DIPLOMACY
Guatemala touts coffee
Guatemalan Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Karla Samoyoa on Thursday said she hoped Taiwan can help the Central American country’s coffee industry reach new heights. In a prerecorded video message at a tasting event in Taipei, Samoyoa said that Guatemala’s coffee exports to Taiwan increased 46 percent over the past two years to become Taiwan’s fourth-largest supplier of beans. Samoyoa also praised bilateral ties with Taipei, saying that diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Guatemala were “stronger than ever.” The tasting event was organized by the Guatemalan embassy and the government-funded Central America Trade Office (CATO) to promote Guatemalan coffee. Attendees at the fourth edition of the event sampled brews using industry-standard cupping techniques that measure the body, sweetness, acidity and aftertaste of coffee beans. Representatives and tasters from more than 30 Taiwan-based companies sampled and rated 33 varieties of Guatemalan coffee at the event, CATO head Augusto Liao (廖鴻達) said.
EDUCATION
Taiwan rises in reading
Taiwan has moved up one place to rank seventh out of 44 countries and areas that took part in an international comparative assessment of student achievement in reading, the Ministry of Education said on Tuesday. The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2021 international assessment of reading comprehension found Taiwan scoring 544 on average, which advanced the country in the rankings relative to 2016, the previous time the study was conducted. The study assesses reading and comprehension at the fourth-grade level of the participating countries and areas. For instance, students were asked to retrieve explicitly stated information, interpret ideas and evaluate content. Singapore ranked first in the survey.
SOCIETY
Tainan to change crossing
An exclusive pedestrian phase is to be added next week at an intersection in Tainan where a three-year-old girl was hit and killed by a car while she was legally crossing the street with her mother earlier this month, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said on Thursday. The phase, which stops traffic in all directions while pedestrians cross, is expected to go into use at the intersection of Chenggong and Xinyi roads on Friday next week, Huang said during an inspection of traffic conditions in the area. The city has launched a plan to improve pedestrian safety at the city’s 100 most dangerous intersections by the end of this year, he said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to