COVID-19: Exports drive GDP growth of 7.47%

REOPENING: Domestic demand dipped last quarter due to COVID-19 restrictions, but should fare better from this month as disease prevention measures are relaxed Taiwan’s economy last quarter expanded 7.47 percent from a year earlier, 0.54 percentage points faster than last month’s official forecast, thanks to stronger-than-expected exports, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. “The domestic COVID-19 outbreak wreaked havoc with service-oriented sectors, but did not affect the manufacturing industry, which continued to benefit from the stay-at-home economy and gradual reopenings in the US and Europe,” Wu Pei-shuan (吳佩璇), an official at the agency’s national income section, told an online news conference. Exports surged 37.35 percent year-on-year from April to June on the back of robust demand for electronics used in smartphones, laptops, TVs and vehicles, as well as artificial intelligence and Internet-of-Things applications. Outbound shipments of plastic, chemical and base metal products also spiked more than 40 percent as customers around the world rebuilt inventory, DGBAS said. The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted schools, companies and government agencies to speed up digital transformation, thereby bolstering the selling prices of electronic components and contributing to supply crunches and shipping chaos, it said. Imports soared 36.38 percent, driven by agricultural and industrial price hikes and avid purchases of capital equipment and consumer goods, the agency’s report showed. Altogether, external demand contributed 5.19 percentage points to last quarter’s GDP, Wu said. For the first half of the year, the economy grew 8.19 percent, meriting an upward revision next month, when the statistics agency updates its economic forecast. The official declined to speculate. Domestically, private consumption shrank 0.55 percent, weighed down by a soft lockdown as the government on May 19 imposed a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 alert to curb the outbreak, the DGBAS said. However, retail sales increased 2.29 percent year-on-year as e-commerce flourished, while physical stores and businesses were hit hard, Wu said. Securities trading also thrived, with daily turnover growing more than twofold, she added. Still, private consumption dragged GDP growth

Asustek banking on back-to-office demand: official

UPGRADE: Windows 11 should support hardware demand, but a parts and material supply crunch poses a risk, co-CEO S.Y. Hsu told shareholders Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) expects robust demand for its products in the second half of this year as the back-to-office trend is sparking a wave of upgrades to accommodate Microsoft Corp’s new operating system, a top official said yesterday. “Orders are not a problem,” co-CEO S.Y. Hsu (許先越) told shareholders during an annual general meeting. “The largest uncertainty comes from the supply of parts and materials.” Asustek shareholders approved a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$26 per common share, implying a payout ratio of 72.7 percent based on the company’s earnings per share of NT$35.76 last year. The company’s net profit surged 119 percent year-on-year to NT$26.65 billion (US$952.9 million) last year. Revenue rose 17 percent annually to NT$412.8 billion last year. For the second half of the year, Hsu said that demand for Asustek products is strong, especially for high-end gaming computer series and peripherals, based on orders on hand. Chromebooks targeting the e-learning market in the US are back to normal levels of inventory, while gaming computer inventory is relatively low, indicating stronger momentum. Average notebook computer inventory is higher than that of gaming computers, but remains below normal levels. A shortage of key components is a challenge for Asustek, he said. “The parts problem remains severe this year,” Hsu said. “We’ve already called upon internal research and development resources to tackle the issue. Although the problem has not been not solved, we believe we’ll do better this year than last year.” Hsu said he expects the return to offices to bring a wave of office machine upgrades. “While analysts vary, many think once the pandemic subsides, most businesses will want their workers to go back to the office,” Hsu said, “This, along with Microsoft’s new Windows 11 operating system, will trigger a wave of office PC updates as older machines will not be

