Funding will support women’s entrepreneurship in developing countries

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/07
By: Sylvia Teng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is partnering with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to provide US$350,000 for supporting women in developing countries.

Taiwan’s Representative to the U.S. Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and DFC Chief Executive Officer Adam Boehler jointly announced the new partnership between the two countries on Thursday (Aug. 6), with the aim of enhancing women’s economic capabilities in the developing world. Taiwan will offer US$350,000 for the 2X Women’s Initiative, a sub-program established by U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, under the White House-led Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP).

The funding will be allocated to support gender-smart investments in developing countries, the DFC said in a statement issued on Thursday (August 6). Through the partnership, investment officers, women entrepreneurs, and other key stakeholders will share their experiences and best practices related to investing with a gender lens and developing strong gender strategies through two training programs, said the DFC.

Taiwan has long been working with the DFC in the hope of building gender-based infrastructures in developing countries, said the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) on Thursday. Taiwan previously teamed up with the DFC to assist women in Paraguay and Asian countries, added TECRO.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/07/2020
By: William Yen, and
CNA interns Lo Jing-wen
and Evelyn Yang

Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) A student rights group rallied in downtown Taipei on Friday demanding that the government provide better support for returning international students and not discriminate against Chinese students.

Some 15 members of the group "Taiwan International Student Movement," almost all of them students from China and Hong Kong, rallied outside the Ministry of Education (MOE) to demand that the ministry provide more affordable places for students to stay in quarantine when they return from abroad.

The group estimates there are close to 16,000 international students — 5,000 from China and 11,000 from 19 other countries — who have remained abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic and need to return to Taiwan to continue their studies.

"Many students struggle to pay for 14-day hotel quarantine, because it is anywhere from NT$30,000 (US$1,021) to NT$45,000. It is a huge burden for international students and make us less willing to continue our studies," said Lala (安安), a graduate student from Hong Kong currently studying at National Central University.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 07 August, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

Taiwan’s representative office in the US says that it will support a US project that aims to help women in developing countries overcome economic challenges. The project is called the 2X Women’s Initiative.

Taiwan’s new representative to the US, Hsiao Bi-khim, says that Taiwan will support training programs held as part of the project in order to advance women’s empowerment and help women become contributors to equitable growth and sustainable development in their communities.    [FULL  STORY]

Impact on local environment limited due to 2,000-km distance from Nishinoshima

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/07
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Volcanic dust from an eruption on the Japanese island of Nishinoshima was responsible for a sudden turn for the worse in air quality on Taiwan’s sparsely populated east coast Thursday evening (Aug. 6), according to weather experts.

The counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung are known for their fresh air and natural beauty, but late on Thursday the eastern sky turned gray and the air quality went from excellent to average, CNA reported. On the Facebook page WeatherRisk, Central Weather Bureau Director-General Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典) said the change was not the result of simple environmental pollution but eruptions at the Nishinoshima volcano 2,000 km away.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/07/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) A contemporary Thai dance company is set to stage a performance at the 2020 Taipei Arts Festival this weekend that allows the audience to re-examine the idea of tradition and witness a creative elaboration of a 700-year-old traditional dance form.

"No. 60," a 65-minute duet performed by 50-year-old Thai dancer and choreographer Pichet Klunchun and his student Kornkarn Rungsawang, deconstructs the Khon dance by choreographing his own transitions between the 59 poses and movements of the dance's Theppanom canon.

In Pichet's version of the dance, carefully synchronized body movements twist and turn, covering every corner of the stage, while the pair calculate in perfect timing, to bring out their distinct poses at every pause.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: 06 August, 2020
By: Katherine Wei

Mazu, the goddess of the sea, has a devoted following in Taiwan. Thousands follow her statue each year during mass pilgrimages, trekking overland for days on end. But a few go even further, showing a devotion that can scale even the highest heights.

A group of devotees of the sea goddess, Mazu, have scaled the peak of Yushan, Taiwan’s highest point. They set out before sunrise, carrying a statue of the goddess as they go. This particular Mazu is from a temple in Taichung and is revered for answering prayers for rain.

The worshippers excitedly discussed their ascent to the peak, saying that it had been raining the day before, but that the skies were now sunny again. The 35 worshippers also carried statues of Qianliyan and Shunfeng'er, the two guardians of Mazu’s temples.    [FULL  STORY]

Sale of at least 4 aerial drones being discussed, sources tell Reuters, a deal that could escalate tensions with China.

Al Jazeera
Date: August 6, 2020

The United States is negotiating the sale of at least four of its large sophisticated aerial drones to Taiwan for the first time, six US sources familiar with the negotiations told Reuters news agency – in a deal that is likely to ratchet up tensions with China.

The SeaGuardian surveillance drones have a range of 6,000 nautical miles (11,100 km), far greater than the 160-mile range of Taiwan's current fleet of drones.

While the sale of the unmanned aerial vehicles has been tacitly authorised by the State Department, two of the people said, it is not known whether the US officials have approved exporting the drones with weapons attached, one of them said.

The deal has to be approved by members of Congress who may receive formal notification as soon as next month, two of the people said. Congress could choose to block a final agreement.
[FULL  STORY]

With just 15 rainy days in Taitung in June and July the lake needs a tropical rainstorm to help fill it

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/06
By George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The water level at East Taiwan’s Chiaming Lake (嘉明湖) has reduced so much due to a lack of rain that it has become the shape of a “sunny-side-up egg,” which rarely happens in August, according to a CNA report on Thursday (Aug. 6).

According to Central Weather Bureau statistics for the past 12 years, average total rainfall in Taitung County in June and July is over 200 millimeters. There was 868 mm of rain in 2012, compared to just 164.8 mm this year, per CNA.

The number of rainy days in Taitung in June and July this year was just 15, and not much rain fell on these days. This has been compounded by the fact that no typhoons hit Taiwan in June and July.    [FULL  STORY]