Author: Web Desk

The National Security Council (NSC) has apologized for an incident during the Lunar New Year holiday last month in which one of its top officials allegedly pressured customs staff to be allowed to fly out of Taiwan earlier than scheduled, a Presidential Office spokesperson said on Tuesday while also denying that the official had breached any rules.

The opposition New Power Party (NPP) legislative caucus held a news conference on Tuesday where it exposed the incident.

According to a tip-off received by the NPP, the head of the NSC Secretariat, who had obtained official approval to board a flight scheduled to depart at 12:15 a.m. on Jan. 22, had flown out of the country ahead of schedule after intimidating customs staff, NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (???) said without specifying the official’s name.

The official, who was scheduled to embark on a five-day trip with their family, reportedly arrived at the airport at around 10 p.m., and proceeded to the boarding gate, Chiu said.

After being stopped by customs staff from boarding his flight, the NSC official allegedly bellowed at five customs officials and slammed his hand on a desk during the exchange, Chiu said.

The head of the Borders Affairs Corps, who happened to be inspecting the airport at the time of the incident, instructed the customs officials to let the official and their family through, he said.

They boarded a plane at 11:40 p.m., and the plane departed at 11:53 p.m., Chiu said.

Government officials whose work involves national security who need to take overseas trips must report their schedules ahead of time and obtain official approval letters, which set out specific times for their departures, he said, criticizing the official in question for “throwing his weight about.”

The NSC and the Immigration Bureau should launch internal investigations and mete out the necessary punishments, while the Control Yuan should also launch a probe into any negligence or malfeasance on the part of officials involved, Chiu said.

Presenting a 2017 directive from the Ministry of the Interior, NPP Legislator Claire Wang (???) said that officials whose work make them privy to state secrets should allow customs an extra day to process their flights if they are scheduled to leave or return to the nation in the early hours.

She condemned the official for disregarding the directive and for abusing their power.

In response, Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (???) denied that the official in question had breached any regulations.

She said the official in question was in charge of “administrative work” at the NSC who needed to go through a certain procedure before being allowed to leave the country.

However, an investigation by the Presidential Office found that the official had not departed earlier than scheduled, but at 12:15 a.m. as scheduled, she said.

While the official had followed the rules, the official did cause a misunderstanding due to poor communication, she said.

The NSC will handle the incident according to due procedure and has apologized to all parties affected, she said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

The Supreme Court has upheld the one-year sentence handed down to a Taiwan businessman for breaching the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act by illegally selling nearly 3,000 metric tons of oil to North Korea in international waters.

The sentence was originally handed down by the Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch in October 2022.

In its ruling issued on Feb. 2, the Supreme Court said Huang Wang-ken (???) was guilty of selling 2,829 metric tonnes of oil to sanctions-hit North Korea by arranging two illicit ship-to-ship fuel transfers in international waters in 2018.

Huang was the owner of Jui Pang Shipping Co., Jui Zong Ship Management Co., and Jui Cheng Shipping Co., and also owned the Panamanian-flagged Shang Yuan Bao tanker, the verdict said.

In May 2018, Huang, in collusion with an oil importer surnamed Wen (?), first shipped 1,350 metric tons of oil from Taichung to the port of Hong Kong, from where the oil was transported to international waters and transferred from the Shang Yuan Bao to a North Korean vessel, it said, adding that the two men used the same method to transport a further 1,479 metric tons of oil to North Korean ships two weeks later.

The illicit practice enabled North Korea to import refined petroleum despite international sanctions.

As North Korean oil tankers are under long-term U.S. satellite surveillance, the illegally activities of the Shang Yuan Bao were clearly recorded, the ruling said.

In October 2018, the Shang Yuan Bao was sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council over the transfers, with the U.S. Department of the Treasury subjecting Huang and his three marine transportation entities to secondary sanctions in August 2019.

The High Court’s one-year jail term was only slightly reduced from the 14-month sentence handed down by a lower court in April 2022, because Huang had not confessed to his illegal actions until the most recent trial.

The Kaohsiung court criticized Huang for “disregarding the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, seriously eroding Taiwan’s image and putting the country at risk of being sanctioned by the U.N. or the international community.”

Meanwhile, a four-month sentence, which is commutable to a fine, on a charge of document forgery, was also upheld by the Supreme Court.

According to the court, Huang was guilty of using a fake reason to apply for an entry permit for Shang Yuan Bao’s engineering chief with the National Immigration Agency branch at the Port of Kaohsiung.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

Indian activist Somen Debnath has been on a mission for nearly two decades to cycle around the globe to raise awareness of HIV-AIDS and promote a message of peace ingrained in Indian culture.

Since his journey started in 2004, he has been to all seven continents and more than 170 countries and territories, and even survived being held captive by the Taliban for 24 days before being released.

