The G7 nations on Wednesday scolded China and Russia, casting the Kremlin as malicious and Beijing as a bully, but beyond words there were few concrete steps aside from expressing support for Taiwan and Ukraine. Founded in 1975 as a forum for the West’s richest nations to discuss crises such as the OPEC oil embargo, the G7 this week addressed what it perceives as the biggest threats: China, Russia and the COVID-19 pandemic. G7 foreign ministers, in a 12,400-word communique, said that Russia was trying to undermine democracies and threatening Ukraine, while China was guilty of human rights abuses and of using its economic clout to bully others. However, there was little concrete action mentioned in the communique that would unduly worry either Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) or Russian President Vladimir Putin. The G7 said it would bolster collective efforts to stop China’s “coercive economic policies” and to counter Russian disinformation — part of a move to present the West as a much broader alliance than just the core G7 countries. “I think [China is] more likely to need to, rather than react in anger, it is more likely going to need to take a look in the mirror and understand that it needs to take into account this growing body of opinion, that thinks these basic international rules have got to be adhered to,” British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Dominic Raab said. Russia denies it is meddling beyond its borders and says the West is gripped by anti-Russian hysteria, while China says the West is a bully and that its leaders have a post-imperial mindset that makes them feel they can act like global police officers. “We will work collectively to foster global economic resilience in the face of arbitrary, coercive economic policies and practices,” the G7 ministers said on
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said that it is assisting more than 80 Taiwanese citizens to return from India, but panned media reports that it had been against the idea. Six staff members of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in India have tested positive for COVID-19: two diplomats and four employees, with one of them having become seriously ill, the ministry said. The TECC’s deputy director-general is reportedly one of the patients, although the ministry on Wednesday said that it could not give out the patients’ details out of consideration for their privacy. The ministry is in talks with insurance companies about transporting the patient who is experiencing more severe symptoms to a large hospital in a nearby country, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Larry Tseng (曾瑞利) told a news briefing in Taipei yesterday. The TECC is overwhelmed with work, but the employees started working from home on Wednesday and are not to return to the office until Friday next week, Tseng said. Employees aged 45 and older have received the first of two vaccine shots, but a plan to vaccinate employees aged 18 and older from Tuesday had to be postponed due to a lack of doses, Tseng added. Of the Taiwanese businesspeople and travelers in India, 20 have tested positive for COVID-19: one died, nine recovered after treatment, two are hospitalized and eight are in quarantine, Tseng said. Commenting on reports that the government should evacuate Taiwanese from India, Tseng said that such an action has greater diplomatic ramifications than people realize and should not be done lightly. The government is assisting Taiwanese who wish to return, he added. In a news release on Wednesday, the ministry denied a media report saying that it had allegedly decided on Monday to not evacuate Taiwanese from India. The Chinese-language United
‘DOWN TO ZERO’: Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said quarantine periods for long-haul CAL flight crews are to be lengthened from three to five days
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced longer quarantine restrictions for China Airlines (CAL, 華航) flight crew, after another confirmed COVID-19 case brought the total in a cluster linked to the airline to 29. The push is part of a broader effort by the center to bring cases in the cluster “down to zero,” said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC. Quarantine requirements for long-haul CAL flight crews are to be lengthened from three to five days, followed by nine days of enhanced health management, Chen told a news conference in Taipei. Testing would also be expanded to 1,279 CAL pilots, while arriving crews would be required to submit to five COVID-19 tests within 14 days of arrival, he added. The rules would apply to all long-haul flight crews, Chen said. Crew on short-haul flights who had not entered their destination countries or changed planes are still only subject to 14 days of self-health management, but would be required to get tested on the seventh and 14th days after arrival, he added. Chen also called on transportation authorities to supervise the nation’s airlines to ensure that personnel when abroad minimize contact with locals. Meanwhile, the CECC yesterday reported 13 new cases, including a local case related to the Novotel Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport hotel. The Taiwanese man in his 30s works as a technician at the hotel and has no recent travel history, it said. The center suspects that he contracted the virus from two of his colleagues, who tested positive last week and with whom he often had meetings. He was sent to a government quarantine center after the outbreak was discovered on Thursday last week, at which point he tested negative for the virus and antibodies, Chen said. Three days later he developed a sore throat, fever and muscle pain, and was
