‘TRUSTED PARTNER’: The company said that it is ‘committed to help bring an end to the pandemic,’ while the health minister denied it was a ‘chips for vaccines’ deal
BioNTech on Wednesday said that it plans to provide its COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan after Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) announced that in December last year the German company at the last minute halted a deal for the nation to to buy 5 million doses. Earlier on Wednesday, Chen said that officials were on the verge of announcing the deal when BioNTech pulled the plug, although he added that it was still pending and had not been torn up. While he did not say that China was to blame, Chen implied there was a political dimension to the decision. “BioNTech
‘LESS DUMB’ LIQUIDITY: If more companies start to speculate in cryptocurrency, ‘we’re going to be in bubble territory before you know it,’ a market analyst said
Bitcoin is closing in on a market value of US$1 trillion, a surge that is helping cryptocurrency returns far outstrip the performance of more traditional assets such as stocks and gold. The largest token has added more than US$415 billion of value this year to about US$956 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. The Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index, which includes bitcoin and four other coins, has more than doubled. Speculators, corporate treasurers and institutional investors are thought to have stoked bitcoin’s volatile ascent. Crypto believers are dueling with skeptics for the dominant narrative around the climb: The former see an asset being
SPY GAMES: For more than 20 years, intelligence officers traveled to China, where they identified other MIB personnel and allegedly traded secrets for money and gifts
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted four retired Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB) officials, who are accused of providing China with a list of bureau personnel and other classified materials while attempting to recruit colleagues into a spy network in Taiwan. Prosecutors charged Chang Chao-jan (張超然), Chou Tien-tzu (周天慈) and Wang Ta-wang (王大旺), former colonels at the bureau, and Yueh Chih-chung (岳志忠) — a former major general and chief of the MIB’s Fifth Bureau, where he was in charge of sending agents to China on covert assignments — with breaches of the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the National Intelligence Services
CONTINUED VIGILANCE: People would still be required to wear masks at eight types of public spaces and border controls would continue, Chen Shih-chung told reporters
The government’s autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program is to continue beyond Sunday, but eating and drinking on high-speed trains would be allowed from Monday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that while there were no new confirmed cases in Taiwan yesterday, the global COVID-19 situation remains serious, so the autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program would be extended beyond its Sunday deadline. “Border control measures, including requiring a negative polymerase chain reaction test result obtained within three days of boarding a plane to Taiwan, and undergoing quarantine in a
MORE RISK? Three Taiwanese family members were found to have the Brazilian variant, which CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo said might be more infectious
From Wednesday, all travelers who have been in Brazil in the past 14 days are required to be quarantined at a centralized facility after arriving in Taiwan and undergo a COVID-19 test upon ending quarantine, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that starting from 12am on Wednesday, all travelers arriving from Brazil, including those who have transited through the country in the past 14 days, would have to stay at a centralized quarantine facility. “They will be tested for COVID-19 upon completing the 14-day quarantine, and they
POOR VISIBILITY: Twenty vehicles were involved in the accident, which was possibly caused by thick fog on the Sibin Expressway between Yunlin and Chiayi counties
Two people died and eight were injured in an accident involving multiple vehicles on the Sibin Expressway (Highway No. 61) yesterday morning, the Yunlin County Police Bureau said. At 7:31am, the Chiayi County Fire Department received a report of a deadly accident at the 254km marker on the expressway’s northbound lanes, near the border between Yunlin and Chiayi counties, the bureau said. Seven trucks and 13 passenger vehicles were involved in the collision, it said. The casualties were a man surnamed Lin (林) and a woman surnamed Lee (李), both of whom were in their 60s. A retired employee of CPC Corp,
I was in a warehouse in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley, anxiously scribbling in my reporter’s notebook while waiting for a porn shoot to begin. Charles Dera, a performer with jet-black hair and a well-groomed beard to match, crouched in front of me, stretching his calves. Tommy Gunn, a performer named after his biceps, sat on the floor flipping through a release form. He hopped to a stand and asked to borrow my pen. As a journalist, I had been on porn sets more times than I can count, but this shoot was making me uncharacteristically nervous. I started looking at porn as
‘CORNERED ENEMY’: China’s rise is threatening peace and stability, and the US would aim to restrict it with help from allies in the Asia-Pacific, Soong Hseik-wen said
A draft bill on protecting Taiwan from invasion is likely to be passed by the US Congress, but it remains to be seen how US President Joe Biden’s administration would implement the act if it is passed, Taiwanese academics said on Sunday. US Senator Rick Scott and US Representative Guy Reschenthaler on Thursday reintroduced the proposed Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act, which was shelved in September last year due to the impending US presidential election. Arthur Ding (丁樹範), a professor at National Chengchi University’s College of International Affairs, and Soong Hseik-wen (宋學文), a professor at National Chung Cheng University’s Graduate Institute
Rather than a “diplomatic win,” the recently announced opening of a Taiwan office in Guyana proved to be a source of disappointment and displeasure. The government in Georgetown decided to halt the mutual establishment of representative offices less than 24 hours after the agreement was announced. Unsurprisingly, the “China factor” appears to have been the primary reason behind this reversal. The Guyanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs explicitly stated that the country would “continue to adhere to the one China policy” as it nixed the agreement with Taipei. Why does Guyana matter, though? International attention on this Caribbean nation of less than 1
FALLING INTO PLACE: The Central Epidemic Control Center said that, based on the COVAX list, 200,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine should be arriving soon
Starting next month, all 332,000 medical personnel nationwide are to have priority access to COVID-19 shots, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is spokesman for the Central Epidemic Control Center (CECC), said yesterday. Based on the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) list, 200,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine should arrive as early as next week, the center said. Chuang said that about 140,000 people — including central and local government officials who oversee disease prevention, personnel who have first contact with potential COVID-19 patients and Customs Administration personnel — are second in line to receive the vaccine. Third in