Fubon Bank opens Australian unit

Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) yesterday launched a new overseas unit in Sydney, Australia, in a bid to gain further momentum in markets targeted by the government’s New Southbound Policy. Although it is not a branch, but a sales office, it can provide Australian and Taiwanese companies operating in the country with its analysis of market conditions and through its connections with other Taipei Fubon Bank branches, the bank said. The newly launched unit would not only help existing clients in Australia receive funding or improve financial flexibility, but also offer consulting services for companies that are interested in expanding into Australia, it said. It would also collaborate with financial agencies in Australia to provide services to its clients, it added. The unit is the fourth Taipei Fubon Bank operation to be set up in a country targeted by the New Southbound Policy, after the establishment of branches or offices in Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia since 2008, company data showed. Taipei Fubon Bank said it is optimistic about its prospects as the Australian economy, the 13th-largest in the world, was among few with “AAA” sovereign credit ratings by Moody’s, Fitch and S&P Global Ratings, the bank said in a statement. Australia’s GDP grew 1.8 percent annually in the first quarter and had recovered to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level, the bank added. Overall, the bank believes that New Southbound Policy countries would see strong business momentum this year after being beaten by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, aided by rising vaccination coverage and the easing of pandemic measures, it said. “Our three branches in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Hanoi saw double-digit growth rates in deposits and loans in the first six months of the year, while deposits in our Singapore branch expanded 70 percent annually,” it said. “That signaled an economic recovery,” it said. With the addition

EDITORIAL: Homeless need our attention

A video report published on the Focus Taiwan Web site on Tuesday highlighted the efforts of volunteers in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) who are working with the area’s homeless people. The video, which focused on the work of the nonprofit groups Homeless Taiwan and Do You a Flavor, said that a COVID-19 outbreak that started in May left the homeless in Wanhua — where one-third of the cases occurred — “even worse off than they already were.” Before the outbreak, many homeless people could find work, but the closure of businesses due to pandemic restrictions has left them unable to work, the video said. Volunteer groups have been providing the homeless with whatever work they can, and some local businesses have supplied spaces for storage of donated goods. A writer who often focuses on Wanhua District was cited as saying that he immediately sought donations and funding for the homeless as soon as the outbreak happened. The writer said that volunteers are an important source of help for the homeless due to the rapport they have established from working with them in the community over the years. The government must ensure that volunteer groups are sufficiently funded so that they can continue to help the homeless and keep communities safe. However, one problem to overcome is that homeless people are often suspicious of government officials, who often lack the affinity with the community that volunteers possess. Two police officers were attacked by a knife-wielding homeless man in Taipei in May after they approached him and asked him to wear a mask. Many homeless people see the police or other authority figures as a threat, which might lead to confrontations. Had volunteers approached the same man, they might have been able to convince him to wear a mask and avoid a

UK signaling Pacific clouds of war

British Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace on Sunday last week visited Tokyo to meet with Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi. Wallace’s trip was far more than a simple courtesy call. The UK and Japan are clearly in the process of laying the foundations for an alliance, a development that would further complicate an already complex situation in the Indo-Pacific region. On the surface, Wallace was laying the groundwork for an HMS Queen Elizabeth-led carrier strike group’s participation in a joint military drill with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in the Gulf of Aden in September. More importantly though, his task was to demonstrate unity with Japan to resist China based on the two countries’ shared values and promote a military alliance between them. Why are the UK and Japan seeking to stand together and promote an alliance? First, Beijing imposing a National Security Law on Hong Kong last year signaled the end of “one country, two systems” in the territory, rendering it impossible for the UK to deliver on promises it had made to Hong Kongers when it returned the territory to China in 1997. China’s Coast Guard Law, which took effect earlier this year, allows its coast guard vessels to open fire on foreign ships, a move that threatens Japan’s interests. The effect of these two pieces of legislation strengthened the resolve of the UK and Japan to unite to resist China. Second, to maintain regional stability, and the two countries’ shared values of freedom, democracy and human rights, London and Tokyo believe that bolstering security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region conforms to their respective national interests. The “wolf warrior” diplomacy Beijing has trained on the US, Canada, Australia, France and others has given the UK and Japan cause to stand by their allies. Since World War II,

US should have bases in Taiwan

On a peaceful day in the open Pacific Ocean to the east of Taiwan, a US carrier and five accompanying warships were slowly sailing to guard the western Pacific. Another carrier battle group had just returned to its home port in San Diego. Suddenly, alarms went off as many intercontinental ballistic missiles were launched from the interior of China, flying toward Taiwan. Numerous Chinese warships, carriers, fighter jets, bombers and submarines were fast converging on the US ships. Not too long after, missiles, bombs and torpedoes were fired at the US carrier. The surprise to Americans was the number of them — several hundreds, many supersonic and hypersonic, all arriving at about the same time and from different directions. Unfortunately, the US Navy’s defense systems were overwhelmed and the US carrier was damaged badly. We all hope that such a surprise attack will never happen, but this might be the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) strategy to gain air superiority before invading Taiwan. US carriers cannot stray far from the front lines, because their fighter jets need to immediately protect its warships operating in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea. US fighter jets flying from carriers also have a limited combat range. Chinese airplanes and missiles have advantages of quantities and nearby land bases. They will throw everything to knock out US carriers. The modern threats from a formidable Chinese military are new and have never been encountered by the US Navy. Some military experts have claimed that although US aircraft carriers are extremely large at more than 300m long and as tall as a 20-story building, Chinese hypersonic missiles would not be able to aim at them accurately because they sail at around 55kph. Such wishful claims have not been tested in battle. The US

COVID-19: Thailand cracks down on ‘false info’

MESSAGES BANNED: Communications that cause fear and confusion are said to be targeted, but media groups say the effort is intended to stifle criticism Thailand yesterday banned the dissemination of “false messages” that affect security, drawing accusations from media groups that it is trying to crack down on criticism of its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the country on Thursday reported record numbers of virus cases and deaths. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said that the spread of fake news had become a major problem causing confusion in society and undermining the Thai government’s ability to manage the pandemic. An emergency decree that took effect yesterday prohibits the dissemination of false messages and distorted news that cause panic, misunderstanding or confusion “affecting state security, abusing the rights of others, and order or good morality of the people.” The decree empowers the state regulator, the Thai National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, to order service providers to block Internet access to individual IP addresses if it believes that they are disseminating false news and to inform the police to take legal action. The decree comes after the government has faced public criticism over its handling of the pandemic. For most of past year, Thailand managed to keep COVID-19 at bay, but a recent surge of infections, driven by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, has been the deadliest yet. A sluggish COVID-19 vaccine rollout has led to huge crowds queuing up day after day in some places for virus tests and inoculations. The government already has sweeping powers to enforce measures to tackle the pandemic and rules to control the Internet. Authorities have been taking legal action against some people, including celebrities and social media influencers, who have criticized the pandemic response. Six media associations said in a joint statement that the government’s legal actions showed “an intent to crack down on the freedom of expression enjoyed by the media and the public.” On Thursday, workers rushed to finish an 1,800-bed hospital at Bangkok’s Don

Myanmar’s strike holdouts continue to defy junta

Doctors healing patients while in hiding, teachers giving up their classrooms and bankers losing their savings are among the stubborn holdouts still on strike to protest Myanmar’s military coup six months ago. Thousands of civil servants joined a mass walkout in the days after the February ouster of Burmese State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in an effort to deny the junta legitimacy, a sufficient work force and resources. It is difficult to know how many are still participating in the campaign, with many sacked for joining protests and a severe COVID-19 outbreak likely keeping others away from their desks. The strikes have left the junta deprived of staff to manage utilities and collect taxes. It has appealed for medical workers, engineers and IT specialists to come forward to help its pandemic response — and dangled the promise of COVID-19 vaccines for those who do. A state-backed power company in Myanmar’s commercial capital, Yangon, warned this month that a running boycott on bill payments was bleeding it of cash and affecting electricity supply. Agence France-Presse spoke to three people about how they were resisting the junta regime. All asked to use pseudonyms for safety reasons. Shwe Ya Min worked for Myanmar’s central bank for 17 years, but she and her husband went on strike soon after the coup, joining colleagues in a walkout that paralyzed the country’s banking system. Businesses have since been struggling to pay employees and buy supplies, and a World Bank report this week forecast that Myanmar’s economy would contract by 18 percent this year. Shwe Ya Min and her husband were both fired in May for not coming back to work, a dismissal she said was a “relief” — even though it came with a demand that they return their back pay. “We loathe [the junta] very much,” she said. “They

HK police look into booing of China’s national anthem

Hong Kong police on Friday said they are investigating Olympic Games fans who booed China’s national anthem and drowned it out with chanting during a public screening at a mall. Hong Kong’s Olympic team has had its best Games on record with Edgar Cheung winning gold in fencing and Siobhan Haughey taking two silvers in swimming. However, the success comes at a politically turbulent time for the territory, as China cracks down on dissent in response to huge and often violent democracy protests two years ago. Hundreds of fans gathered in a mall on Monday to watch Cheung’s winning bout, erupting into rapturous applause and cheers when he came out on top. At the subsequent medal ceremony, some fans initially booed China’s national anthem and then chanted: “We are Hong Kong,” in scenes that were broadcast live. “We are Hong Kong” is often chanted by Hong Kong soccer fans, many of whom revel in the territory’s unique identity and Cantonese culture compared with the primarily Mandarin-speaking Chinese mainland. Hong Kong last year passed legislation banning any insults to China’s national anthem and flag, with officials specifically citing soccer fans as one of the reasons they deemed the law necessary. Yesterday, police confirmed that they were looking into whether the Olympic mall fans had broken the law. “The police have initiated an investigation into the incident and will collect relevant evidence,” a police spokesperson said. Hong Kong has imposed a sweeping National Security Law that criminalizes much dissent and pushed an official campaign to root out anyone deemed unpatriotic.

Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker on their Trump bestseller

History is written by the victors but Donald Trump being Donald Trump, he was never going to go quietly. So when the Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker requested an interview about the final year of his presidency, Trump invited them to the palatial Florida estate he used to call his “winter White House.” The conversation took place not in his private office at Mar-a-Lago but in its gaudy lobby as waiters assembled a buffet dinner including jumbo Gulf shrimp, oysters over ice and bananas foster. A model of Air Force One, painted in Trump’s unrealized redesign, perched on a coffee table. Club members — a Fox News host and Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend among them — stopped to chat on their way to dinner. “Trump seemed to love the idea that he was being interviewed as theater,” Rucker recalls by phone. “He could show off to his club members that these fancy reporters from Washington had flown down just to hear what he had to say. And he enjoyed the interview. He talked to us for two and a half hours and then he invited us at the end to stick around for dinner and sent us to a table in the corner of the patio.” The upshot of this encounter in March, and private interviews with more than 140 sources, is I Alone Can Fix It, a follow-up to Pulitzer prize-winning Leonnig and Rucker’s bestseller A Very Stable Genius (both titles are direct Trump quotations loaded with irony). It is among a wave of books about Trump’s disastrous final year hitting shelves just six months after he left office. I Alone Can Fix It portrays a man who put himself before his country. It is packed with hair-raising revelations about the 45th president’s mishandling of everything from the coronavirus pandemic

Even in absence, North Korea’s presence felt at Tokyo Games

North Korea isn’t at the Tokyo Olympics this summer. And therein lies a tale — one of sports and viruses, but most of all a tale of complex politics. While it’s not making headlines here, the North’s absence is noteworthy, especially among those who watch the intersection of sports and diplomacy — and the way North Korea’s propaganda machine uses international attention to advance its needs. The no-show is especially striking when contrasted with the last Games. Perhaps the hottest story of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, was the North Korean delegation, which included 22 athletes, hundreds of cheerleaders and leader Kim Jong-un’s powerful sister. The coronavirus is the biggest reason for North Korea’s decision not to come to Tokyo. Always highly sensitive to communicable disease outbreaks, the nation has shut its borders even more tightly than normal, worried that its fragile health care system and rickety economy could not withstand a major outbreak. That, in turn, could imperil the ruling Kim family’s grip on power. But there are other things at work, too, according to analysts. North Korean sports, like much about the country, are intertwined with calculations about its pursuit of a nuclear-armed long-range missile program to target the US mainland. After a brief period of engagement, Kim Jong-un now fears the introduction of another virus — the cultural one from the wealthy South — and may be biding his time until next year’s Winter Games. Those take place in China, its longtime ally with which it shares a land border. Kim may have also decided there’s nothing to be gained by nuclear diplomacy at the Tokyo games, as Washington shows no intention of accepting Pyongyang’s demand to end sanctions. PROPAGANDA Neither do sports exist in a void inside the North, where domestic audiences consume messages controlled by the government every step

