Eye On Taiwan

Foxconn to Build IC Packaging, Test Plant in China Posted: 17 Apr 2020 02:14 PM PDT Circuits Assembly Date: 17 April 2020 By: Chelsey Drysdale TAIPEI – Foxconn plans to build a joint IC packaging and testing plant in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, as part of the company’s efforts to enter the semiconductor industry. Chairman Young Liu reportedly signed an agreement with the local government to cooperate on technology development. The company plans to develop 5G applications, the Industrial Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. Foxconn has also targeted electric vehicles, digital healthcare and robotics. Operations at the site are scheduled to start in 2021. No financial terms were disclosed.  [SOURCE]

Petition urging ISO to cease naming Taiwan as ‘Province of China’ picks up speed Posted: 17 Apr 2020 02:10 PM PDT Eight-year-old petition revived, calls for standard-making body to face reality of Taiwanese sovereignty Taiwan News Date: 2020/04/17 By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer (Change.org screengrab) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An online petition calling for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to stop naming Taiwan as a province of China has received over 287,000 signatures worldwide. As an increasing number of people worldwide become aware of China's unprecedented influence over the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and many other international organizations, a petition launched in 2013 on the US-based platform Change.org has returned to the media spotlight. The petition, initiated by a person identified as Judy Lin, the board director of the Taiwan United Nations Alliance, is asking the international standard-making body to face the fact that Taiwan is a free country where people can freely elect their leaders and that it is not a "province of China." The petition reads "Taiwan has its own political, postal, financial, and socioeconomic systems that are run independently" and demands the organization rectify the mistake.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan shares close up 2.14% Posted: 17 Apr 2020 02:04 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/17/2020 By: Y.F. Low Taipei, April 16 (CNA) Taiwan shares closed up 221.56 points, or 2.14 percent, at 10,597.04 Friday on turnover of NT$230.96 billion (US$7.68 billion).    [SOURCE]

CIER lowers forecast for GDP growth Posted: 17 Apr 2020 02:00 PM PDT LOBALIZATION BITES: Taiwan has avoided strict isolation measures, but lockdowns in other nations have reduced trade and people flows, while confidence has also fallen Taipei Times Date: Apr 18, 2020. By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday lowered its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year to 1.03 percent, less than half of its previous projection of 2.34 percent, as the COVID-19 pandemic is hurting exports and consumer spending. The Taipei-based institute lent support to the government’s belief that Taiwan would manage to grow GDP for the whole of the year, although Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings (S&P) expects the nation to see a 1.2 percent contraction. “Economic activity is chilling on both domestic and external fronts due to global lockdowns to contain the pandemic,” CIER president Chen Shi-kuan (陳思寬) said. A mild spread — with 395 confirmed cases so far — has enabled Taiwan to avoid instituting strict isolation measures to fight the novel coronavirus, which has brought economies in Europe, the US and other countries to a virtual standstill.    [FULL  STORY]

Foreign ministry working to assist citizen stranded in Mozambique Posted: 17 Apr 2020 01:12 PM PDT Radio Taiwan International Date: 17 April, 2020 By: Leslie Liao Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Joanne Ou The foreign ministry says that it’s working to assist a Taiwanese national stranded in the African country of Mozambique. Taiwan’s embassy in the nearby country of eSwatini says that this Taiwanese citizen is safe.  The foreign ministry says it learned about this citizen’s situation through a video posted online. The ministry says it reached out to friends and relatives in order to reach this person. [FULL  STORY]