CHANGING IT UP: With Bopomofo rarely used outside of Taiwan, the lawmaker said that Romanization would help the government in its internationalization efforts
Tainan City Councilor Lee Chi-wei (李啟維) yesterday called for the use of Romanized spellings to make Taiwanese dialects and languages internationally recognizable. Speaking at a news conference in Tainan to mark International Mother Language Day, Lee said the use of zhuyin fuhao (注音符號, Mandarin phonetic symbols commonly known as Bopomofo) made it difficult to promote interest in, or recognition of, the nation’s dialects and languages, as the system is not commonly used outside of Taiwan. “The legislature has already passed the Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法), but under the current circumstances that act is like a candle in the wind,” he
ALGAL REEFS: Construction of an LNG terminal off Taoyuan is vital to ensuring stable power supply, Wang Mei-hua said, amid concern over its impact on the ecosystem
CPC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣中油) third liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project in Taoyuan would have “a minimal impact” on algal reefs and endangered marine species at the planned construction site, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said yesterday. The terminal — to be built in the Guantang Industrial Park (觀塘工業區) on the coast of Datan Borough (大潭) in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) — is sorely needed to maintain stable power supply, Wang said. Some environmentalists have argued that the terminal would damage algal reefs off Taoyuan. Wang said that the footprint of the planned terminal has been reduced to 10
CULTURAL CAPITAL: Taiwanese can act as ambassadors while teaching in the US, by exchanging views with their colleagues and friends, one Mandarin teacher said
Most US students take Chinese classes because they want to know more about China, but Taiwanese teachers can make a change with more flexible pedagogic approaches and cultural exchanges, two local teachers said. Since the US last year canceled its Fulbright programs with China and Hong Kong, Taiwan has been granted a larger quota of scholarships, including the Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Fulbright Program, which is funded by the US Department of State and comanaged in Taiwan by the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange. American Institute in Taiwan Director Brent Christensen last month encouraged Taiwan to fill the gap left by the closures
A survey of Taiwanese adults this month showed that more than 60 percent are willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but just 1 percent would accept China-made vaccines, the Chinese-language Global Views monthly magazine said. If the vaccinations are funded by the government, 60.3 percent of respondents said they would get the inoculation, 32.7 percent would not and 7 percent said they had not yet decided. Of those willing to be vaccinated, 65.4 percent of men said they would get the vaccine, while only 55.5 percent of women welcomed it. People in the transportation and healthcare industries are more willing to receive the
SECURITY RESHUFFLE: President Tsai Ing-wen believes the changes to the national security team will help meet the challenges of a post-pandemic world
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has ordered a reshuffle of top military and security officials in the Cabinet, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said yesterday. Chang told a news conference at the Presidential Office that National Security Bureau Director-General Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) is to replace Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發), while Yen is to become a National Security Council (NSC) consultant. Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) is to become the bureau’s director-general, while NSC consultant Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) is to take over Chen’s post, he said. The transition for the four officials to their new posts is to begin
Electronics shops in Hong Kong have seen a sharp increase in demand for cheap burner phones as the territory’s government eases restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but pushes the use of a contact-tracing app that has raised privacy concerns. Pro-democracy protests erupted in Hong Kong in 2019 and a sweeping National Security Law was imposed last year by Beijing in response, along with the arrest of most of its prominent pro-democracy advocates. The swift authoritarian turn taken by the government, which denies curbing the rights and freedoms of the territory’s 7.5 million residents, has resulted in deep-seated mistrust of public policies, including
INDIA-CHINA TENSIONS: The wrangling might hurt local firms like Pegatron, Hon Hai and Wistron, who committed to establishing smartphone plants in India
Geopolitical tensions between India and China are beginning to hurt some of Taiwan’s biggest technology companies, including suppliers to Apple Inc, and hindering New Delhi’s much-vaunted incentive program for electronics manufacturing. India has been slow to issue visas to Chinese engineers, who are needed to help Taiwanese companies set up factories in the South Asian nation, people with knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity. India is also nudging companies to opt for employment permits, which are more difficult to obtain, they added. The wrangling might delay Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to bolster India’s manufacturing capacity and deter overseas
COMING SOON: After the vaccines arrive, authorities would ensure they meet quality standards and they could be made available in a week or up to 40 days
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday confirmed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued emergency use authorization for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from three factories, adding that it could be administered in about seven days after arrival in Taiwan. FDA Director-General Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) said the agency approved the vaccine yesterday morning. The vaccines could be administered as soon as seven days after they arrive in Taiwan, if all the required information is provided, but it could take up to 40 days if the factories provide incomplete documentation, she said. At the CECC’s news conference in the afternoon, Minister of
The rise of China as a major economy and military power has been a major development this century. While China’s economic clout is felt across the world, it has also been aggressively pursuing a military modernization program. One study published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies in May last year said that since 2016, China’s annual defense budget has been 7.2 to 8.1 percent of total government spending. Although China has projected its rise as peaceful, the truth is that Beijing has begun to redefine the power structure in Asia in its favor, leading some international relations
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