FOREIGN AFFAIRS
MOFA decries name change
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it has lodged a protest with the Swedish Tax Agency over its changing of the nation’s name to “province of China” from “Taiwan” on its Web site, calling for the original designation to be maintained. The protest was lodged in response to a statement by the Swedish Tax Agency on Feb. 28, which said that Taiwan would now be listed on its Web site as a province of China, based on the International Organization for Standardization’s code. The ministry has directed its representative office in Sweden to tell the Swedish government that such a change is unacceptable to the government and people of Taiwan, MOFA spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said. The designation “Taiwan” must be reinstated to ensure the nation’s dignity and the rights of Taiwanese, he said, adding that Sweden’s representative office in Taipei has also been informed of Taiwan’s position on the matter.
INVESTMENTS
CIB warns against Ethvinex
The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) on Saturday issued a statement warning the public against using the trading site Ethvinex, which it said has come under the spotlight amid complaints related to fraud. Since last month, Taiwanese authorities have been receiving at least 50 complaints per day about fraudulent activities on the site, the CIB said. The people who filed the complaints all said that they had not received any response after carrying out transactions on the trading platform, the bureau said. Citing the complainants, the CIB said Ethvinex claims to guarantee a 20 percent safe return on capital investments and a drawdown of profits after a week of placement. The placement of funds can range from NT$2,000 to NT$930,000, the bureau said. The CIB said an investigation is being carried out into the operations of Ethvinex and its host location. Meanwhile, the public is warned to be aware of the growing threat of online investment fraud, particularly offers of high and easy returns, the CIB said. People can report suspicious activities via the government’s 165 Fraud Prevention Hotline or its online reporting service at https://www.165.gov.tw/case_tell.aspx, it added.
AIR QUALITY
Firecrackers prove ‘unhealthy’
The air quality in the central and northern parts of western Taiwan was generally rated “unhealthy” yesterday, because of a lack of wind to disperse atmospheric pollutants, much of which resulted from the lighting of firecrackers during the previous two days of Lantern Festival celebrations, the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) Taiwan Air Quality Monitoring Network said. As of noon, the EPA’s Air Quality Index (AQI) showed a “red” warning, indicating unhealthy air for the general public, in Changhua County’s Siansi (線西) and Erlin (二林) townships, and Yunlin’s Lunbei Township (崙背). Meanwhile, 28 monitoring stations in northern and central Taiwan, as well as Yunlin and Chiayi counties, including 13 stations in the greater Taipei area, showed an “orange” warning, signaling unhealthy air for sensitive groups. In the rest of western Taiwan and all of eastern Taiwan, the air quality was rated as either good or fair, the monitoring data showed. The poor air quality is likely to improve today, when a weather front is to arrive, the EPA said, adding that the situation in southern and eastern Taiwan was slightly better yesterday due to southerly and easterly winds.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai