Tue, Jul 14, 2020
More than 610,000 Hong Kong residents defied government warnings and a fresh COVID-19 outbreak to vote in an unofficial primary over the weekend, a strong turnout that signals continued resistance to Beijing’s decision to impose a broad National Security Law two weeks ago. Those who turned out — representing more than 13 percent of registered voters — cast ballots in the two-day vote to narrow down the opposition candidates competing in elections for the territory’s Legislative Council set for Sept. 6. The turnout, which was more than three times organizers’ expected tally, came despite government statements that the effort could violate provisions of the new security legislation. The results were originally meant to come out late yesterday, but were delayed amid lengthy vote-counting. However, that still gives the selected candidates plenty of time to officially register when the window opens later this month. Those selected must still overcome calls for disqualification by pro-Beijing politicians, with more moderate pro-democracy groups on Sunday issuing a call for their supporters to challenge more radical “localist” candidates. “People took this opportunity to make their voice heard,” pro-democracy Hong Kong Legislator Alvin Yeung (楊岳橋) told Bloomberg Television yesterday. “We’re talking about 600,000 people. It’s not a small number. And remember, this is not an election organized by the government. It’s organized by civil society. And so this is amazing.” The Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute — which helped the democrats conduct the primary — yesterday said that all votes on Hong Kong Island were counted by 5pm. Counting was going on for other areas and it said that it expected to be finished by about noon today. “Hong Kong people just made a miracle by telling the world that more democratic candidates should join the elections,” said former legislator Au Nok-hin (區諾軒), one of the organizers. Some pro-establishment politicians
China yesterday announced sanctions against US officials, including senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, in a largely symbolic attempt to retaliate over Washington’s moves to punish Beijing for its treatment of ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said sanctions against the four officials would begin yesterday, without elaborating. Hua listed Rubio and Cruz — both Republicans and high-profile critics of China — as targets of the measures, in addition to US Ambassador for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, US Representative Chris Smith and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. “Xinjiang is China’s internal affairs and the US has no right to interfere,” Hua said at a regular briefing in Beijing. “We urge the US to immediately withdraw its wrong decisions, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs or undermining China’s interests. We will make further reactions based on the development of the situation.” The move comes after the US sanctioned a top member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and three other officials over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The individuals sanctioned by the US include Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region CCP Secretary Chen Quanguo (陳全國), a member of the CCP’s 25-member politburo; CCP Secretary of the Xinjiang Political and Legal Committee Zhu Hailun (朱海侖); Xinjiang Public Security Bureau Director Wang Mingshan (王明山); and Huo Liujun (霍留軍), a former top official in Xiinjiang’s police force. The tit-for-tat exchanges appeared calibrated to keep the disputes from further escalating and disrupting other aspects of ties between the world’s two largest economies, such as their “phase one” trade deal. The US moves were largely symbolic, since both groups of US and Chinese officials were unlikely to have much financial or legal exposure to each other’s countries. “This is an equivalent action targeting the main people responsible for what happened with sanctioning Chinese
PATENTS PENDING: The researchers have been granted a Taiwan patent for their discovery and are applying in the US, the UK and Japan, the team leader said Exosomes derived from stem cells have the potential to regenerate damaged brain cells, and could someday be used for to treat brain damage and neural degeneration diseases, researchers from the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) said yesterday. Team leader Li Hua-jung (李華容), an associate investigator at the Institute of Cellular and System Medicine, told a news conference in Taipei that brain damage and neurodegenerative diseases often cause irreversible impairment for patients, and increase the risk of dementia. More than 270,000 people in Taiwan are estimated to have dementia, which is a big challenge to the nation’s aging society, she said. Traumatic brain injury, unhealthy habits, hypertension, diabetes, long-term stress or mental illness are all potential risk factors for brain damage and neurodegenerative disease, she said. Although clinical studies have suggested that stem cells have the potential to repair a damaged central nervous system, there are risks of complications from implantation, ectopic tissue formation and unwanted engraftment, Li said. Her team spent seven years studying alternatives, and discovered that exosomes secreted by mesenchymal stem cells found in human bone marrow or fat tissues contain substances that can facilitate cranial nerve regeneration and brain functional recovery. The exosomes are tiny vesicles that contain genetic information and biologically active substances, including proteins, RNA and other substances, and serve as mediators in cell-to-cell communication, she said. As exosomes do not have a nucleus and will not grow after implantation, using them in therapy might reduce many of the safety concerns related to the use of living stem cells, she said. After injecting such exosomes into brain-damaged mice, the team found that after a week the mice’s damaged nerve cells gradually grew synapses, and after a month the number of nerve cells in the damaged brain area was restored to about 60 percent, with the mice showing improvement in cognition, learning and memory. The
MORE THAN A BLANK: The Taipei Representative Office said the Web site had previously not even listed Taiwan among the nations with ties to Berlin The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that it “cannot accept” the lack of a Republic of China flag on the Web site of the German Federal Foreign Office after a German reporter noticed that the flag was missing and brought it up at a news conference at the office in Berlin on Friday. The ministry said that it has asked the office to explain the absence of the nation’s flag from the page on the Web site listing the nations with which Germany has bilateral relations. The Web site showed a white box above the entry for Taiwan, in place of a flag. Taiwan is the only nation on the Web site not to have its national flag displayed. The office representing Taiwan in a different manner from how it represents other nations would cause prejudice and misunderstanding among people around the world, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in Taipei. Office deputy spokesman Rainer Breul on Friday told the reporter that the lack of the flag did not represent a policy change in Germany, which follows the “one China” principle. The site displayed a white box to differentiate Taiwan from nations with which Germany has formal diplomatic relations, Bruel said. The German Institute Taipei said that the office’s Web site has never displayed the flag and the suggestion that the flag was removed under pressure from China was inaccurate. The institute said that it hoped that the office could use an image symbolic of Taiwan, rather than simply leaving the space blank, but that officials who maintain the Web site can be slow in making changes. The Taipei Representative Office in the Federal Republic of Germany confirmed that the German Federal Foreign Office had never displayed the national flag on its Web site, adding that in the past the site had not even listed Taiwan among
NEW HONG KONG LAW: A visit to Beijing-friendly nations or those with weak judicial systems could leave people at risk of deportation to China, a former MAC official said Beijing could request countries with which it has extradition agreements to deport Taiwanese to China to face criminal charges following the implementation of national security legislation for Hong Kong, a former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official warned yesterday. Some developing countries, and those close to China because of the Belt and Road Initiative, are likely to accommodate Beijing’s requests to extradite Taiwanese to China, said former deputy MAC minister Chen Ming-chi (陳明祺), who served from July 2, 2018, until May 20, and then returned to his former post as an assistant professor of sociology at National Tsing Hua University. While Taiwanese should be aware of this situation, they should not restrain their pursuit of freedom of speech, Chen said. “If we remain silent about the situation in Hong Kong, we would be playing into Beijing’s hands. The more China oppresses freedom of speech, the more we should voice our support for Hong Kong,” he said. The government should work with nations that share similar democratic values to speak up for Hong Kong’s freedom, he added. That would help limit the horrible effects that the Hong Kong national security legislation would have, he said. Tung Li-wen (董立文), a consultant for the Taiwan Thinktank, said that Taiwanese are in danger of being deported to China when they visit countries that have extradition agreements with Beijing. The risk of deportation would be even higher if they travel to pro-Beijing countries that have underdeveloped legal systems, he added. Extradition agreements generally do not apply to political cases and countries with well-established democratic systems would review extradition requests on a case-by-case basis, he said. “Taiwanese need to be extra careful when they visit countries that have extradition agreements with Hong Kong,” Tung said. An example of a person detained by Beijing abroad is Chinese-born Swedish citizen Gui Minhai (桂民海), one
Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents lined up to cast ballots over the weekend in what the territory’s opposition camp said is a symbolic protest vote against tough national security legislation imposed by Beijing. The unofficial poll will decide the strongest pro-democracy candidates to contest Legislative Council elections in September, when they aim to ride a wave of anti-China sentiment stirred by the new legislation to seize control for the first time from pro-Beijing rivals. While the primaries are only for the opposition camp, observers are watching closely as they say the turnout would serve as a test of broader opposition to the package of legislation. “A high turnout will send a very strong signal to the international community, that we Hong Kongers never give up,” said Sunny Cheung (張崑陽), 24, one of a batch of aspiring young democrats out lobbying and giving stump speeches. “And that we still stand with the democratic camp, we still support democracy and freedom,” he said. Defying warnings from a senior Hong Kong official that the vote might fall foul of the National Security Law, residents young and old flocked to more than 250 polling stations across the territory on Saturday and yesterday, staffed by thousands of volunteers. Long lines formed down streets, in residential estates and at businesses-turned-polling stations, with people casting an online ballot on their mobile phones after having their identities verified. Organizers yesterday said that 500,000 people had voted by late afternoon in the territory of 7.5 million. The full turnout is expected to be announced this morning. Despite this tactical vote to maximize their chances, some democracy advocates fear authorities will try to stop some candidates from running in the council election. “They can arrest or disqualify any candidate they don’t like under the National Security Law without a proper reason,” said Owen Chow (鄒家成),
‘MOBILE GAZEBOS’: More men than women are sent to emergency rooms every year due to heat injuries, and wide-brimmed hats are not enough protection, an expert said Men’s unwillingness to use parasols could be a reason they experience heat illnesses more often than women, a health expert said on Sunday, as temperatures soared across the nation. Pauling Chu (朱柏齡), head of the Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Heatstroke at Tri-Service General Hospital in Taipei, said that one reason more men are sent to emergency rooms for heatstroke than women is that most of the people who work outdoors are men. Another possible reason is that while women often use umbrellas during summer, men are more likely to wear wide-brimmed hats to protect against the sun, he said. While parasols are like “mobile gazebos” that can keep the user in the shade, wearing a wide-brimmed hat tends to leave a person’s body exposed to the sun, he said. Chu said he conducted an experiment over the weekend by walking outside from 9:30am to 10am. He found that when he was using an umbrella, he barely sweat, but when he was not using it, he perspired profusely, he said. Only about one in every 20 men on the street uses an umbrella, Chu said, citing his personal observations. While some men might feel that holding an umbrella diminishes their masculinity, or think that only women use them, parasols are just a tool, he said, adding that people should not make gender distinctions. Citing his personal experience, he encouraged men to use umbrellas to fight the summer heat, saying that doing so can make a difference of at least 5°C in apparent temperature. Two years ago, in response to the extreme heat, the Japanese government began promoting the use of umbrellas among men, he said, adding that he hoped the Taiwanese government would follow suit. In the first 10 days of this month, 190 people were sent to emergency rooms for loss of consciousness caused by heat injuries,
Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) face on Saturday appeared whiter than usual because he used color-correcting cream after mistaking it for sunscreen lotion, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) said on Sunday. The premier was speaking at a surfing activity, which was held as part of a festival in New Taipei City’s Jinshan District (金山) to promote local tourism, when he drew people’s attention with his uncanny white face. Su Chiao-hui, who is the premier’s daughter, said that her younger sister buys their parents’ skin products, and Su Tseng-chang grabbed the color-correcting cream when leaving home on Saturday, mistaking it for sunscreen lotion. Due to a tight schedule, Su Tseng-chang could only apply the cream in the car on the way to the event and could not check his face in the mirror, she said, adding that he inadvertently scared onlookers as he got out of the vehicle. In related news, the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday provided tips on selecting sunscreen products. The most important thing is to choose the right sun protection factor (SPF), the agency said on its Facebook page, adding that generally, SPF15 products can be used during regular daily routines, but SPF30 products or above are recommended for outdoor activities. People should apply the product 15 to 30 minutes before being exposed to the sun, it added. People who are prone to sunburns or have skin diseases are recommended to use SPF30 products or above for all activities, it said. While some sunscreen products are advertised as being waterproof or sweatproof, it is unlikely that they will remain water-resistant over long periods, so consumers should read the product description carefully before buying them, and reapply it after getting into the water, it said.
