Radio Taiwan International
Date: 16 December, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

Taiwan is the most important place in the world, pound for pound. That's what prominent author and economist Ruchir Sharmar wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times on Monday. Sharmar is the Chief Global Strategist at Morgan Stanley and author of The Ten Rules of Successful Nations.

He said Taiwan holds a very important place in the world because it has the most cutting edge technology in making computer chips. Taiwan is also a major assembler of the world's electronic products. He highlighted two of Taiwan's major companies in the article: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Foxconn Technology. Though these companies may not be well known globally, Foxconn assembles about 40% of the world's technology products while TSMC is the leading chipmaker in the world. 

TSMC has leading technology, rivaled only by Samsung, in making the world's smallest chips. Both companies made 5-nanometer chips this year and will start making 3-nanometer chips in 2022. But TSMC is especially preferred by most tech companies because it is a pure foundry. That means it does not design its own products that could compete with global brands as Samsung does.     [FULL  STORY]

Meticulous costumes and production design bring to life personified ancient treasuresTaiwan News
Date: 2020/12/16
By: Lyla Liu, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

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TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese TV series "Palace of Serendipity" features award-winning actors and national treasures from the National Palace Museum.

The 10 episodes were directed by Robin Lee (李芸嬋) and creatively personify selected treasures with historical background and some imagination.

"Each of the 10 well-known actors and actresses will perform as a treasure," said Lee.

The story begins in a building where each treasure lives isolated in a separate apartment, said Lee. He added that this mirrors the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
[FULL  STORY]

Nearly 10,000 fireworks will be shot off from Tamsui River

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/16
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — To ring the new year, the New Taipei City Government will hold a 10-minute fireworks display in Bali District starting at 8:21 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2020.

The city’s High Riverbank Construction Management Office said that it plans to set up a launch platform on Tamsui River in front of Guanhai Boulevard to ensure that people on both sides of the river will be able to see the fireworks clearly.

Nearly 10,000 rockets, including high-altitude ones, will be set off in the evening, matching the scale and grandeur of the National Day fireworks, according to the office.
[FULL  STORY]

CHOOSE YOUR POISON: Inspectors found cockroach infestations, fish laden with bacteria, food placed on the floor and ingredients that expired four years ago

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 17, 2020
By: Lo Chi and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer

An inspection of 25 restaurants near popular fishing harbors found that 80 percent did not meet sanitation standards, the Consumer Protection Committee announced on Tuesday.

Inspectors in October visited the restaurants near five major fishing ports: Jhuwei (竹圍漁港) in Taoyuan, Wuci (梧棲漁港) in Taichung, Cijin (旗津漁港) in Kaohsiung, Bisha (碧砂漁港) in Keelung and Wushih (烏石漁港) in Yilan County, it said.

The inspection consisted of six categories, including sanitation, fire and epidemic prevention, and laboratory testing of raw fish sold by 18 of the shops, the committee added.

Only one restaurant — San Wei Chen Squid Noodles (三味珍小卷米粉) near the Port of Kaohsiung — passed every item, it said.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 15 December, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

The foreign ministry on Monday announced the official opening of Taiwan’s representative office in Provence, France. 

In a pre-recorded video message for the occasion, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said France is an important economic partner to Taiwan. He said the prospects of cooperation in aerospace, biomedicine, and technology look promising between the two sides. Wu said he also foresees new partnerships in smart healthcare, renewable energy and the circular economy.    [FULL  STORY]

Dramatic video shows employees smashing windows in response to pay disputes.

ARS Technica
Date: 12/15/2020
By: Ron Amadeo

Worker protests at an iPhone manufacturing plant in India have caused up to $7 million in damages, Reuters reports. Workers at the plant, owned by the Taiwanese-based company Wistron, say they haven't been paid what they were promised and are demanding better working conditions.

The Times of India has several on-the-ground reports and dramatic video of the protests. The news outlet reports, "A majority of the nearly 2,000 employees, who were exiting the facility after completing their night-shift, went on a rampage destroying the company's furniture, assembly units and even attempted to set fire to vehicles."

The Times of India also has details on the salary workers were supposed to be getting, with the report quoting an employee as saying, "While an engineering graduate was promised Rs 21,000 ($286) per month, his/her salary had reduced to Rs 16,000 ($218) and, subsequently, to Rs 12,000 ($163) in the recent months. Non-engineering graduates' monthly salary had reduced to Rs 8,000 ($109). The salary amount being credited to our accounts have been reducing and it was frustrating to see this." Some workers claim to have gotten monthly salaries of as little as Rs 500 ($6.80).

Wistron is one of Apple's top suppliers, and Apple says it is investigating the company to see if Winstron violated Apple's supplier guidelines.    [FULL  STORY]

Book shows development of Taipei under Japanese colonial era, documents everyday life and activities

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/15
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Chiang Wei-shui's Cultural Foundation on Tuesday (Dec. 15) reissued a Taipei city guide that was first published during the Japanese colonial era, and it described the book as providing the public a glimpse into the capital nearly a century ago.

The guide was originally published by the Japanese in Taiwan in 1928, eight years after Taipei was designated as a city by the authorities. At that time, the city had only 210,000 residents, with approximately 3,000 telephone lines set up.

The guide documents public and private organizations, businesses, cultural and entertainment facilities, and private residences. The book also records the names of those who were in charge of government agencies as well as small eateries, stated the foundation, which called the book a comprehensive document of the time that provides a glimpse into the development of the city and the lives of both Japanese and Taiwanese.

The reissued book is not meant to highlight the time when the Taiwanese were colonized, even though it does present the development of Taipei under the ruling of the Japanese empire, said Chiang Chao-gen (蔣朝根), executive officer of the foundation. The book rather shows the city was built and constructed in accordance with the needs of the colonizers, stressed Chiang.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/15/2020
By: Flor Wang and Yang Shu-min

Taipei, Dec. 15 (CNA) The public have been warned against consuming sashimi sold at certain restaurants in Taiwan's five major tourism fishing ports, as a majority of them have failed to pass sanitary checks, a government agency reported on Tuesday.

Out of 18 premises at Bisha Port in Keelung City, Zhuwei Port in Taoyuan City, Wuqi Port in Taichung City, Chijin Port in Kaohsiung City and Wushih Port in Yilan County selling the Japanese-style thinly sliced raw fish, 14 failed a joint inspection by the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) under the Executive Yuan and the five local governments, DCP officials told a news conference.

The joint inspection launched in October covered 25 restaurants, they said.

The total plate count of sashimi offered by the 14 restaurants was found to be higher than the standard set by the central government, with two at Chijin Port and one at Wushih Port found to head the list, said DCP official Wang Chih-hung (王志宏).  [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 16, 2020
By: Chen Kuan-pei and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Farmer Lee Mei-ling (李美玲) has revived the mushroom industry in Changhua County’s Jhutang Township (竹塘) after adding modern facilities to her traditional mushroom farm.

The township had been Taiwan’s No. 1 producer of mushrooms until 20 years ago, when it fell behind other regions that were using improved techniques to grow larger mushrooms.

The township steadily declined as a producer until it was seen as a source of cheap agricultural products.

However, Lee 13 years ago set off on a path that would eventually make Jhutang Township a renowned producer of mushrooms once again.    [FULL  STORY]

Straits Times
Date: Dcember 13, 2020

TAIPEI (REUTERS) – Taiwan will submit an application to join the revamped version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership once it has finished informal consultations with its existing 11 members, talks which are ongoing, the island's foreign ministry said.

While a member of the World Trade Organisation, many countries are wary of signing trade deals with Taiwan fearing objections from China, which claims the democratic island as its own territory, and Taiwan has sought greater access to multilateral deals.

Tech-powerhouse Taiwan has been angling to join the 11-country Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), signed in 2018.

In a statement late Sunday (Dec 13), Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said that according to the processes of the CPTPP, new member applicants needed to complete informal talks with existing members first and "reach a consensus" before applying.    [FULL  STORY]