walkway within the Alishan Forest Recreation Area in Chiayi County yesterday. Photo: CNA The Freeway 1968 (高速公路1968) mobile phone application would allow people to check the number of vehicles or foot traffic at 234 tourist attractions nationwide during the International Workers’ Day holiday, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Large crowds at some popular tourist attractions during the Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend raised concerns about the risk of COVID-19 transmissions, and sparked debate over whether the Workers’ Day holiday should be canceled. Lin said that his ministry would comply with instructions from the Central Epidemic Command Center by launching the upgraded edition of Freeway 1968 today. The tourist attractions covered include scenic spots, night markets, parks and shopping districts, he said, adding that traffic and crowd alerts for these areas would be available.    [FULL  STORY]

The Netherlands gives 3,999 tulips to Taiwan’s medical workers Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:05 PM PDT Radio Taiwan International Date: 27 April, 2020 By: Natalie Tso Health Minister Chen Shih-chung displayed the gift of tulips from the Netherlands at his daily press briefing (screenshot of press conference) The Netherlands Trade and Investment Office presented a gift of 3,999 tulips to Taiwan’s medical workers on Monday, King’s Day, the Dutch National Day. The office delivered orange tulips and stroopwafels, a quintessential Dutch delicacy, to 35 places, including hospitals that are caring for COVID-19 patients and Taoyuan International Airport. The gifts were also sent to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), where they were shown at the daily press conference hosted by Health Minister Chen Shih-chung. Chen said, "(The gifts) represent our friendship". The office thanked the workers "for their determined contribution, generous sharing, and vigilant gatekeeping," which it said has "created another Taiwan miracle and deepened the friendship between the Netherlands and Taiwan."    [FULL  STORY]

Overcoming Taiwan’s Energy Trilemma Posted: 27 Apr 2020 02:59 PM PDT Carnegie Endowment For International Peace Date: April 27, 2020 By: Evan A. Feigenbaum and Jen-Yi Hou Source: Should Wang on Unsplash Summary:  Taiwan needs to look not just to the energy it needs right now but also to the energy it will need ten to twenty years from now if it is to power its future. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Because it imports nearly all of the fuel that powers its economy, Taiwan is unusually vulnerable to energy market risks. Volatility has grown in the world’s major oil-producing regions, especially the Middle East, where the specter of conflict between the United States and Iran looms ever larger. What is more, over the long term, countries dependent on oil export revenue will need to successfully adapt to a world characterized by declining oil demand. They will likely struggle to diversify their economies and ensure employment, yielding another significant source of instability. Meanwhile, commodity markets, from crude oil to natural gas, have been buffeted by geopolitical volatility, political and investment risks, and technological disruption. Still, Taiwan has had to manage such traditional risks before, and while political and market disruptions can of course be challenging to any economy, it can most likely weather these types of prospective shocks. Taiwan’s more pressing energy challenge, therefore, is that these risks are being eclipsed by new dynamics that are reshaping future energy security, affordability, and sustainability—the so-called energy trilemma. Bluntly put, a paradigm shift is underway in how major energy stakeholders—such as government policymakers, producers, utility companies, and industrial end-users—approach their energy needs. Taiwan needs to look not just to the energy it needs right now but also to the energy it will need ten to twenty years from now if it is to power its future. The number one and two drivers of this will be technological change and decarbonization, not necessarily the old drivers of cost and security. [FULL  ARTICLE]