The 39-year-old is now in Taiwan, the 172nd country on his ongoing adventure around the world, and he has found peace, positivity and excellent biking trails.

In a conversation with CNA on Feb. 5, Debnath said he has biked around several parts of northern Taiwan, including in Tamsui, Jinshan, and Sanzhi in New Taipei, Keelung, and Hsinchu, and along riverside bike trails in the Greater Taipei area.

Those outings led him to describe Taiwan as one of the world’s most biker-friendly places, supported by its dedicated biking lanes and other facilities.

Before visiting Taiwan, Debnath said he had met many Taiwanese during his worldwide tour who invited him to see their home country.

“I have heard from friends while traveling around the world many positive things about Taiwan. It [Taiwan] has always been on my mind,” he said.

After finishing his last trip in the Philippines, the man from the eastern Indian state of West Bengal finally made it to Taiwan on Jan. 24.

During his two weeks here, Debnath has mostly spread a message of peace, but the bigger mission of this decades-long journey has been to keep the world focused on the dangers of AIDS.

The inspiration for this mission was an article he read at the age of 14 titled “AIDS is Deadlier than Cancer.”

It was about a homeless person who was laid on the ground outside the Medical College of Calcutta, abandoned by his villagers and left to die of AIDS alone.

It made a huge impact on him, and he started asking his teachers at school about AIDS/HIV, but they could not provide any answers.

“So two years later, I decided to get specialty training at W.B.S.A.C.S. (West Bengal State AIDS Control Society) and begin an awareness campaign about HIV/AIDS starting with educating my own teachers,” he said.

“AIDS-related stigma and lack of knowledge about this deadly yet preventable disease motivated me the most.”

His mission got off to a humble start, his first audiences his own villagers. He then extended his AIDS/HIV campaign to other parts of India before going global.

Debnath’s worldwide campaign officially started on May 27, 2004, just two days after he obtained his bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Calcutta.

At the time his ultimate goal was to cover all 191 countries around the world by 2020.

COVID-19 temporarily derailed that goal, but much like a cycling Forrest Gump who had already traveled a long distance, Debnath decided to keep going, and reset his target for completing his worldwide expedition to the end of 2023.

He told CNA that his goal now is a very simple one: “I wish to do something for humanity.”

Coming from the land of Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa, Debnath said his promotion of Indian culture is meant to send the message of peace and love and universal unity to all mankind.

Given Debnath’s positive impressions of Taiwan’s people, he said that feeling has been present in Taiwan and led to his conviction that India and Taiwan share what he called a “universal brotherhood and universal acceptance.”

Travel adventures

Debnath has faced several obstacles during his many travels, from enduring extreme heat in the Sahara desert until a sudden sandstorm guided him to an oasis to dealing with freezing cold in the Antarctica.

His biggest scare, however, came when he was taken captive by the Taliban while cycling to Herat from Kabul in 2007.

While being held, he was asked to clean his captor’s houses and cook for them, but he eventually convinced them that he meant no harm and was set free.

Recalling the hardship as a captive, Debnath said he bode no ill will toward the Taliban.

“It is their country. I can’t complain,” he said, explaining that as a guest it was not his job to pass judgment on other countries.

Asked what he has learned from his 186,500-kilometer journey so far, Debnath said that after witnessing the many different problems and politics in different parts of the world, he felt it was important to remain positive and optimistic.

He told CNA his next stop would be Indonesia and Pacific island countries before heading back to South Asia and finally returning home late this year, a perfect ending nearly 20 years after his global adventure began.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

Taiwan will stop offering the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as a first vaccine shot for children aged 6 months to 4 years and 12-17 years with immediate effect, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Monday.

At a press briefing, CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (???) said that around 2.75 million doses of BNT vaccines for adults, children and young children were due to expire in March or April.

To ensure that people under the age of 18 can still receive the same vaccine brand for their first and second shots, he said, the BNT shot will be phased out on a varying timeline for different groups of recipients.

According to Chuang, because around 1.39 million doses of the BNT vaccine for children aged 6 months to 4 years are nearing their expiration date, the CECC would stop offering the shot as a first vaccine dose, effective immediately.

Similarly, as 1.17 million doses of the BNT jab for children aged 5-11 have almost expired, that version of the vaccine will no longer be available as a first shot beginning April 2, he said.

Children in both of those age groups who are getting their first COVID-19 vaccine shot will instead be offered the Moderna brand vaccine, he said.

Meanwhile, Chuang said that around 190,000 doses of the adult version of the BNT shot would also expire in the near future.

As a result, children aged 12-17 — who can take the adult BNT shot, but are required to receive first and second doses of the same brand vaccine — will be offered the Novavax vaccine as a first shot starting Monday, Chuang said.