The US threw its weight behind a waiver on patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines as India yesterday posted record deaths. Rich nations have faced accusations of hoarding shots, while poor countries struggle to get inoculation programs off the ground, with the virus surging across the developing world in contrast with the easing of restrictions in Europe and the US. Under intense pressure to ease protections for vaccine manufacturers, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) on Wednesday said that the country “supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines.” “The extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” she said in a statement. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the “historic” move and said that it marked “a monumental moment in the fight against COVID-19.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — who has previously voiced reluctance to waive patents — yesterday said that the bloc was ready to discuss the US proposal to do so. EU governments lined up to weigh in, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying that he was “absolutely in favor” of a global waiver, while Germany said that it was open to discussing the proposal. However, the move is opposed by a consortium of big pharmaceutical companies, which described the decision as “disappointing” and said that it could hamper innovation. Shares in Asia-listed vaccine makers — including Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group (上海復星醫藥集團) and CanSino Biologics (康希諾生物) — tumbled yesterday after the US announcement. The move “probably isn’t great news for the vaccine manufacturers who will now face generic copies of their vaccine”, said Olivier d’Assier, head of applied research at Qontigo GmbH. India has been leading the fight to allow more drugmakers to manufacture the vaccines, as it faces a surge that has seen patients die in streets outside hospitals due to bed and medical oxygen shortages. The country yesterday reported almost 4,000
UP TO TWO DAYS: Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said that most who got the shot and felt discomfort only felt ill for the first two days
Employees can ask for unpaid COVID-19 vaccination leave, from the day of their shot until the end of the next day, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday, adding that the policy takes effect immediately. “The policy of unpaid COVID-19 vaccination leave will be implemented starting on May 5, and all workers and civil servants will be eligible,” Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a news conference. Leave can be taken on the day of vaccination and if recipients feel discomfort after getting the shot, they can extend the leave to all of the next day, he said. “People only need to provide their COVID-19 vaccine record card to apply for the leave,” Chen said, adding that they would not need to provide a medical certificate or other documents as evidence. “Employers will not be allowed to deny workers’ applications, or count the leave as an absence or another type of leave, and they are not allowed to withhold an applicant’s perfect attendance bonus, dismiss the applicant or impose other punishments on the applicant,” he said. “Government agencies will not be allowed to refuse civil servants’ leave applications, or let the leave affect an applicant’s performance evaluation score, or impose other types of punishment on the applicant,” Chen added. Most of those who have gotten vaccinated and felt discomfort only reported feeling ill during the first two days, so the leave covers two days, Chen said, adding that other forms of leave would need to be used to extend beyond two days. Employers are not required to offer paid leave, but the center would “of course be thankful” if employers did pay their workers during the leave, Chen said. The policy, which encourages people to get vaccinated to boost the effectiveness of disease prevention in Taiwan, resulted from discussions among
US President Joe Biden wants 70 percent of US adults to have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine by the July 4 holiday, and has made vaccinating adolescents a key part of the next phase of the country’s immunization campaign. However, targeting US teens is a controversial move among many experts, who say that it is a serious mistake to use the world’s limited supply of doses on a low-risk population while the COVID-19 pandemic surges in countries such as India and Brazil. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech in March said that their two-dose regimen was shown to be safe and highly effective in a trial of 2,260 12-to-15-year-olds. An emergency use authorization is expected in the coming days, and Biden on Tuesday told White House reporters that “if that announcement comes, we are ready to move immediately.” The president’s address comes as the nation’s immunization campaign is stalling after hitting a peak early last month. More than 56 percent of US adults have received one or more shots, but as the rate of uptake falls, officials are devising new ways to reach vaccine holdouts. These include discounts to shoppers who get vaccinated at grocery stores, promotions for fans at sports stadiums and more vaccines at rural health clinics, Biden said. The federal government is also working on a program with pharmacies and pediatricians nationwide to reach the country’s estimated 17 million 12-to-15-year-olds ahead of school reopening in the fall. However, many experts have voiced concern whether now is the right moment to reach this group as the global situation deteriorates. The issue of vaccine disparity has been brought into sharp focus by India, which on Tuesday reported more than 350,000 new cases and recorded nearly 3,500 deaths — more than anywhere in the world. “The overwhelming majority of 15-year-olds, we know are not at high
FINDING SOLUTIONS: United Auto Workers legislative director Josh Nassar said that the chip shortage has been responsible for layoffs of ‘tens of thousands of workers’
The US Department of Commerce is pressing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other Taiwanese firms to prioritize the needs of US automakers to ease chip shortages in the near term, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said on Tuesday. Raimondo told a Council of the Americas event that longer term, increased investment was needed to produce more semiconductors in the US, and that other critical supply chains needed reshoring, including to allied countries. “We’re working hard to see if we can get the Taiwanese and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, which is a big company there, to, you know, prioritize the needs of our auto companies since there’s so many American jobs on the line,” Raimondo said in response to a question from a General Motors Co (GM) executive. “As I said, there’s not a day goes by that we don’t push on that,” she said, adding that the medium and long-term solution would be “simply making more chips in America.” TSMC yesterday said that tackling the shortage remained its top priority. “TSMC has been working with all parties to alleviate the automotive chip supply shortage. We understand it is a shared concern of the worldwide automotive industry,” it said in a statement. Last month, TSMC chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said the company had been working with customers since January to reallocate more capacity to support the auto industry, but the shortage worsened due to a snowstorm in Texas and fab manufacturing disruption in Japan. Wei expected the shortage for the firm’s auto clients to be greatly reduced from next quarter. Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) told lawmakers in Taipei that many countries had sought help from the government and TSMC. “However, TSMC has a commercial mechanism and must comply with commercial norms,” she said yesterday. The US Department of Commerce plans to meet with automakers
The joint statement to be issued after the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting is expected to include strong support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO and other international organizations, a senior US Department of State official told Japanese media on Tuesday. The Asahi Shimbun in a report yesterday quoted the unnamed official as saying that Taiwan’s participation would help other nations fight the COVID-19 pandemic. “Not only does Taiwan have the right to participate, but it has a lot of experience that can help all of us in the fight against COVID-19,” the official said. “It would be self-defeating to exclude them.” The report also quoted the official as saying that China dominated discussions during the second day of meetings on Tuesday. “The China issue was the most important of the many important issues we had to discuss,” they said. Ministers in attendance expressed strong concerns about China’s human rights abuses, the official said. Human rights “are not a domestic issue; it is an issue that should be acted upon in accordance with the international obligations that China has signed,” they said, citing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international covenants. Attendees also discussed China’s economic coercion and increasing military activity in the South China Sea, the report said. The G7 foreign ministers’ meeting was held in London from Monday to yesterday ahead of the main summit, which is to be held in Cornwall, England, from June 11 to 13. It was the first in-person meeting of the G7 to be held since August 2019 in Biarritz, France.
The Philippines has rejected an annual summer fishing ban imposed by China in the disputed South China Sea and encouraged its boats to keep fishing in the country’s territorial waters. The fishing moratorium imposed by China since 1999 runs from May 1 to Aug. 16 and covers areas of the South China Sea — which the Philippines refers to as the West Philippine Sea (WPS) — as well as other waters off China. “This fishing ban does not apply to our fishermen,” the Philippine National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea said in a statement late on Tuesday. “Our fisher folk are encouraged to go out and fish in our waters in the WPS,” the task force said, as it voiced its opposition to China’s ban imposed over areas within the territory and jurisdiction of the Philippines. The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Manila has for years been embroiled in a dispute over Beijing’s sweeping claims of sovereignty over the South China Sea, most of which is also claimed by Taiwan. An international tribunal in 2016 invalidated China’s claims, but Beijing has rejected the ruling. Tensions between the two countries recently escalated after Manila accused China of territorial incursions by hundreds of its vessels in the resource-rich waterway. The Philippines has filed diplomatic protests against China over what it calls the “illegal” presence of the Chinese vessels, which it has said are crewed by militia. Chinese diplomats have said that the boats are just sheltering from rough seas and have no militia aboard. The task force said that it had spotted seven “Chinese Maritime Militia” at the Sabina shoal in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) on Tuesday last week, which dispersed after being challenged by the Philippine Coast Guard. Five returned two days later, but left after the coast guard returned,
VIRUS CURBS: Visiting people staying at healthcare and long-term care facilities in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan is banned until May 17, the CECC announced