Vatican Thanks China but Not Taiwan for Donated Medical Supplies Posted: 17 Apr 2020 01:09 PM PDT Breitbart Date: 17 Apr 2020 By: Thomas D. Williams, PH.D. TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty ROME — Both China and Taiwan have donated masks and medical supplies to the Vatican in recent days but while the Vatican thanked China publicly it has kept silent over Taiwan’s generosity. As Breitbart News reported, on April 9 the Vatican issued a glowing public statement thanking the People’s Republic of China for donations of medical supplies to combat the spread of the coronavirus, calling the gesture a sign of China’s “solidarity” with the Holy See. Yet as noted by Crux, an online Catholic news outlet, China was not alone in coming to the Vatican’s aid. Taiwan has offered similar donations of food and medical supplies to the Vatican and other church institutions in Italy, and yet no public thanks from the Vatican has been forthcoming. On April 14, Taiwan’s Embassy to the Holy See released a statement announcing they had donated 280,000 medical masks to the Vatican, the Italian bishops, Italian hospitals and various religious institutes in Italy, Crux reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Court snubs Han’s plea to halt Kaohsiung mayoral recall election Posted: 17 Apr 2020 01:03 PM PDT Taipei high court rejects Kaohsiung mayor's request to stop recall election Taiwan News Date: 2020/04/17 By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer Han Kuo-yu.  (CNA photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taipei High Administrative Court on Friday rejected Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu's (韓國瑜) request to halt a planned vote to have him recalled as mayor. After a heated two-and-a-half-hour verbal exchange among the lawyers for Chen Kuan-jung (陳冠榮), the founder of the recall movement, Han's attorneys, and the Central Election Commission (CEC), the high court on Friday rejected the mayor's request to suspend the recall election, reported NOWnews. However, Han has the right to appeal the decision. In the second stage of the petition to recall Han, launched by We Care Kaohsiung (Wecare高雄) among other groups, 400,000 joint signatures were collected. After eliminating duplicates, data errors, and suspected forgeries, 377,662 effective signatures were collected, still far exceeding the minimum threshold of 230,000. Therefore, the Kaohsiung Election Commission determined that the petition had met the requirements, and the recall vote is expected in mid-June pending final approval by the Central Election Commission (CEC) on April 17.    [FULL  STO-RY]

CORONAVIRUS/How an online post forewarned Taiwan about COVID-19 Posted: 17 Apr 2020 01:00 PM PDT Focus Taiwan Date: 04/17/2020 By: Chang Ming-hsuan, Chen Wei-ting and Ko Lin Image provided by the CECC Taipei, April 17 (CNA) When a warning of a mysterious virus sent by a whistleblowing Chinese doctor began filtering out of China at the end of 2019, it marked the starting point of the public phase of the COVID-19 epidemic. Doctors with Taiwan's Center of Diseases Control (CDC) were among those paying close attention and were convinced enough by what they saw to initiate precautions against the virus. In the wee hours of Dec. 31, 2019, CDC deputy chief Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) could not sleep and was scrolling his phone when an online post shared in a CDC chat group caught his attention. Quoting information from Chinese websites, the post that appeared on PTT, one of Taiwan's largest internet bulletin board systems (BBS), warned about the potential danger of a SARS-like disease that was spreading in the Chinese city of Wuhan.    [FULL  STORY]

Virus Outbreak: Universities changing graduation exercises Posted: 17 Apr 2020 12:57 PM PDT Taipei Times Date:  Apr 18, 2020 By: Rachel Lin and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer Sixth-graders and teachers from Datong Elementary School in Changhua County’s Shengang Township wear masks as they pose for a graduation photo at the school on Monday. Another version without masks was also taken on the same day, with students and teachers being asked to hold their breath for 30 seconds as a safety precaution. Photo copied by Tang Shih-ming, Taipei Times Universities nationwide are changing how they hold graduation ceremonies this year amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. National Sun Yat-sen University president Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) yesterday said that the university, due to its proximity to Kaohsiung’s Sizihwan (西子灣), is to hold its graduation ceremony outdoors on the beach. The university estimates that about 120 doctoral students would receive their diplomas on June 6, while about 2,000 bachelor’s and master’s degree students would receive their diplomas between June 1 and June 6, Cheng said. Departments are free to choose whether they would hold their respective ceremonies on the beach or in indoor venues, he added.    [FULL  STORY]

Tsai: Taiwan donates face masks because it is right, not for praise Posted: 17 Apr 2020 12:53 PM PDT Radio Taiwan International Date: 17 April, 2020 By: Leslie Liao President Tsai Ing-wen President Tsai Ing-wen says that Taiwan is donating surgical masks abroad because it is the right thing to do, not to earn praise from other countries. Tsai was speaking Friday in front of reporters in southern Taiwan. Tsai’s remark comes after a German official was unwilling to mention Taiwan by name during a press conference about masks donated by Taiwan. Despite the controversy this caused in Taiwan, Tsai said she believes that the recipients of the masks are thankful, even if they don’t say so out loud.    [FULL  STORY]