Chiayi County and fisheries industry have endured the heaviest impact in the aftermath of the flooding in southern Taiwan 

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/08/28
By: Alicia Nguyen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The estimate for total agricultural losses caused by the massive deluge in southern Taiwan has been updated to NT$655.5 million (US$ 21.3 million), with Chiayi County and  the fishery industry bearing the most serious losses, according to Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture (COA).

On Aug. 28, the COA said that the agricultural losses in Chiayi County ranked at the top with an estimated NT$432.2 million (US$14 million), accounting for 66 percent of the total loss. Meanwhile, Tainan City, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County suffered economic losses of NT$142 million (22%), NT$37.58 million (6%), NT$33.75 million (5%), and NT$6.75 million (1%), respectively.

Regarding the agriculture industry, fisheries suffered damage estimated at NT$330.7 million, followed by livestock (NT$194.1 million), and farming (NT$124.7 million), the reports said.

Additionally, cities and countries suffering economic damage will receive cash relief and low-interest loans from the government, according to the report.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/28
By: Yang Sze-rui and William Yen

Taipei, Aug. 28 (CNA) A group of 12 Indonesian sailors were rescued by the Taiwan

authorities Tuesday after strong wind and heavy seas pounded their vessel, which had been stranded off Kaohsiung coastline for nearly a week, according to a press release issued by the National Rescue Command Center (NRCC).

The cargo ship Jin Hua, which sails under the flag of Sierra Leone, was stranded off the coastline of the southern port city Aug. 23 when a tropical depression deluged the region, the NRCC said.

On that day, the vessel indicated that it did not need rescue as there was no immediate danger and that it would ask a shipping agency to arrange for it to be towed, the NRCC said.

However, the NRCC said it received a report Tuesday at 9:45 a.m. from the Maritime and Port Bureau’s South Taiwan Maritime Affairs Center that the crew had requested assistance to evacuate the ship due to the strong wind and heavy seas.

The 12 Indonesians were airlifted to safety by helicopter at 6:34 p.m., the Coast Guard Administration said, adding that the sailors were awaiting assistance from their shipping agency.     [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatiional
Date: 2018-08-27

The Ministry of Science and Technology will make sure that Qualcomm will keep their

promise and invest in ways that benefit Taiwan. That was the word from Minister Chen Liang-Gee. Qualcomm is the biggest US-based chip maker for mobile phones.

In October 2017, Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) fined Qualcomm NT$23.4 billion (US$775 million) for inappropriate patent grants and for handing out exclusive discounts. That was the biggest fine the FTC has ever handed out. After the fine was announced, Qualcomm held off meetings with Taiwanese tech companies in 5G technology.

The FTC settled with Qualcomm this month by slashing the fine to NT$ 2.73 billion (US$ 89 million). As part of the settlement, Qualcomm will invest US$700 million in Taiwanese manufacturing plants and education over the next five years.    [FULL  STORY]

As the list of countries recognizing Taiwan dwindles to 17, a US senator is pushing for measures by Washington against those switching to China

Asia Times
Date: August 27, 2018
By: Asia Times Staff

President Tsai Ing-wen’s office has admitted for the first time that it has a “contingency plan” ready in case Taiwan loses all of its diplomatic allies. And that day seems to be getting steadily closer.

El Salvador last week became the fifth country to switch recognition to China and pull its official representatives out of Taiwan since Tsai came to office more than two years ago. The others were Sao Tome and Principe, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Burkina Faso.

There are now only 17 countries in Taiwan’s camp, and most are small: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Paraguay in Latin America; Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean; Swaziland in Africa; the Vatican City in Europe; and Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu in the Pacific.

Tsai was tipped off about El Salvador’s possible switch months ago when the president was preparing for her state visits to Paraguay and Belize, as well as stopovers in the US, according to Taiwanese papers.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/08/27
By:  Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—A “harbor bombardment” activity held on Sunday attracted nearly 200 people to a local fishing port in Taiwan’s offshore island county of Penghu, where they jumped into the harbor for a swim to relive Penghu locals’ childhood pastime, according to a Central News Agency report.

Activity organizer Lin Rui-tien (林瑞添) is a Penghu local who is currently serving as a policeman in Jinshan Precinct, New Taipei City. He said nowadays both adults and children spend most of their leisure time in front of a computer or a cell phone, but when he was small, one of the most common summer pastimes for children in Penghu was to invite several friends to jump into a harbor for a swim in the sea, the report said. But the simple pastime has almost become a thing of the past, he added.

Therefore, Lin, who is also running a Facebook paged called “1000 Penghu Dreams” (1000個澎湖夢), initiated the activity of “harbor bombardment,” which in plain language means jumping into a harbor, to let today’s children understand what and how children a generation ago played, according to the report. The water splashes around when a jumper hits the water, making it look like a bombardment, he said, adding that the seawater is bound to make the jumper feel so cool and fresh and it has more fun than fiddling with a cell phone, according to the report

Lin also said the activity can only be held at high tide to be safe and that participants have to be able to swim.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/27
By Lu Hsin-hui, Wang Cheng-chung and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Aug. 27 (CNA) The Presidential Office on Monday dismissed a newspaper report

that former Premier Lin Chuan (林全) will replace People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) as head of Taiwan’s delegation to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in November.

The report’s information regarding this issue was fabricated and Taiwan’s plan to form a delegation to the APEC summit will be made public after it has been finalized, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said.

APEC is one of the most important official multilateral economic cooperation forums in which Taiwan participates. Soong, who has served as Taiwan’s envoy to the summit over the past two years, has made great contributions to bolstering awareness of Taiwan’s development in the forum and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was grateful for his efforts, Huang said.

The 2018 APEC leaders’ meeting is slated for November in Papua New Guinea and the plan on appointing a representative to lead Taiwan’s delegation to the forum has yet to be hammered out, according to Huang.    [FULL  STORY]

President Tsai toured flood-ravaged Chiayi County Saturday

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/08/25
By: Matthew Strong,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Just because extreme rain caused massive flooding in Southern

Taiwan did not mean that past water management efforts were useless, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Saturday during a tour of the ravaged areas.

A tropical depression passed over Southern Taiwan Thursday and Friday with results drawing comparisons to some of the worst typhoons in the country’s history. At least one person was reported dead, with hundreds of houses flooded and thousands of people evacuated from their homes. Premier William Lai (賴清德), who served as mayor of Tainan City until last year, was criticized by the opposition.

However, President Tsai noted in a statement on her Facebook page that the extreme precipitation of the past few days should not give the impression that years of anti-flooding and water management efforts had been for nothing.

Tsai visited some of the worst-afflicted regions Saturday, including Chiayi County, the Central News Agency reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/25
By: Yu Hsiao-han, Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Aug. 25 (CNA) Agricultural losses caused by serious flooding in central and southern Taiwan in recent days are estimated to have been at least NT$370 million (US$12 million), data released by the Council of Agriculture (COA) showed Saturday.

As of 5 p.m. Saturday, the COA said heavy downpours caused by a tropical depression had impacted half the country, causing NT$369 million in agricultural losses, including crops, fisheries and livestock.

Chiayi was the hardest hit by the torrential rain, with about NT$287 million in agricultural losses, accounting for 78 percent of the total, the data showed.

Tainan was the second worst hit, with NT$49.31 million in damage or 13.4 percent of the total, followed by Yunlin with NT$16.79 million in losses (4.6 percent), Kaohsiung NT$9 million (2.4 percent) and Pingtung NT$5.94 million (1.6 percent), the data indicated.    [FULL  STORY]