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday banned visits to patients or residents at healthcare and long-term care facilities in three cities until May 17. It also reported six imported cases of COVID-19 and two cases with unclear infection sources. As the number of locally transmitted cases rises, some of whom have visited many places in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, enhanced disease prevention measures have to be implemented in the three cities, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. “Visiting people staying at healthcare and long-term care facilities in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan is banned from today until May 17, with few exceptions allowed,” he said, adding that only one person would be allowed to accompany a hospitalized patient or a care facility resident. Exceptions to the rule include when a patient has to undergo surgery or invasive therapy and has to be accompanied by a family member, or if the law requires a family member to sign a consent form or other documents. Another is when the patient is in an emergency room, intensive care unit or hospice unit, and the family has to be told about their condition, or when the patient’s condition has worsened and they need medical treatment or extended hospitalization, and the hospital considers a visit necessary and approves it. For long-term care facilities, visitors would be allowed if the resident is suffering from symptoms of serious physical and mental discomfort, such as insomnia, unstable blood pressure and irritability, and the facility cannot appease the resident, or other situations in which the facility considers a visit necessary. People are advised to avoid unnecessary visits to healthcare and long-term care facilities, and are encouraged to call and talk to patients instead, Chen said. If they have to pay a visit, they should wear
India’s COVID-19 caseload yesterday topped 20 million, in stark contrast to gradual reopenings in the US and Europe, where mass vaccinations have allowed the easing of many restrictions. More than 350,000 new cases were reported in India yesterday, a drop from the peak of 402,000 last week, giving some cause for optimism that the worst of the devastating wave might have passed. “If daily cases and deaths are analyzed, there is a very early signal of movement in the positive direction,” senior Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare official Lav Aggarwal told reporters. “But these are very early signals. There is a need to further analyze it,” he added. India’s healthcare infrastructure has struggled to cope with the huge number of cases, with deep shortages of medicines, hospital beds and medical oxygen. The wave in India — spurred by huge gatherings, including the Hindu festival Kumbh Mela — has highlighted the danger of COVID-19, which has claimed more than 3.2 million lives worldwide. Religious events are a threat in Pakistan, too, where authorities are battling a third wave of infections and urging Muslims to observe precautions during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Despite the warnings, thousands of Shiite Muslims — many not wearing masks — yesterday gathered in Lahore for an annual religious procession. Pakistani authorities have largely avoided clamping down on such religious activities in the past few months even as markets and schools have been closed. Meanwhile, leaders in Europe were looking to take further steps toward recovery with a proposal to revive international travel and tourism as early as next month. The European Commission on Monday proposed that travelers who are fully vaccinated with EU-approved shots or those coming from countries where COVID-19 is under control should be allowed to enter the bloc. The EU has so far approved the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson
Environmental groups are split over an Executive Yuan proposal to move a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal an additional 455m from the coast of Datan Borough (大潭) in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) to reduce its impact on algal reefs. The planned terminal has sparked an outcry from environmentalists, who fear that it would damage the algal reefs in the area. They have successfully petitioned for a referendum to block the project. However, support for the referendum has wavered and environmental advocates are divided on the issue, Taiwan Citizen Participation Association director-general Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said. The Cabinet on Monday proposed moving the terminal farther from the shore for a total of 1.2km and scrapping a planned turning basin to allay fears of damage to the reefs, as the new location would have sufficient depth, and forgo 21 hectares of land reclamation. Should the proposal be approved, it would delay the terminal’s completion by two years and add NT$15 billion (US$536.63 million) to the project’s budget. Ho said that while he appreciated the Executive Yuan’s efforts to find a solution, he would nonetheless support the referendum sponsored by Rescue Datan’s Algal Reefs Alliance convener Pan Chong-cheng (潘忠政). The issue has become polarized and Pan should not remain silent, Ho said, calling for more hearings on the matter to clear up lingering doubts. Citizen of Earth, Taiwan yesterday issued a statement applauding the Executive Yuan’s proposal, saying that it would have the least impact on the government’s goal of reducing carbon emissions. The proposal should be reviewed by an environmental impact assessment committee before the referendum on Aug. 28, the group said. Former Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) deputy minister Chan Shun-kuei (詹順貴) told a news conference that Pan’s concern for the reefs is legitimate, but is not backed by any scientific study suggesting that the terminal would directly harm them. Pan,
NEXT STEP? The contract chipmaker said it would decide whether to add more plants based on operation efficiency, cost economics and demand