COMPENSATION: Two of the bus firm’s buildings at the Western Bus Terminal were demolished in 2016 as part of the city’s West District Gateway Project The Taipei High Administrative Court has ordered the Taipei City Government to compensate Kuo-Kuang Motor Transportation Co for tearing down its Western Bus Terminal near Taipei Railway Station in 2016. Two of Kuo-Kuang’s buildings at the terminal were demolished in November 2016 and turned into the public Taipei Travel Plaza in 2017 as part of the city’s West District Gateway Project. After the city refused to compensate the company and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications dismissed the bus operator’s appeal, it filed an administrative proceeding against the city. The city government originally allocated about NT$52 million (US$1.76 million) to pay the company, which the Taipei City Council approved, but the city’s Department of Legal Affairs said there was no legal basis to compensate Kuo-Kuang. The court on June 30 ruled in favor of the bus company, saying that the city government has to pay it NT$32.3 million. Asked about the ruling, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that an ad hoc task force would deal with the matter, adding that the contract was not signed by him. Regarding the fairness of the ruling, he said: “No matter if it is fair or not, once the ruling is decided, we have to make a decision on whether we want to appeal it or how we can settle it if we decide not to appeal.”
Students interested in traveling across the nation by rail this summer can take advantage of the Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) 10-day pass, which is to be available for purchase starting tomorrow. The TR-Summer Pass, which provides unlimited commuter train access nationwide, would be available for students to purchase for NT$900 from tomorrow to Sept. 15 at all TRA railway stations, the agency said. To buy the pass, students must present a valid student identification card, it said. The pass, which is activated on the day of purchase, does not permit access to Puyuma Express, Taroko Express, cruise train service and charter train services, it added. Hsu Min-chieh (許民杰), business section chief in the TRA’s transportation department, said the pass would be a bargain for students seeking to travel during the summer break. Without the pass, a one-way ticket from Taipei to Kaohsiung, or from Taipei to Taitung, would only cost about NT$800, while the South Link Line, which connects Pingtung and Taitung, would be about NT$300, he said. Without the pass, a student traveling around the nation would have to spend more than NT$2,000, he said. The agency also encouraged students to consider using their Triple Stimulus Vouchers to pay for the pass. Foreign students can also purchase the pass by presenting their passports and local or international student identification, Hsu said. Additional reporting by CNA
The General Association of Chinese Culture yesterday released the latest short film in its documentary series The Soul of the Craftsman (匠人魂), featuring miniaturist Hank Cheng (鄭鴻展). Creating miniature models is “therapeutic,” Cheng told a news conference in Taipei, where the film premiered. With his painstaking eye for detail, people who have seen photographs of his creations have often asked whether they are “real” or “fake,” he said. When he was in junior-high school, Cheng was diagnosed with congenital amblyopia, or lazy eye, the association said. He wanted to attend art school, and despite experiencing multiple setbacks in his schooling years, “the paintbrush in his hand never stopped,” it said. With the support of his family, Cheng traveled to Japan to study illustration and became the first foreigner at his school in 50 years to win the president’s prize with his graduation project, it said. Cheng began making miniature models in 2015 and has since completed more than 40 works, according to the documentary. His models span from a scale of 1:6 to a scale of 1:2,500, it says. In the film, Cheng says although he does not know how much longer his eyes would allow him to create miniatures, he intends to continue doing so until he loses his sight. Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store’s Xinyi Place A11 branch in Taipei is exhibiting a selection of Cheng’s works until Wednesday next week. Produced by the association, The Soul of the Craftsman debuted in August 2017 in an effort to highlight local artisans from all walks of life. The film on Cheng is the 23rd installment in the series. Chen Chung-hsin (陳忠信), a qipao maker in Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area, and Hsieh Sen-shan (謝森山), an artist in Taoyuan who specializes in painting movie posters, are some of the artisans featured in the series. The documentary shorts are typically three to five minutes
Taiwan is the second-safest country in the world, after Qatar, according to visitors to an online database, who voted on 133 countries and territories worldwide. In online database Numbeo’s Crime Index by Country 2020 Mid-Year survey, Taiwan scored 84.74 out of 100 for safety. That score put Taiwan in second place, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 84.55 and Georgia with 79.50. The top ranked country, Qatar, had a safety score of 88.10. Numbeo said that the results were based on surveys of visitors to its Web site who were asked to rate the safety and overall level of crime in the 133 countries and territories listed. The crime levels in each country were scored by subtracting the safety score from the total 100 points. Taiwan’s crime level score was 15.26. Numbeo rates a crime level as very low if the score is below 20; low if the score is between 20 and 40; moderate if it is between 40 and 60; high if it is between 60 and 80; and very high if it is more than 80. The three countries with the highest crime scores in the survey were Venezuela with 84.36, Papua New Guinea with 80.04 and South Africa with 77.29. The online survey is held biannually. In the first survey this year, Qatar and Taiwan also ranked first and second respectively for safety.
‘EXPLOITING KAOHSIUNG PAIN’: The office said that if the KMT has new evidence to prove donations were wrongly used, it should hand it over and let the courts rule The office of former Presidential Office secretary-general Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of exploiting the pain of Kaohsiung residents for political gain after the party called on the Control Yuan to investigate the former Kaohsiung mayor to clarify her role in alleged misuse of funds by the Kaohsiung City Government. Before the controversy over the donations for people affected by the 2014 Kaohsiung gas explosions is resolved, Chen, who was Kaohsiung mayor from 2006 to 2018, should remove herself from the Control Yuan nomination process, the KMT said. With the terms of the current Control Yuan members expiring on July 31, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has nominated Chen to head the branch. The Legislative Yuan is to vote on Tsai’s nominations on Friday. If Chen’s nomination is approved by the Legislative Yuan, she would also become chairwoman of the National Human Rights Commission, which is to be officially established on Aug. 1. The KMT caucus yesterday criticized increased security measures, including barricades, outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei ahead of Friday’s vote. KMT legislative caucus whip Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said that in his three terms as a legislator he has never seen this level of security. KMT Legislator Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) said that the situation outside the Legislative Yuan made it seem like martial law had been imposed. Chen’s office said in a statement that investigations conducted by former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) administration and Control Yuan members nominated by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had not found any evidence of illegality. If the KMT believes that it has new evidence to prove the donations were used illegally, it should give it to prosecutors and let the judiciary “distinguish right from wrong,” the statement said. The office accused KMT representatives of exploiting Kaohsiung’s pain, saying that they have “repeatedly poured salt on
The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday expressed regret after questions it posed to President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) nominees for the Control Yuan went unanswered. The legislature is expected to vote on Friday on whether to approve the nominations. The NPP said it had sent questions to the nominees via the Presidential Office and sought a reply by Thursday last week, but as of yesterday it still had not received a response. “Does the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] feel no obligation to respond given that it has a legislative majority?” NPP caucus whip Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) asked. The NPP would see how the nominees respond to questions on Friday before deciding whether to back their appointments, Chiu said. Some who have been nominated for a second time had answered questions prior to their first appointment, but not this time, NPP Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said. One of the questions asked the nominees if they believe that Control Yuan members should be able to investigate cases that have already been decided by the courts, while another asked if they support the abolition of the Control Yuan or a reduction in the number of its members, Chen said. The NPP hopes that the nominees, if appointed, would tackle the issue of illegal factories on farmland and hills, Chen said, adding that such factories should be dismantled and government bodies in charge of the issue strictly supervised. In a case involving improperly issued mining permits for Asia Cement Corp, the Control Yuan failed to take action against officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Hualien County’s Sioulin Township (秀林) Office, despite accusations against them. Meanwhile, the legislature yesterday invited academics to speak at a public hearing on the nominees, including former grand justice Hsu Yu-hsiu (許玉秀), who was recommended by the NPP; professor Lin Chao-chun (林超駿), who was recommended by the Taiwan
‘DIFFERENT SYSTEM’: Huang Di-ying said that Chinese society is based on the ‘rule of man,’ so its officials can breach contracts, tear them up or arbitrarily fire Taiwanese Taiwanese academics should be aware of the risks of working in China, where they might encounter problems, including a lack of academic freedom, lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said yesterday, adding that they might face accusations back home of being a spy for Beijing. “Academic freedom is a fundamental principle when working at a university. It is protected by Taiwan’s Constitution, but is suppressed in China,” said Huang, who is a member of non-governmental organization Taiwan Forever Association. “Professors at Chinese universities can only do research by pandering to the needs of Chinese officials and politicians. If not, they could ‘disappear’ or end up in prison.” Unlike Taiwan, where the rule of law prevails, Chinese society is based on the “rule of man,” so it can “violate contracts, tear them up or fire you arbitrarily,” he said. “Taiwan’s and China’s mindsets and political systems are very different. So when Taiwanese academics receive wages and payments from China, people might question their actions and motives once they return to Taiwan,” he said. “Or they might be perceived as working to infiltrate [the nation] or develop a Chinese spy network, which could become a heavy burden.” The warning came following a Taipei District Court ruling against Chen Lung-fei (陳龍飛), a university lecturer who accepted a teaching job at the business school of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, in 2015, but whose contract was not renewed after three years. At the time, representatives from the university would come to Taiwan offering academics annual salaries of NT$2 million (US$67,604 at the current exchange rate) and a free apartment. Sun Yat-sen University said that it recruited 42 Taiwanese academics with doctorates. Chen, 55, said he went to China after signing a three-year contract to teach business. When his contract was not renewed, he returned to Taiwan, but has encountered difficulty finding work
ELECTRIC FARMLAND: TSMC’s proposal to clear 230 hectares of reforested land for what would become Taiwan’s largest photovoltaic solar farm has generated concerns New rules curbing solar farms built on agricultural land sparked fierce debate at a packed public hearing at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, with industry representatives saying that the new restrictions would endanger President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) green energy goals, while agricultural officials emphasized the importance of protecting farmers and the environment. The Tsai administration has set a target to generate 20 percent of the nation’s power from renewable sources by 2025, by which time it also aims to install 20 gigawatts (GW) of solar power, including 6GW from rooftop solar systems and 14GW from ground-mounted solar farms. Although rooftop solar systems are not controversial, a proposal by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to clear 230 hectares of reforested land in Pingtung County to build Taiwan’s largest photovoltaic solar farm has raised concerns from local residents and environmental activists. The Council of Agriculture amended the regulations governing the land use approval process on Tuesday last week to ban solar farms built on designated agricultural or aquaculture areas and tighten rules for solar farms built on all farmland. Under the new measures, solar farms that cover an area of more than 2 hectares have to be approved by the council, instead of local governments. Currently, local agricultural authorities can approve solar farms covering an area of less than 30 hectares. “While we are all working toward it, 2025 is not set in stone. Maybe it will be 2026 or 2027,” Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said at the hearing. “We will not sacrifice our farmers or the environment for solar, and contrary to media reports, we will not be cutting down forests in Pingtung.” Chen called for more rooftop installations versus ground-mounted solar farms, and encouraged the nation to move toward a more diversified approach to green energy. “I’m shocked to hear the minister’s
BIODEGRADABLE POLYMER: The bank said that its iPass credit card, the first such card issued by a foreign bank, gives it access to stores that do not accept its credit cards DBS Bank Taiwan (星展台灣) yesterday launched its first co-branded credit card with iPass Corp (一卡通票證), and said it expects its credit card business to fully recover in the second half of this year. The new “DBS eco card” is made of polylactic acid — a bio-based biodegradable polymer that can be produced from renewable resources — and is the bank’s first credit card to have the iPass electronic payment function, it said. The partnership would give the bank new business momentum, DBS Bank Taiwan general manager Lim Him-chuan (林鑫川) told a news conference in Taipei. That is because some stores and supermarkets in Taiwan accept a select number of credit cards, but they are usually more open to stored-value cards such as iPass because of government policy, Lim said, referring to Pxmart Co Ltd (全聯實業) supermarkets. “The partnership brings convenience to users as they can use the cards at more stores, while we also benefit by gaining access to stores that do not accept our credit cards,” he said. DBS is the first among the nation’s foreign banks to issue a co-branded iPass credit card, indicating that the Singaporean-based lender is committed to local development and digital transformation, he added. The new credit card offers cash points of up to 3 percent of each transaction, while users can decide whether to receive a cash rebate or to redeem their points for goods, the bank said. The card offers a cash point reward rate of 1.5 percent for domestic purchases and 2.5 percent for overseas purchases, but the rate would rise to 3 percent from tomorrow to the end of this year to attract new clients, it said. To encourage consumers to use green transportation, the bank offers a cash point reward rate of 5 percent for spending on vehicle sharing or scooter sharing services, or for charging electric
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled a four-year economic development plan with an aim to pursue GDP growth of 2.6 to 3.4 percent backed by 5G wireless communication, artificial intelligence and technology supply chain realignment. The council mapped out economic goals that also seek to bring the jobless rate down to 3.5 to 3.8 percent, with increases of 1 to 1.5 percent in consumer prices. “Different government agencies will jointly pursue the goals once the Cabinet gives its approval,” NDC Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. While China and the US vie for global technology leadership, Taiwan would press ahead with digital innovation and deepen its participation in regional economic integration, the council said. The government has offered favorable financing and tax terms to help expedite the supply chain realignment and the creation of a new industrial ecosystem, Kung said. COMING HOME Investment pledges of more than NT$1 trillion (US$33.8 billion) from companies returning from China to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and US-China trade tensions would fuel economic growth in the coming years and help build Taiwan into a global high-tech hub, he said. From semiconductors to servers, and from data centers to critical electronic components, the related sectors have been benefiting from a boom in demand for remote learning and working arrangements amid the outbreak, Kung said. “The virus will remain a threat to the global economy until the development of vaccines,” Kung said, adding that vaccines would be developed eventually. In the meantime, the government would continue to shore up the “five plus two” industries and take steps to overcome expected declines in consumer activity due to Taiwan’s fast-growing aged population, the council said. An NDC committee proposed a public works budget of NT$141.46 billion for next year to prop up the nation’s economy, Kung said. Public works intended to improve the transportation infrastructure account for 47.36 percent
Although news reports have been dominated by lawmakers’ scheduled review of the qualifications of Control Yuan member nominees and an ensuing vote at the Legislative Yuan this week, two more important issues await their consideration during the extraordinary session: changing the cover of the nation’s passport and adding “Taiwan” motifs to the fuselages of China Airlines (CAL) aircraft. The motions for the changes have an interesting parallel with the nation’s previous efforts to update the cover of the passport by adding the word “Taiwan” in 2003, in that they were both prompted by a pandemic originating in China — SARS in 2003 and COVID-19 this year. In both cases, the proposals reflect the desire of Taiwanese to be distinguished from Chinese, as anti-China sentiment swelled worldwide amid the outbreaks. That desire was bolstered after photographs emerged showing batches of masks Taiwan had shipped overseas wrapped in banners reading “China Airlines,” leading to the misunderstanding that they were sent by Beijing, defeating the purpose of Taiwan’s so-called “pandemic diplomacy.” While opposition parties have said that they are open to discussing the issues, problems and challenges loom over the proposals. The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) proposal regarding the passport cover states that the word “Taiwan” should be featured on the cover using the Latin alphabet and Chinese. However, as the administration of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 2003 had already added the word “Taiwan” to the cover, the DPP’s proposal would only serve to add the Chinese characters, which would not be much help when it comes to distinguishing the nation from China in the international arena, as most of the world’s population cannot read Chinese. There is also the question of whether the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) emblem, featured prominently on the cover, should be removed almost three decades after the KMT’s party-state rule ended
The New Taipei City Government on June 17 said that it would not follow Taipei in upgrading the YouBike public bicycle rental service to “YouBike 2.0” when the contract expires in August next year. Instead, the city is to turn to Moovo — a dockless bike-sharing platform — developed by Singapore-based Moov Technology. New Taipei City Department of Transportation Director Chung Min-shi (鍾鳴時) said that the YouBike service would continue to be available to the public. The city government said it had paid NT$300 million (US$10.14 million) in 2018 alone to subsidize free YouBike rides for the first 30 minutes of every rental. Such an expense would not exist on the Moovo platform, because the city only needs to rent space to the company and does not have to pay for facility installment or the procurement of new bicycles. The sharing platform would handle all fees and charges, as well as profits and losses. That means three different public bike rental systems are to coexist in the greater Taipei area next year: YouBike 2.0 in Taipei, and YouBike and Moovo in New Taipei City. However, the governments and city councils of the two special municipalities hold differing opinions on the issue. The problem in Taipei is that if YouBike monopolizes the city, this could lead to difficulties in negotiating the price. The potential problem in New Taipei City, where as many as 100,000 bike rentals are recorded every day, is the uncertainty of whether the two YouBike systems can be connected and allow for rides between the two cities. Another worry for New Taipei City residents is that the city government might gradually wind down the old YouBike service and replace it with the Moovo platform. The New Taipei City government has said that all it needs to do is to rent out
According to the survey “Taiwanese Core Political Attitude Trend,” conducted by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center and released on July 3, 67 percent of respondents identify as “Taiwanese” rather than “Chinese,” the highest percentage since the center started surveying national identity. In terms of unification or independence, the survey showed that the proportion of people willing to “maintain the ‘status quo,’ [but] move toward independence” rose drastically, from 15.1 percent in 2018 to 27.7 percent this year. This unprecedented change in political attitude reflects mainstream public opinion support for “Taiwanese identity,” but it also implies a higher possibility that Taiwan will move from a two-party system to a system dominated by a single party. Does that mean that the main opposition party — the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — will never regain power and that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) can remain in power indefinitely? During 24 years of direct presidential elections, Taiwan’s two major political parties have seen their support rise and fall. As both parties have a solid support base, they have kept each other in check. Most KMT supporters acknowledge that there is a certain contextual relationship between the Republic of China (ROC) and China, and they also affirm the party’s contribution to Taiwan’s economic miracle. The DPP’s strongest support comes from millennial voters — generally defined as those born in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s — in addition to the so-called benshengren (本省人, those who came to Taiwan before World War II), who have been treated unfairly and unequally. The young generation supports the DPP on account of their abhorrence of the traditional bureaucratic system, and a yearning for democracy and freedom. The contrast between the two parties’ supporters is evident from the perspective of generational politics. Having lived through Taiwan’s economic miracle, a majority
