TRADE
Deng meets with UK officials
Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) last month met with senior British economic and trade officials, US news site Politico reported yesterday. They discussed bilateral trade issues and Deng asked for advice on Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a spokesperson for the Taipei Representative Office in the UK was quoted as telling Politico. China reacted by warning the UK that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” the report added. The British Department for International Trade, which had not made the meeting public, confirmed that it had met with Deng, but declined to elaborate on the details of the discussion.
DIPLOMACY
Palau thanked for support
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr for his pro-Taiwan remarks at a UN conference that ended in Lisbon on Friday. The ministry thanked Whipps on Facebook for his “impassioned remarks at the Ocean Conference 2022, calling for all countries, including Taiwan to work together on preserving #LifeUnderWater and fighting ocean pollution.” It also thanked him for showcasing a T-shirt he was wearing for the occasion, saying that it was made in Taiwan from discarded plastic bottles collected in Palau. Whipps’ comments were made after China blocked the participation of Taiwanese members of the delegations of Palau and Tuvalu sent to the UN conference. During the event’s closing ceremony, Palauan Representative to the UN Ilana Seid protested China’s bullying. Showing support for Taiwan, a US delegate also said during the ceremony that it was a “long-standing practice that each member state can decide the composition of its delegation.”
WEATHER
North reports flooding
A number of areas in Taipei and New Taipei City reported flooding yesterday afternoon after the Central Weather Bureau issued heavy rain warnings for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan. As of 5:30pm, New Taipei City’s Shulin District (樹林) had reported 144.5mm of rain over the past 24 hours, followed by Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西) with 144mm and Nantou County’s Shueili Township (水里) with 115mm. In Taipei, Shilin District (士林) recorded the most rain at 98 mm, bureau data showed. Pictures circulating on social media showed cars in the Shulin area with water halfway up their wheels, as well as a number of underpasses that police had closed off because of flooding.
HEALTH
Three products recalled
A brand of mouthwash and two types of ointments are in the process of being recalled, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday. About 1,500 bottles of COMFFLAM-C Anti-inflammatory Antiseptic Solution (康護寧消炎殺菌漱口液劑), a medicinal mouthwash mainly used to relieve pain in the mouth and throat, manufactured by Best Pharma Co, would be taken off the shelves, because the manufacturer found that the concentration of impurities exceeded the 0.1 percent standard when the product was tested recently, the agency said. About 1,500 bottles are expected to be recalled before July 23, it said. The other products were found to contain inconsistent amounts of the main ingredients. They are the ENA Ointment (益納軟膏) and the IAN Ointment (愈安軟膏) manufactured by Shinlon Pharmaceutical Ind Co, the agency said, adding that a recall of about 1,600 tubes of the ointments is expected to be completed by July 22.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday. Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years. She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
China is attempting to subsume Taiwanese culture under Chinese culture by promulgating legislation on preserving documents on ties between the Minnan region and Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said yesterday. China on Tuesday enforced the Fujian Province Minnan and Taiwan Document Protection Act to counter Taiwanese cultural independence with historical evidence that would root out misleading claims, Chinese-language media outlet Straits Today reported yesterday. The act is “China’s first ad hoc local regulations in the cultural field that involve Taiwan and is a concrete step toward implementing the integrated development demonstration zone,” Fujian Provincial Archives deputy director Ma Jun-fan (馬俊凡) said. The documents
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