DIPLOMACY
Paraguayan group arrive
Paraguayan Minister of Information and Communication Technologies Gustavo Emigdio Villate Samaniego arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a five-day visit to learn from the nation’s latest developments in the fields of technology, economy, higher education and Internet security. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which invited Villate and his delegation for the trip, said the Paraguayan delegates are scheduled to visit the Administration for Cyber Security, overseen by the Ministry of Digital Affairs, and the National Health Insurance Administration, overseen by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as well as the National Science and Technology Council, National Communications Commission and National Institute for Cyber Security during their stay until March 21. The delegates are also to visit the Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute, Hsinchu Science Park, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Chunghwa Telecom and take part in two exhibitions — the Smart City Summit and Expo, and Net Zero City Expo, the ministry said. The visitors also include President of Taiwan-Paraguay Polytechnic University Jorge Daniel Duarte Rolon and Villate’s adviser Horacio Jose Caniza Vierci. Established in May 2018, the Taiwan-Paraguay Polytechnic University or Universidad Politecnica Taiwan Paraguay is a joint project with funding from Taiwan’s government.
TRADE
Sunflowers helped growth
The Sunflower movement in 2014 has paved the way for Taiwan’s economic development, an academic said on Friday ahead of the 10th anniversary of the protests against economic integration with China. The Sunflower movement was triggered by a decision by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) controlled legislature to fast-track the review and approval of the cross-strait services trade agreement with China. On March 18, hundreds of students broke into the Legislative Yuan to block the agreement and occupied it until April 10, while thousands demonstrated outside the complex. To date, the agreement with China remains stalled in the Legislature. Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research assistant researcher Wang Guo-chen (王國臣) said Taiwan’s growth rate averaged 3 percent from 2014 to last year, while Hong Kong, despite its strong economic ties with China, grew at an average rate of 1 percent. This suggests that the proposed pact between Taiwan and China would not have guaranteed improved economic conditions or provided a bigger incentive for foreign investment into Taiwan at the time, he said.
TOURISM
Tour group license revoked
The Tourism Administration has revoked the operating license of a Taipei-based tour company, We Love Tour, over a funding incident that resulted in about 300 Taiwanese tourists being stuck in Vietnam last month. The cancellation of the license followed a three-month business suspension ordered by the agency for We Love Tour on Feb. 16, after 292 Taiwanese tourists who booked with the travel firm were stranded in the Southeast Asian country on a Lunar New Year holiday tour to Phu Quoc Island. The incident resulted from a payment dispute between We Love Tour and a Vietnamese travel agency. Despite the people being flown back to Taiwan a few days later following two-way negotiations mediated by the Travel Quality Assurance Association, the Tourism Administration imposed fines totaling NT$1.46 million (US$41,212) on We Love Tour.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
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