LEGAL RELIEF: Manchester City yesterday successfully overturned a two-year ban from the Champions League after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld an appeal Toby Alderweireld on Sunday gave Tottenham Hotspur a late 2-1 win over Arsenal as Jose Mourinho’s men climbed above their north London rivals, while AFC Bournemouth kept their survival hopes alive with a chaotic 4-1 victory against Leicester City. Mourinho had endured a barrage of criticism as Tottenham slipped out of the race to qualify for the UEFA Champions League with just one win in three games, but thanks to Alderweireld’s winner with nine minutes left, Tottenham took the local bragging rights and got back in contention for a place in next season’s UEFA Europa League. Spurs are eighth, two points above ninth-placed Arsenal and two behind Sheffield United as they try to avoid missing out on European action for the first time since 2009-2010. “We are happy because we made the fans happy, we are happy because we are still in the fight to win a Europa League position,” Mourinho said. “To be honest, Mikel [Arteta] found a way for them to play, to be stable and to improve. We felt that we should adapt slightly to them and we did it very well.” In the first north London derby at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Alexandre Lacazette put Arsenal ahead in the 16th minute with a stunning long-range strike. Arsenal’s lead lasted just three minutes as Sead Kolasinac’s sloppy pass was intercepted by Son Heung-min, who eluded David Luiz before chipping over Emiliano Martinez. In the 82nd minute, defender Alderweireld rose above a cluster of Arsenal players to meet Son’s corner and plant his header past Martinez. “We give them a goal again and we concede a set-piece, and at this level you cannot do it,” Arsenal manager Arteta said. On the south coast, Leicester scored after 23 minutes as Jamie Vardy bagged his 23rd league goal of the season to extend his lead in the
Sevilla on Sunday all but secured UEFA Champions League qualification by beating relegation battlers RCD Mallorca 2-0 in La Liga. Lucas Ocampos scored a first-half penalty, before Youssef En-Nesyri added a second late on to move Sevilla nine points clear of fifth-placed Villarreal. With three games left and the superior head-to-head record, Villarreal are not mathematically out of contention, but they would have to take maximum points and see Sevilla lose both of their remaining matches. “Champions League qualification was our objective,” Sevilla midfielder Fernando said. “We are very close and now we just have some small steps left to make it.” Finishing in the top four would be an impressive achievement for Sevilla and their coach Julen Lopetegui, who took over last year following his nightmares in charge of Spain and Real Madrid. Lopetegui, together with Sevilla sporting director Monchi, oversaw a dramatic overhaul of the squad, but change has not come at the expense of consistency for Sevilla, who are now 13 matches unbeaten in La Liga. They could even yet finish third, given they sit level on points with Atletico Madrid. The defeat damaged Mallorca’s fading hopes of avoiding relegation. They remain three points behind Deportivo Alaves, who have a superior head-to-head record and a game in hand against Getafe. “We knew winning here would send out a strong message. We couldn’t do it, but we don’t stop believing,” Mallorca defender Antonio Raillo said. CD Leganes are also three points behind Alaves, but have a glimmer of hope after they scored one penalty and saved another in a battling 1-0 win over Valencia. Javier Aguirre’s side have an equal head-to-head with Alaves and are only two worse off on goal-difference. Leganes had to play the last 36 minutes against Valencia with 10 men after Jonathan Silva was sent off, shortly before Leganes goalkeeper Pichu Cuellar saved Dani Parejo’s
SSC Napoli coach Gennaro Gattuso’s first-ever match against AC Milan on Sunday ended in a 2-2 draw in Serie A. Giovanni di Lorenzo and Dries Mertens scored for Napoli to cancel out Theo Hernandez’s opener, but Franck Kessie leveled from the penalty spot 17 minutes from time. Napoli remain sixth in Serie A, two points above Milan. Gattuso had both played for and coached Milan, but had never faced the Rossoneri since leaving by mutual consent at the end of last season. There was a touching moment before the match when Gattuso embraced Milan technical director Paolo Maldini, who he played with at Milan for 10 years. “There are so many emotions, because it’s the first time I faced the team that made me become a man and made me win so much, but I’m angry tonight with my players, because when you create seven to eight chances you need to score,” Gattuso said. “It’s not just a problem with the forwards, we easily get to within 18, 20 meters of the goal, but we still make so many mistakes and we need to improve.” Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma pulled off two superb saves before his side went ahead against the run of play in the 20th minute when Hernandez volleying in Ante Rebic’s cross. Napoli leveled 14 minutes later when Donnarumma could only parry Lorenzo Insigne’s free-kick into the path of Di Lorenzo, who tapped in the rebound. The hosts went ahead on the hour mark when Jose Callejon pulled the ball back for Mertens, whose effort squirmed under Donnarumma at his near post. Milan had not lost since Serie A resumed after the COVID-19 suspension and they leveled when Giacomo Bonaventura was tripped in the penalty area by Nikola Maksimovic and Kessie converted the resulting spot-kick. Milan played the final few minutes with 10 men after midfielder Alexis
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, the sport’s only black driver, on Sunday raised a clenched fist on the podium after taking his first victory of the season at Austria’s Red Bull Ring. The Briton, a six-time world champion who is now six wins short of equaling Ferrari great Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91, has been outspoken in support of anti-racism campaigns and for equal opportunities. The Mercedes driver had earlier taken a knee on the starting grid with some of the other drivers while wearing a T-shirt with “Black Lives Matter” on the front. The race was run without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hamilton, 35, also had “Black Lives Matter” on his race helmet. “We stand together and fight,” he said after posting on Instagram a picture of himself making the gesture on the Spielberg podium after collecting the 85th winner’s trophy of his career. “The team today took the knee which was just amazing to see that together we can learn, be open minded and conscious of what’s going on in the world,” he said. Hamilton had also clenched a fist while standing on his car, this season painted black rather than the usual silver. The clenched fist gesture echoed that of sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Both men were kicked off the US team and sent home after their famous black-gloved protest. Hamilton, who also took a knee the previous weekend before the season-opening race at the same circuit, last month launched a commission to push diversity in motorsport and said that he expected his campaigning to be “a lifelong thing.” Formula One chairman Chase Carey donated US$1 million toward a diversity foundation, as did the governing FIA.