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is planning to build several more chipmaking fabs in the US state of Arizona beyond the one already planned, three people familiar with the matter said. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, announced in May last year that it would build a US$12 billion fab in Arizona. The 12-inch wafer fab in Phoenix is expected to start mass production in 2024, the Investment Commission said in December, when it approved the plan. Three sources familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that up to five additional fabs are being planned for Arizona. The initial fab is relatively modest by industry standards, with a planned output of 20,000 wafers per month using the company’s most sophisticated 5-nanometer process technology. It is not clear how much additional production capacity and investment the additional fabs might represent, and which process technology they would use. TSMC last month said it planned to invest US$100 billion over the next three years to increase production capacity, although it did not give details. One person with direct knowledge of the matter said that the expansion was in response to a request from the US, but declined to provide further details. “The United States requested it. Internally TSMC is planning to build up to six fabs,” the person said, adding that it was not possible to give a timeframe. US President Joe Biden’s administration is preparing to spend tens of billions of US dollars to support domestic chip manufacturing. Under existing legislation, foreign firms are eligible for those funds, but whether they will ultimately receive them is an open question. A second person familiar with the plans said that TSMC had already made sure there was enough space for expansion when it obtained the land for the first
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to participate in a UN Security Council meeting chaired by Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on strengthening global cooperation and the key role of the UN in harnessing international action to tackle the world’s conflicts and crises, China’s ambassador to the UN said on Monday. The meeting is “the first priority” of China’s UN Security Council presidency this month, and is to be attended not only by Blinken, but “quite a number” of other foreign ministers from the 15 nations on the UN’s most powerful body, Chinese Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun (張軍) told a news conference. Last week, US President Joe Biden told Congress about the critical importance of the US keeping up with China, which his administration sees as a strategic challenger, and proving that US democracy can still work and maintain primacy in the world. Friday’s council session also comes in the wake of a contentious meeting in Alaska on March 18 between Blinken and Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪), who took aim at each other’s country’s sharply different policies. It was the first face-to-face US-China meeting of the Biden administration. Blinken said the administration is united with its allies in pushing back against China’s increasing authoritarianism and assertiveness at home and abroad, including its actions in Hong Kong and against Taiwan, the Uighur minority in Xinjiang and in the South China Sea. Yang responded angrily, demanding that the US stop pushing its own version of democracy at a time when the US has been roiled by domestic discontent and accusing Washington of hypocrisy for criticizing Beijing on human rights and other issues. “It’s becoming more and more evident that in tackling the current global crises, multilateralism represents the right way out,” Zhang said on Monday. He
DISEASE PREVENTION: Foreigners who have visited India in the past 14 days, but do not have a valid Taiwanese resident certificate are banned from entry to Taiwan
Starting today, foreign travelers who have visited India in the past 14 days, but do not have a valid Taiwanese resident certificate would be temporarily banned from entering Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The announcement came after the center on Sunday said that all travelers who have been to India in the past 14 days, including transit passengers, would be placed in 14 days of centralized quarantine upon entering Taiwan, starting today. They would also be required to take a mandatory polymerase chain reaction test for COVID-19 upon ending quarantine, and practice seven days of self-health management if they test negative. The CECC also announced new disease prevention measures for flight crew members, after more than two dozen confirmed cases have been reported among China Airlines (中華航空) cargo pilots and staff at the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel, as well as their family members, since last month. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, last week said that the infection source might be flight crew members of foreign airlines who stayed at the hotel, where many China Airlines crew members have been quarantined upon returning to Taiwan. Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is deputy head of the center, said that the new policies aim to clearly separate the flight crew members of Taiwanese airlines from those of foreign airlines, as they are subject to different quarantine rules. All crew members of foreign airlines would only stay in one designated hotel during their layovers in Taiwan, he said, adding that the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and the Taoyuan City Government would choose the hotel, he said. Quarantine dormitories for crew members of Taiwanese airlines would be chosen by the CAA and operated by Novotel following disinfection, Chen Tsung-yen said, adding that the hotel would
REBALANCING ACT: Mark Liu said that instead of trying to move the supply chain, the US should invest in R&D to develop experts in the manufacturing field
The chip industry in Taiwan has been called its “silicon shield” because the world needs the support of Taiwan’s high-tech industry and would not let a war break out in the region, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) said in an interview with a US television show host. Speaking to CBS’ 60 Minutes host Lesley Stahl, Liu said that as a critical link in the global semiconductor supply chain, Taiwan’s chip industry is dubbed the “silicon shield” for a reason. “That means the world all needs Taiwan’s high-tech industry support. So they will not let the war happen in this region because it goes against [the] interest of every country in the world,” he said in the interview, which aired on Sunday. However, Liu would not comment if the chip industry is indeed keeping Taiwan safe, with some foreign experts saying that TSMC and other Taiwanese chipmakers are one of the reasons the West needs to help defend the country in the event of conflict with China. “I cannot comment on the safety. I mean, this is a changing world. Nobody wants these things to happen. And I hope — I hope not, too — either,” he said. Asked about US concerns that most chips are made in Asia amid an ongoing global shortage of automobile chips, Liu said that he understood such worries, but said that the main issue is not where the chips are being made. “The shortage will happen no matter where the production is located because it’s due to COVID,” he said, referring to the pandemic. Asked about US attempts to rebalance the supply chain, Liu said that instead of trying to move the supply chain, the US should invest in research and development to produce “more Ph.D., master and bachelor students” in the manufacturing
