NO ‘ONE CHINA’ LIE: The appropriations act passed the US House of Representatives with a vote of 217-212, but still needs Senate approval and the president’s signature
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a foreign assistance spending bill with an amendment forbidding that funds be used to create, procure or display maps depicting Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China. The amendment was introduced by five Republican representatives — Tom Tiffany, Steve Chabot, Scott Perry, Kat Cammack and Mike Gallagher — and passed unanimously in a bundle with a dozen other amendments. “This is a common sense measure,” Tiffany said, speaking on the House floor on Wednesday. “As we all know, Taiwan has never been part of communist China. The Taiwanese people elect their
A video allegedly featuring retired general Kao An-kuo (高安國) calling on Taiwanese military officers to surrender to China and overthrow the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has sparked outrage and calls for him to be charged with treason. The video, titled “A message to Taiwanese military officers,” allegedly shows Kao saying: “I call on commanding officers of our military troops to stand up for Chinese nationalism, to take up this duty under heaven’s mandate to save Taiwanese from oppression and terrible suffering.” Dressed in military fatigues and a beret, the lieutenant general called on officers to overthrow the “fraudulent DPP regime,”
Facebook Inc on Wednesday reported its profit doubled in the second quarter as digital advertising surged, but warned of cooler growth in the months ahead in an update that sent its shares sinking. Profit rose to US$10.4 billion on revenue of US$29 billion, a 56 percent increase from last year, mainly from an increase in ad revenue, Facebook said. The number of people using the social network monthly climbed to 2.9 billion, a year-on-year gain of 7 percent, while about 3.5 billion people used at least one of the company’s apps, including Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. “We had a strong quarter, as we
‘TEAM TAIWAN’: Taiwanese athletes have performed admirably and raised the nation’s profile, but many abroad still think they are Chinese, an advocate said
Advocacy groups have called for the national team to compete under the name “Taiwan” at the Tokyo Olympics, while former Olympian Chi Cheng (紀政) has launched another referendum petition on the issue. Taiwanese athletes have performed outstandingly at the Olympics and have raised the nation’s profile on the world stage, Northern Taiwan Society chairman Lee Chuan-hsin (李川信) said on Friday. “Many foreign news agencies, including Japan’s NHK, have called our delegation ‘Taiwan’ instead of ‘Chinese Taipei.’ Therefore our own people and politicians should also speak of ‘Team Taiwan’ and Taiwanese athletes,” he said. “However, in Taiwan, most of the time the Taiwanese team
THE HOME TEAM: DPP Legislator Kao Chia-yu said she canceled her booking for an AstraZeneca shot as soon as she heard that the Medigen vaccine was an option
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that she would get inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Taiwan-based Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗). Tsai wrote on Facebook that she had registered for her first vaccine dose using the national online COVID-19 vaccination booking system, which allows people to indicate their preferred vaccine brand and to make an appointment when the shot becomes available. Tsai said that she opted for the Medigen vaccine — one of three now available on the system, along with the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines — even though Medigen has yet to deliver any doses or provide a
SOAKED: Although rain in central and southern Taiwan is to ease today, chances of heavy or extremely heavy rain would be high in the morning, a CWB forecaster said
Extreme torrential rain brought by a southwesterly jet stream yesterday wreaked havoc in central and southern Taiwan, causing flash floods and triggering mudflows and landslides in mountainous areas. By 5pm yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau’s observation station in Yuyoushan (御油山) in Kaohsiung’s Liouguei District (六龜) had registered accumulated rainfall of 726.5mm since 12am on Saturday, the highest among the bureau’s observation stations. It was followed by the observation station in Kaohsiung’s Maolin District (茂林), which recorded accumulated rainfall of 671.5mm over the period. Six of the 10 observation stations that recorded the highest accumulated rainfall yesterday were in Liouguei, bureau
CALL FOR INTERVENTION: Granting exclusive drug distribution rights in a nation to its political and military adversary it ethically problematic, a legislative bureau said
Chinese companies have over the past five years obtained exclusive distribution rights in Taiwan for 29 percent of new pharmaceuticals, the Legislative Yuan said, urging the government to intervene, as it said the issue extends far beyond Chinese agency over the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Right of agency for drug distribution has received widespread attention this year, after Germany’s BioNTech inked a deal with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group (上海復星醫藥集團) to develop and distribute its COVID-19 vaccine in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau. This has complicated Taipei’s efforts to procure the vaccine. Private entities have stepped in to purchase doses to donate to the
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎), world women’s singles No. 1 badminton player, yesterday won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the women’s singles competition. Chen Yufei (陳雨菲) of China won the gold medal 21-18, 19-21, 21-18 in 81 minutes. It is the 27-year-old Tai’s first Olympic medal. She was knocked out in the round-of-16 in her previous two Olympics: London 2012 and Rio 2016. Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai (李智凱) yesterday at the Tokyo Olympics won Taiwan’s first-ever silver medal in the men’s pommel horse event. “I have done my best, I have no regrets,” Lee said. Lee scored a total
The small Baltic nation of Lithuania last week announced that it would accept a Taiwanese representative office in its capital, Vilnius, and that it would establish its own trade office in Taiwan by the end of the year. This was more than a welcome announcement to Taiwan and goes far beyond the normal establishment of trade relations. Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis summed it up succinctly, boldly saying: “Freedom-loving people should look out for each other.” With these words, Landsbergis was purposefully going beyond normal diplomacy; he was also presenting a moral challenge and reminder to other democratic nations. A look
MEDIGEN: The Central Epidemic Command Center plans to wait until about 500,000 to 600,000 doses have passed testing before offering it in the vaccination program
The inspection of the first four batches of the domestic COVID-19 vaccine has been completed and the doses are ready to be rolled out, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. The inspection of the four batches of the vaccine made by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗), a total of 265,528 doses, was completed on Friday last week and they are being sealed at a designated warehouse in preparation for use, FDA Research and Inspection Division head Wang Teh-yuan (王德原) said. The sealing was expected to be completed yesterday evening, he said. The Medigen vaccine, the first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine to be
INTO THE SEMIS: Top seed Tai Tzu-ying hit two stunning backhands in quick succession while on the floor in her quarter-final, prompting disbelieving gasps and cheers
Taiwanese badminton stars Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin yesterday advanced to the gold medal match of the men’s doubles, while Taiwanese top seed Tai Tzu-ying got off to a rough start in a nail-biting women’s singles quarter-final against Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, but rallied with a series of flash backhand smashes. Lee and Wang beat Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-11, 21-10 in their men’s doubles semi-final to set up a shot at the gold medal against China’s Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen, who had a 24-22, 21-13 win over Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. Tai rallied from a game
GAINING SPEED: On 1922.gov.tw, 5.52% have opted to get the AstraZeneca shot, 39.11% Moderna and 1.3% Medigen, the Central Epidemic Command Center said
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 16 new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections and no deaths, while saying that 30.97 percent of the population has been vaccinated. Of the local cases, 13 were male and three female with an onset of symptoms reported between Sunday and Wednesday, it said. New Taipei City recorded seven cases, while Taipei had five, Kaohsiung had two, and Taoyuan and Chiayi City had one each, the center said. Fourteen of the local cases had known sources of infection, while two had unclear links with confirmed cases, it said. One of two new imported cases is a Taiwanese man
MAKING CONNECTIONS: Of the 21 new local COVID-19 infections reported yesterday, nine were linked to a Chiayi cluster, with one reportedly having recently lived in Taipei
A business in Chiayi County has reported 11 cases of COVID-19, with their source of infection possibly from northern Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. At its daily news briefing, the center reported 21 new local cases — nine in Chiayi, seven in Taipei, four in New Taipei City and one in Kaohsiung, with no new fatalities. Among them, 18 cases have known sources of infection, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. The nine cases in Chiayi have been determined to be part of a cluster at a workplace, which has accumulated 11
Mushrooming outbreaks of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 prompted China and Australia to impose stricter COVID-19 curbs yesterday, as the WHO urged the world to contain the mutation before it turns into something deadlier and draws out the COVID-19 pandemic. China’s most serious surge of coronavirus infections in months spread to two more areas yesterday — Fujian Province and the megacity of Chongqing — in an outbreak that now spans 14 provinces. More than 200 cases have been linked to a Delta cluster in Nanjing, where nine cleaners at an international airport tested positive. “The main strain circulating at present is the Delta
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
I was a bit startled last week when Legislative Yuan Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) suggested that the United States could extend official recognition to an independent Taiwan if China were to launch an invasion. While I think Speaker You is correct, I am not sure it is a helpful point of view. Naturally, there are contingency plans in Washington on diplomatic actions that could deter Chinese military action, but they contemplate the continuity of a democratic Taiwanese government that could survive offshore in exile if part or all of Taiwan is occupied by communist Chinese forces. China’s threat that “Taiwan
UNFORTUNATE REPEAT: The 19-year-old Taiwanese player’s loss was the second time that his Kiev-born opponent had denied Taiwan an Olympic bronze medal
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) yesterday failed in his bid to claim a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, as the 19-year-old rising star lost a nail-biting men’s singles bronze medal match 4-3 to Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov. It was history repeating itself, after Ovtcharov once again denied Taiwan its first ever Olympic table tennis medal in men’s singles. The teenage table tennis sensation had his chances in the best-of-seven bronze medal match, garnering four match points in a dramatic sixth game, but the Kiev-born German saved all of them and blunted another rally in the final game for a 13-11, 9-11,
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) unscheduled visit to Tibet on July 20 attracted extensive international attention. Although Chinese media said that Xi’s visit was meant to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the accession of Tibet to China, Tibet has remained a politically charged issue for China as well as the international community. The genesis of the turbulent ties between Tibet and China dates back to 1951, when the Chinese regime annexed Tibet through a seven-point agreement. China has used this agreement as proof of its sovereignty over Tibet. Tibetans argue that they were forced to sign the agreement, leading them
Restaurants, night market food vendors and food courts in Taipei, New Taipei City and Yilan County can accept dine-in customers from today, provided that they strictly adhere to disease prevention regulations. Restaurants elsewhere in Taiwan resumed dine-in services on Tuesday last week when the Central Epidemic Command Center lowered the COVID-19 alert to level 2. Taipei and New Taipei City cooperated on the decision to lift the dine-in ban as residents frequently travel between the two cities, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday. The Yilan County Government later yesterday also announced it would lift the ban from today. However, Hou said
RSS