VIGIL: Jimmy Lai decried the trial as political persecution and said that the real incitement was the Tiananmen massacre committed by the Chinese Communist Party Thirteen prominent Hong Kong democracy advocates yesterday appeared in court charged with holding an unauthorized gathering to mark the Tiananmen Square massacre, the latest in a string of prosecutions against protest leaders in the restless territory. Tens of thousands of Hong Kongers last month defied a ban on rallies to mark the June 4 anniversary of Beijing’s deadly 1989 crackdown on students pushing for democracy. The annual vigil has been held in Hong Kong for the past three decades and usually attracts huge crowds. It has taken on particular significance in the past few years as the semi-autonomous territory chafes under Beijing’s increasingly authoritarian rule. This year’s vigil was banned for the first time, with authorities citing COVID-19 measures. At the time local transmission had largely been halted. However, thousands turned out to hold candles in their neighborhoods and in Victoria Park, the traditional site of the vigil. Police later arrested 13 leading advocates who appeared at the Victoria Park vigil. All appeared in court yesterday to be formally charged with “inciting” an unlawful assembly, which carries up to five years in jail. Among them are Jimmy Lai (黎智英), the millionaire owner of the openly pro-democracy Apple Daily, veteran democracy advocates such as Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) and Albert Ho (何俊仁), as well as young campaigner Figo Chan (陳皓桓). When asked if he understood the charge, Lee invoked the hundreds who were killed by Chinese tanks and soldiers at Tiananmen. “This is political persecution,” he said. “The real incitement is the massacre conducted by the Chinese Communist Party 31 years ago.” Some of those charged — and many other leading democracy figures — face separate prosecutions related to last year’s huge pro-democracy protests. China’s leaders have rejected calls to give Hong Kongers universal suffrage and portrayed the protests as a plot by foreigners to destabilize the motherland. Earlier this month, Beijing
Telstra has said it would keep its customers’ data security and integrity its foremost responsibility as the telecom comes to terms with the controversial new national security legislation in Hong Kong. The legislation, which came into effect at the end of last month, allows Hong Kong police to intercept communications, conduct covert surveillance and request information from service providers. It has forced a rethink for non-Chinese companies with operations in Hong Kong on whether to keep customer data onshore, where it might be subject to the new laws. Several tech companies, including Twitter, Facebook, Zoom and Microsoft, have said that they would suspend compliance with requests from Hong Kong police. Telecoms are subject to the laws of the country in which they operate. It was revealed in 2013 that Telstra’s joint-venture Hong Kong business, Reach, was subject to US national security law with respect to data it holds in the US as part of its massive sub-sea cable network. Telstra also operates cloud services in Hong Kong, offering co-location of data in the territory. A spokesman for Telstra said the security and integrity of clients’ data was the company’s “foremost priority and responsibility.” Telstra chief executive Andy Penn on Friday told ABC Radio National that the company would rely on legal advice and the advice of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on complying with requests from Hong Kong, but for now there were no plans to pull out. “There’s no change, but it is a dynamic situation,” he said. “We’re not reviewing our presence there at the moment...We’re really just following DFAT’s advice,” Penn said, referring to the department. At the same time, the Australian government is pushing for legislation to allow Australian companies, such as Telstra, to comply with orders from countries where agreements are in place to hand over data to law
As many as 33 rivers in China have risen to their highest levels in history during the current wave of floods, a senior government official said yesterday, as regions across the country brace for another “grim” week of torrential rain. Chinese Vice Minister of Water Resources Ye Jianchun (葉建春) told a briefing that 433 rivers — as well as major lakes such as the Dongting, the Poyang and the Tai — have all risen beyond their warning levels since the flood season began last month. “Going into the key flood-prevention period of late July to early August, the current trends remain grim on the Yangtze and the Lake Tai basins,” he said, adding that the belts of heavy rain that have lashed central China would eventually head north. Average rainfall has been at its highest since records began in 1961. The Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management on Friday said that 141 people were dead or missing, with economic losses at about 60 billion yuan (US$8.57 billion). Flood-control authorities throughout the Yangtze basin have already declared “red alerts” that cover major population centers such as Xianning, Jiujiang and Nanchang. A red alert has also been declared at Lake Poyang, where water levels are more than 3m higher than normal, another record high. In some flood-stricken regions, soldiers filled sandbags to shore up riverbanks and stave off more damage. Town streets were inundated and rescue workers waded through hip-deep water with inflatable boats to reach people trapped in homes turned into islands. Warning levels were breached at more than 70 flood-monitoring stations yesterday, flood ministry data showed. Water levels at the Three Gorges reservoir, which cut its discharge volumes for a fifth time on Saturday to ease downstream water levels, have now hit 153.2m, 6.7m higher than the warning level. China’s weather bureau said that although some regions in the
Alan Dolan couldn’t afford market research when he started out as a breathing instructor in 2005. Instead, he took soundings from London taxi drivers. “I’d tell them I taught people to breathe for a living — they’d be in hysterics and say: ‘What a great scam!’” Dolan says. Recently their reaction has changed: “Now they tell me about their sleep apnea or their wife’s panic attacks, ask me how that relates to breathing and often download my app.” Dolan, whose company is called Breathguru, teaches people to breathe deeply from their diaphragm, inhaling for longer than exhaling, without pausing between the two. He says this can, among other things, release stress, alleviate depression, tackle sleep issues, ease respiratory conditions, boost energy and the immune system and eject emotional baggage. Until COVID-19 , his retreats in Lanzarote were, he says, fully booked. Such is the level of demand that Dolan has taught 24 trainees to lead sessions like his. BREATHING BOOM Other “breathwork” practitioners report similar surges in interest, YouTube and Instagram Stories are teeming with breathing courses, and publishers clearly agree it’s a wave worth surfing. Books called Breathe Well, The Power of Breathwork, The Breathing Book and Breathing for Warriors have already been published this year. Still to come in 2020 are Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor, Exhale, by Richie Bostock, AKA The Breath Guy, and The Wim Hof Method by Wim Hof. All of which is a little puzzling to some. Sure, a bit of deep breathing at the end of a yoga class feels good, and many use simple breathing exercises to help them relax. But most people manage their 23,000 or so breaths per day without pause for thought, never mind instruction. So are advocates right that breathwork has a long list of physical