In ‘The Green Knight,’ an enchanting Arthurian dream

Why, for starters, is the Green Knight green? It’s a question that’s long vexed scholars of the 14th century chivalric romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The movie, like the epic poem, is full of mysteries, most of them unspoken. But the knight’s unlikely color — Why isn’t he a more typical knightly blue? — is a question voiced by the characters of David Lowery’s adaptation, The Green Knight. He’s green, answers Dev Patel’s Sir Gawain, because it’s the shade of rot. The Green Knight, as seen in Lowery’s enchanting Arthurian dream, is an imposing tree of a man, with a wispy beard of twigs and a wooden mane whose movements rustle with the sound of bended, creaking branches. (He’s played by a much-costumed Ralph Ineson.) Early in The Green Knight, he rides on Christmas Day into King Arthur’s court, cloaked in shadow, and offers a game. Strike him wherever you want, and he will repay the same stroke a year hence at his Green Chapel. Gawain, freshly inspired by King Arthur to be ambitious after spending his days drinking and carousing, takes up the challenge and boldly chops off the knight’s head. The thrall of victory quickly turns ominous when the Green Knight stands, picks up his head and — with more menace than even an unwanted houseguest promising to return for the holidays — says he’ll see the young man next Christmas. The Green Knight is the color of nature and of death, which here are the same things. Lowery’s film, shot on misty Irish plains and dank forests, is earthy, with dirt under its nails, and blanketed in wintery fog. It’s both of the land and the ether, poised in a dreamy, mythical long ago. Gawain’s quest to visit the Green Knight a year later is a haunting journey into an

Photo News: Taiwan wins more medals than ever at Tokyo Olympics 從照片看新聞: 台灣多項奪牌 創下奧運史最佳紀錄

SPEAK UP ! 雙語會話

Would banana skins be considered kitchen waste? (5/5) 那香蕉皮算不算廚餘？（五） A: Listen, the garbage truck’s coming, quick! B: Wow, it’s time for the Taiwanese most important evening social ritual! As soon as you hear The Maiden’s Prayer, it’s like someone’s pushed a button, you get all flustered, grab all the garbage bags and rush out of the door as if your life depended on it. A: Ha ha. When in Rome… Hey, look, she seems to be the one who just moved in. And she’s rather well dressed. B: Yeah, not like us, standing here in our flip-flops and shorts, the standard get-up. A: Well, I once had a roommate who would insist on changing into their outdoor clothes and shoes whenever they took the trash out, not wanting to look too unkempt, but also wanting to be prepared to run after the garbage truck. B: Let’s go and say hi to the new neighbor. A: 你聽，垃圾車來了，快衝！ B: 哇！台灣人每天晚上最重要的社交儀式來了！你們一聽到《少女的祈禱》，就好像被按到什麼開關，都忽然變得好緊張，拿著大包小包的垃圾拼命往前衝！ A: 哈哈，你也已經入境隨俗了啊！欸，你看，她好像是最近搬來的鄰居耶！穿得還蠻漂亮的。 B: 對呀，不像我們，大家都穿人字拖鞋、短褲，這是標準配備。 A: 可是我以前的室友，每次倒垃圾都堅持要換成外出服和鞋子，說是怕太邋遢，而且也方便追垃圾車。 B: 我們去跟新鄰居打個招呼吧！ (Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱 ) Audio recordings for Speak Up! dialogues will be suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.

SPEAK UP ! 雙語會話

Would banana skins be considered kitchen waste? (4/5) 那香蕉皮算不算廚餘？（四） A: Ah, I forgot the kitchen waste, it’s still in the refrigerator. I’ll go and get it. B: It’s a good idea to put the kitchen scraps into the refrigerator, it stops them from going bad or giving off a smell. You have to be careful it doesn’t contaminate the other food in there, though. A: Actually, when you throw away the cooking leftovers, you still need to sort it into scraps for pig feed and scraps to be used for compost. B: Damn, that’s a bit complicated, isn’t it? So, would banana skins be considered kitchen waste? If so, what kind? Can pigs eat them? A: When I lived in the south before, banana skins and all fruit peelings were considered compost, but a little while ago here a refuse collector told me that fruit peelings could be put in with the normal garbage, because there are no compost processing plants in this area. A: 啊，我忘了廚餘，還在冰箱裡，我去拿出來。 B: 廚餘放冰箱倒是個好辦法，才不容易腐壞發臭，不過小心別污染了其他食物。 A: 其實丟廚餘的時候還分類呢，有一種是可以餵豬，另外一種是用來堆肥。 B: 天哪，這太複雜了吧？那香蕉皮算不算廚餘？如果算的話，屬於哪一種？豬會吃嗎？ A: 我以前住南部的時候香蕉皮和其他果皮算是堆肥的廚餘，可是前陣子這裡的清潔隊員跟我說，就把果皮當一般垃圾丟掉就好，因為這附近沒有處理堆肥的設施。 (Translated by Paul Cooper, Taipei Times／台北時報林俐凱) Audio recordings for Speak Up! dialogues will be suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.