TRADE SHOWS
Eight firms attend SAITEX
Eight Taiwanese companies took part in the Southern African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX) earlier this week in Johannesburg, South Africa. In its 22nd year, the annual event brought together more than 1,000 exhibitors from 51 countries and drew more than 16,000 buyers. The products exhibited by the Taiwanese companies included tire manufacturing equipment, mobile power packs, adult and baby diapers, computer peripherals, knitting machines, uninterruptible power supplies, trolleys, platform trailers, tool cabinets, shoes and socks. Since the start of this year, South Africa has implemented strict electricity rationing measures, making various power supply products popular. Although this was the first year Taiwan had a presence at the exhibition, business was better than expected, delegation head Lee Wen-sheng (李文生) said.
CHARITY
Gaoshu raises funds for girl
A community in Pingtung County’s Gaoshu Township (高樹) on Friday announced it raised more than NT$100,000 (US$3,212) to help an Indonesian girl with cancer pay for her medical expenses and future plans. The Jiuliao Primary School third-grader surnamed Cheng (鄭) was diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer. Cheng was born to a Taiwanese father and an Indonesian mother in Indonesia. She came to live with her grandparents in Pingtung three years ago. Cheng’s parents work in Indonesia and her grandmother is ethnic Indonesian. Since Cheng does not have a Taiwanese national identification card, she is not covered by the National Health Insurance system. Principal Hsieh Tien-te (謝天德) said people at the school hoped she would recover soon and return to school. Cheng’s grandmother has not decided if Cheng should return to Indonesia to be with her parents or stay in a hospital in Taiwan.
HOLIDAYS
Taipei observes Canada Day
Many Taiwanese and people from overseas showed up at Canada Day celebrations held in Taipei yesterday that featured Canadian culture and specialty foods, including beavertails, a traditional pastry. This was the first year in which visitors to the Taipei celebrations had a chance to taste beavertails — fried dough pastries made in the shape of a beaver’s tail — according to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan (CCCT), which organized the event. The celebrations were held at the Hakka Cultural Park in Taipei to mark Canada’s 148th birthday, which falls on Wednesday. Visitors to the event also had an opportunity to sample Canadian beef, a Quebec specialty called poutine, various brands of Canadian beer and Bloody Caesar cocktails, the CCCT said.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Mango festival begins
The month-long International Mango Festival began yesterday in Tainan. At one of the festival’s major venues, Tsou Ma Lai Farm (走馬瀨農場), people lined up for a cup of mango ice. Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) said at the festival that Tainan has about 6,580 hectares of mango farms, representing about 54 percent of the nation’s total. In terms of the area given over to mango cultivation and the volume produced, the municipality is the nation’s most important, Lai said. Thanks to plum rains, production has increased by 10 percent over the past year to reach 82,000 tonnes. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council said 33 large-scale overseas mango buyers over the past two years have created business opportunities worth US$3 million.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
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