“There was a moment,” says Andrew Nairne, “when I was thinking, of course, we are like Nottingham Contemporary and the Hepworth Wakefield, places like that.” The director of Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge is guiding me around a gallery that’s “in rehearsals” for a socially distanced opening in August. “Then I remembered that the others don’t have a little cottage with tiny rooms and narrow corridors.” Today, the National Gallery in London is reopening after COVID-19 abruptly shut the doors of British museums in mid-March. But Kettle’s Yard, like many others, is taking a slower, phased approach. The institution regularly hosts shows in its new, airy galleries — an exhibition from the artist Linder will be extended into the autumn — but at its heart is the home of its founder, curator and collector Jim Ede. This takes the form of a series of knocked-through cottages, their awkward-shaped rooms brimming with art and delicate objects. It is meant to be a warm, hospitable place where visitors are allowed the freedom to sit in armchairs, leaf through books left out on tables and generally feel at home. All of which also makes it a social-distancing nightmare. Visitors have long had to book for a tour round the Edes’ house. They still will, but a maximum of 18, rather than 72, will be able to come each day. Hand sanitizers will be much in evidence, and visor-clad staff will figure out how to steer guests so they clash with neither each other, nor the precious objects. Ventilation has been fiercely debated. “I said, ‘For heaven’s sake, can’t we just fling open some windows?’” Nairne says. The answer was: “On no account.” The gorgeous Alfred Wallis paintings require proper climate control, although the air flow in the cottage has been deemed safe. The cafe, which normally occupies
Taiwan’s artist community was outraged when the authorities banned Lee Shih-chiao’s (李石樵) Reclining Nude (橫臥裸婦) from the 1936 Taiyang Art Exhibition (台陽美術展覽會). The Taiwan Daily News (台灣日日新報) reported that after hours of deliberation, the officials censored the piece for “contravening public morals.” Although the government did have rules on publicly displaying nude art, the state-run Taiwan Fine Art Exhibition regularly featured naked women, allowing more revealing pieces each year. On the same page, the newspaper ran a scathing criticism of the decision by an anonymous artist. “This is completely laughable … If they really thought [Reclining Nude] contravened public morals, they should clearly point out why. If someone feels that such imagery incites lewd thoughts, it just means that they already had a dirty mind. If this painting cannot be exhibited, that means all the famous nude paintings should all be accused of obscenity! I feel that this incident is blasphemous toward art itself, and will hamper the development of Taiwan’s art scene,” the artist wrote. The colonial authorities declined to comment. The kerfuffle actually boosted public interest in the exhibition, and crowds packed the halls for its entire duration. Lee, who was born on July 13, 1908, was a recent graduate of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts then, but he would go on to become one of Taiwan’s most influential painters. ACCEPTANCE OF NUDITY While the nude figure had been a staple of Western art since antiquity, in Asia it was still considered obscene to publicly display such artwork up to the late 19th century. The first time nude art caused a stir in Japan was in 1896, when Seiki Kuroda exhibited a life-size portrait of a woman he completed while studying in France. Critics slammed the piece as corrupting social mores, and a livid Kuroda declared that Japan’s art scene
In the past two weeks, our social media feeds were flooded by the image of Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, telling US senators at a hearing that the country was “going in the wrong direction.” The image had a vivid, layered power. Not only did it feel like a national death knell, but Fauci’s appearance — in an imperial-red face mask emblazoned with the insignia of baseball’s Washington Nationals — seemed to signal another culture war. Fauci was making a comment about how to maintain one’s masculinity while wearing a face mask. Fauci apparently isn’t the only one anxious about face masks impeding his masculinity. It seems that in certain circles, wearing a mask has been conflated with the kind of archaic, knuckle-dragging rhetoric that casts wearing pink or having a cat on a dating app as effeminate. The LA Times gave some well-meaning but ultimately depressing tips to make masks more appealing to the “alphas.” Among its suggestions: “appeal to patriotism! Maga masks! Masks printed with shark teeth!” Can masculinity be so glacially unmovable and paper-thin fragile? Apparently, yes — which is unfortunate, because the danger from COVID-19 remains very, very real. Last week Scientific American called masks the “condoms of the face,” arguing that the struggle to get men to wear masks during this pandemic has parallels in the struggle to get men to wear condoms during the rise of HIV. While it seems strange to compare something you’d wear so visibly in public to something worn privately in intimate moments, the analogy underscores how some men’s notions of masculinity are intertwined with a corrosive mix of petulance, indestructibility and, ultimately, privilege. The article cited research showing that “masculine ideology” is associated with rejection of condom use. Similar research by Middlesex University and the Mathematical Science Research
A: How does a CtrlMovie work? B: You download an app on your mobile phone, then you scan a QR code before the movie starts. Throughout the movie, options flash up on the movie screen and you use your phone to decide what the main character does next. A: So it’s like a kind of democratic vote on the direction of the plot? B: Exactly. A: 那互動式電影要怎麼運作呢？ B: 你要下載一個手機應用程式，然後在電影開始前掃描QR碼。在播放過程中，電影院的螢幕會跳出選項，你就可以用手機決定主角接下來要做什麼。 A: 所以，這就像是民主選舉決定電影情節的方向囉？ B: 沒錯。 English 英文: Chinese 中文:
Most people understand the importance of avoiding second-hand smoke, but doctors say that the risk of third-hand tobacco in one’s living environment is not only as dangerous, but that small children are more likely to come into contact with it and could develop a cough as a result. For this reason, parents should be aware of the dangers. According to Chiu Chen-fong, director of the thoracic medicine department of Feng Yuan Hospital in Taichung, third-hand tobacco occurs when a person smokes in a closed environment, and the tobacco smoke particles settle on surfaces in the room, including the smokers’ own clothing and hair, as well as the curtains, sofa, walls and floor within the living space. Once the smoke has settled on the curtains or furniture, even if one opens the windows to let the air circulate to freshen up the room and allow the tobacco odor to dissipate, or even if one wipes down or washes the surfaces, this will not necessarily thoroughly remove the settled particles. In some cases it will actually require replacing the furniture entirely, before the room can be returned to a living space completely devoid of tobacco hazards. Chiu says that the second-hand smoke we are all familiar with is easily avoided, but once third-hand tobacco has been produced the people in the immediate environs are not really aware of it, and it will be invisible to the naked eye by family and friends sharing the same space. As a result, it can often lead to the development of respiratory problems with no obvious cause, such as a chronic cough or excessive sputum. Importantly, small children are particularly at risk of coming into contact with third-hand tobacco hazards, because they will tend to climb over furniture and touch surfaces, unknowingly exposing themselves to the
| New Taipei City | 28-33 | 0% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 28-32 | 10% | |
| Hsinchu City | 28-32 | 10% | |
| Taipei City | 27-33 | 0% | |
| Miaoli County | 28-32 | 10% | |
| Taoyuan City | 28-32 | 0% | |
| Keelung City | 27-32 | 0% | |
| Yunlin County | 27-32 | 10% | |
| Taichung City | 28-33 | 10% | |
| Nantou County | 27-32 | 10% | |
| Changhua County | 28-32 | 10% | |
| Chiayi County | 27-32 | 10% | |
| Chiayi City | 27-31 | 20% | |
| Tainan City | 28-30 | 30% |  |
| Kaohsiung City | 28-30 | 70% | |
| Pingtung County | 26-28 | 60% | |
| Yilan County | 26-31 | 0% | |
| Hualien County | 27-31 | 0% | |
| Taitung County | 27-29 | 50% |  |
| Kinmen County | 27-30 | 0% | |
| Penghu County | 27-30 | 10% | |
| Lienchiang County | 26-30 | 0% | |
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