People aged 18 and above, meanwhile, will be able to receive a first shot of the BNT vaccine through Feb. 21, after which the Novavax vaccine will be offered as a first or second shot, he said.

At the press conference, Chuang also encouraged older people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or stay up to date on their booster shots, due to their increased risk of severe illness or death.

Currently, 10.2 percent of people aged 65-74 and 17.7 percent of people aged 75 and above have yet to receive a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, he said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

The monitoring indicator for Taiwan’s overall manufacturing industry in December 2022 flashed a “blue” light for the second straight month signaling contraction, due to manufacturing inventory reduction and sluggish global demand, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) said Monday.

The monthly composite index for the local manufacturing sector, which gauges the sector’s fundamentals, fell by 0.24 points to 9.48 points in December, the lowest level since February 2020, according to the TIER, one of Taiwan’s leading economic think tanks.

This performance put it in the “blue” light range on TIER’s five-tier scale, under which “red” indicates overheating, “yellow-red” fast growth, “green” stable growth, “yellow-blue” sluggish growth, and “blue” contraction.

The downturn comes at a time when global economic growth is forecast to decelerate sharply due to high inflation, volatile financial markets and tightening monetary policy by major central banks around the world, which have dented end-user demand and pushed down the indicators for exports, industrial production and export orders, while affecting demand and pricing, TIER said.

However, China’s relaxation of many COVID-19 restrictions in December has made local manufacturers more optimistic about the business outlook over the next six months, it added.

As a result, among the five factors that made up the December composite index, the sub-index for the general business climate moved higher by the most, 0.15, from a month earlier.

Meanwhile, the sub-indexes for purchases of raw materials and costs rose by 0.05 and 0.03, respectively, TIER said.

Bucking the upturn, the sub-indexes on demand and prices moved lower by 0.24, and 0.23, respectively, in December, compared to a month earlier, TIER added.

In December, a blue light flashed for 73.63 percent of industries in the local manufacturing sector, up from 59.04 percent from November, while no yellow-red or red lights flashed for any industry in December, according to the TIER.

The electronic parts and components sector recorded a blue light in December, down from yellow-blue the previous month.

This was caused by inventory adjustments and a decline in Taiwan’s overall exports that lowered the sub-indexes for demand and general business climate, according to the TIER.

Looking ahead, the TIER said that global economic growth for 2023 is largely forecast to slow down, which could affect the performance of Taiwan’s export-oriented manufacturing sector.

However, the lifting of China’s zero-COVID policy in December could help the economy bounce back and boost Taiwan’s manufacturing sector, although further observation is required, the TIER said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

Taiwan on Monday pledged to donate US$200,000 to Turkey after the country was struck by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake which has so far claimed more than 360 lives in Turkey and Syria.

The epicenter of the temblor was located in Kahramanmaras Province, with reports that residents in the nearby provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep and Adana also felt its impact, according to a press statement released by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

Numerous buildings have collapsed and at least 17 aftershocks been recorded, the ministry said.

Anthony Ho (???), head of MOFA’s Department of West Asian and African Affairs, conveyed condolences to Turkey’s representative in Taiwan Muhammed Berdibek on behalf of foreign minister Joseph Wu (???), while Taiwan’s government has decided to donate US$2000,000 to Turkey for disaster relief, MOFA said.

Although MOFA said it had not received reports of Taiwanese being injured in the quake, the Taiwanese expatriate community in Turkey said a Taiwan national is trapped in a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras and waiting to be rescued.

Taiwan is in touch with the Turkish authorities and is holding talks on the possibility of dispatching search and rescue teams, according to MOFA.

Meanwhile, the National Fire Agency said a Special Search and Rescue Team has been prepared and will be dispatched if it receives a green light from MOFA.

There remains some disparity as to the exact location of the epicenter of the quake that shook Turkey at 4:17 a.m. local time on Monday.

Whereas the United States Geological Survey said the epicenter was in Gaziantep, a southern province near the border between Turkey and Syria, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey (AFAD) said it was in Kahramanmaras.

In addition to numerous injured, the death toll officially reached 200 early Monday and is expected to increase throughout the day, according to Reuters.

With multiple active faults within its territory, Turkey is particularly susceptible to seismic activity.

On Aug. 19, 1999, plate movement in the North Anatolian Fault caused a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that resulted in 18,000 deaths and injured more than 43,000.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued heavy rain warnings for New Taipei and Keelung in northern Taiwan and Green Island off the southeastern coast on Sunday as increasing moisture moved in from China.

The affected areas can expect 80 millimeters of rainfall over a 24-hour period or more that 40 mm in one hour, forecasters said, adding that showers are likely throughout the day in northern and eastern parts of the country.