At 96 years old, Lien Chin-ting (連金廷) has become the nation’s oldest licensed caregiver. “I am old, so I know better how to care for old people,” he said on Friday, as he demonstrated how to care for a bedridden patient. At the encouragement of his daughter, Lien said he often attends activities at an elderly-care center in Taichung. However, it was not the classes that sparked his interest, but rather the work of caregiving itself, he said. In January, he began a 97-hour course that includes 52 hours of coursework, eight hours of practical work and 30 hours of clinical practice. After completing his courses and a written examination, he received his caregiver license last month and now volunteers at the same center that inspired his journey. As he himself is of an advanced age, Lien said he would never charge for his services. Lien retired at 70, but leads an active life, going on hikes, serving as a certified Taoist cleric, and taking classes in Japanese and other subjects. “My dad has never stopped learning and exercising,” his daughter said. “He really has no issues physically.” This new chapter is not too big of a change, as Lien cared for his wife before she died about eight years ago and often helps with his grandchildren. He is now studying other aspects of professional caregiving, such as nutrition, and has obtained cardiopulmonary resuscitation certification, he added. “Now I can care for others as well as myself,” he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party lost an election in a key state he visited frequently before the recent virus surge forced him off the campaign trail, adding to growing signs of a backlash over his government’s handling of the world’s worst COVID-19 outbreak. In West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s All India Trinamool Congress won about 72 percent of 292 seats up for grabs, while Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took 77, according to results posted by the Election Commission of India yesterday. Last month, Modi predicted that his party would win more than 200 seats in the state, which held voting over eight phases starting on March 27. Modi’s opponents won in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, while his party kept power in the northeastern state of Assam and gained the federally controlled territory of Puducherry, where it contested in alliance with a regional party. He conceded West Bengal in a series of posts on Twitter, congratulating Banerjee, while adding that BJP made gains in the state. The focus will now be how well policymakers are able to minimize the socioeconomic cost of COVID-19, said Madhavi Arora, an economist at Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd. “It could also have implications for 2022 state elections,” Arora said, including the major BJP-held states of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Grim scenes of overcrowded crematoriums and pleas for oxygen have overshadowed the election in the past few weeks, with Modi coming under fire for campaigning in front of huge crowds as infections were spiraling. “As three strongly anti-BJP regional leaders have emerged victorious, they are likely to be the nucleus of the opposition challenge to Modi in the months ahead as he battles the backlash to his mismanagement of the COVID crisis,” said Arati Jerath, a New Delhi-based author and political analyst who has
Australia is reviewing whether to force a Chinese company to sell a lease to a strategically important port used by US Marines, a move that could further stoke tensions with Beijing. The National Security Committee of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Cabinet has asked the Department of Defence to advise on the ownership, Australian Minister of Defence Peter Dutton said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald published late on Sunday. Asked whether the government was mulling forced divestment, he said officials would consider the national interests. The move is likely to further hurt ties between Australia and its largest trading partner, which have nosedived since the call by Morrison’s government a year ago for Beijing to allow independent investigators into Wuhan to probe the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, China has implemented a range of trade actions against Australian goods, including coal, wine and barley. The Northern Territory government’s deal in 2015 to sell a 99-year lease to the Port of Darwin to Chinese firm Landbridge Group (嵐橋集團) for A$506 million (US$392 million) has been criticized by security experts. It came four years after then-US president Barack Obama secured a deal to base about 2,500 Marines in Darwin, which is on the doorstep of the Indo-Pacific region. In December 2015, the Australian Department of Defence dismissed concerns that the sale could undermine national security after the US queried the deal. Then-Australian secretary of defence Dennis Richardson said that worries the Chinese People’s Liberation Army could secure access to port facilities were “alarmist nonsense,” adding that there was no chance of China spying on US-Australian communications because naval vessels go silent in any commercial port. “Australia may be thinking its stocks with China are so low at the moment that it may as well do this now,” said John Blaxland, a former intelligence
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