Low temperatures across the country may stay around the same level as in previous days, between 16-19 degrees Celsius, while highs are forecast to hit 18-21 degrees in northern Taiwan, 27-28 degrees in southern Taiwan and 22-25 degrees elsewhere, the CWB said.

Wu Der-rong (???), an adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences at National Central University, said this weather pattern could last until next Wednesday when cloudy to sunny skies are expected in most areas.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

China’s deployment of an alleged surveillance balloon in the United States’ airspace could prolong the strained relations between Beijing and Washington, a Taiwanese foreign relations expert said Saturday.

Lu Yeh-chung (???), chairman of the Department of Diplomacy at National Chengchi University, told CNA that the incident exposed a serious lack of trust between the U.S. and Chinese governments and would extend the already intense competition between the two countries for a while longer.

The U.S. military said on Friday (Washington time) that a Chinese surveillance balloon had been floating over the continental U.S. for a few days “at an altitude well above commercial air traffic.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken later denounced the Chinese act as “a clear violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law” and decided to postpone his planned Feb. 5-6 trip to Beijing, where he was reportedly scheduled to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (???).

China’s foreign ministry countered that the balloon was a Chinese civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research and that it had “deviated far from its planned course” because of “force majeure,” referring to forces beyond China’s control, including strong winds.

Lu described Blinken’s decision to defer his planned trip as understandable and appropriate, saying that China might have attempted more aggressive acts if the U.S. had not responded to the incident.

The Chinese were probably seeking to “gauge the U.S.’ reaction” to its use of the spy balloon, Lu said, arguing that Beijing could have employed other more advanced technologies to achieve its surveillance goals.

If Beijing had wanted to keep communications with Washington open and smooth, it would have tried to prevent such an incident before Blinken’s visit, Lu said.

“The basic rule of building up mutual trust is to avoid accidents,” he said.

Given those circumstances, Lu suggested that preparatory talks for Blinken’s Beijing trip between Washington and Beijing might have gone astray as the two sides continued to be divided on several major issues.

According to senior State Department officials, the U.S. government had engaged intensively with its Chinese counterpart to prepare for Blinken’s trip, after Xi and U.S. President Joe Biden met in Indonesia last November.

They noted during a background briefing Friday (Washington time) that the balloon incident “would have significantly narrowed the agenda that we would have been able to address.”

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday also weighed in on the matter, calling on China to “immediately stop acts of aggression against other countries.”

Taiwan has seen Chinese balloons in its airspace in recent years, though their purpose was not always clear.

Meteorologist Cheng Ming-dean (???) told local media Saturday that the Central Weather Bureau (CWB), which he heads, has detected two suspicious airships similar to the Chinese surveillance balloon spotted in the U.S. over the past two years.

One appeared over Taipei in September 2021 and the other in March 2022, Cheng said, but he was unsure of the balloons’ purposes and origins.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense responded in February 2022 to media reports of a number of Chinese balloons drifting over northern Taiwan at an altitude of 2.7-3 kilometers by saying they were used for meteorological research.

According to the U.S. National Weather Service and Reuters, a weather balloon can rise up to 30.5 km while high-altitude balloons for spying or military purposes usually operate at 24.4-36.6 km.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel

A shipment of a hybrid variety of sugar apples grown by Taitung farmers will be shipped to Brunei on Sunday, as local growers eye new markets following a Chinese import suspension, the Taitung County Agriculture Department said Saturday.

In a press statement, the department said the 3,000-kilogram shipment of the locally grown fruit would be delivered to six retail stores in Brunei.

The estimated arrival date for the hybrid sugar apples is Feb. 13, the department said.

The hybrid fruit, known as an “atemoya,” is a cross between the sugar apple and cherimoya.

In Taiwan, it is known as the sweeter and more pineapple-looking variant of custard apples.

With Taiwan’s optimal climate, Taitung farmers have grown the hybrid for years to meet persistent domestic and Chinese demand.

The department said exporting atemoyas to Brunei was meant to relieve the plight of Taitung farmers in the wake of China’s suspension of certain Taiwanese fruit imports over the last two years.

Taitung County Magistrate Yao Ching-ling (???) has since actively sought out domestic channels and new international markets to help farmers, with Brunei the latest export destination in Southeast Asia after Singapore.

A fruit seller surnamed Kuo (?) said that atemoyas were popular in Brunei because the closest fruit Bruneians have to the hybrid sugar apples — locally grown custard apples — tended to be sourer than their Taiwanese cousins.

Kuo said a number of atemoyas had already been delivered by air to Brunei in January.

The batch that will leave Taiwan’s shores on Sunday will be shipped by sea, which, if quality control is maintained, could be a way for Taiwan-grown atemoyas to enter more Southeast Asian markets, Kuo said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel