Monthly Archives: April 2016

Taiwan patrol boats to protect fishermen near disputed Japanese atoll

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/30
By: Liu Chien-pang and Elaine Hou

Taipei, April 30 (CNA) Taiwan will send two patrol ships Sunday to international waters near a

Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration

Japanese-controlled atoll in the Western Pacific to protect Taiwanese fishermen operating in the area.

In response to a directive issued by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), a nearly 2,000-ton Coast Guard Administration vessel and a ship belonging to the Fishery Agency under the Council of Agriculture will depart from the southern city of Kaohsiung for waters near Okinotori atoll to protect Taiwanese fishermen operating in the area.

The deployment of the two patrol boats comes after a Taiwanese fishing boat operating some 150 nautical miles from Okinotori was seized April 25 by the Japanese coast guard.

On Saturday, Premier Simon Chang (張善政) said that the Navy will be on standby to provide further assistance if needed. [FULL STORY]

Yingge Town Artisan: Making it large

Brothers Chan Kuo-hsiang and Weng Kuo-hua, both Yingge potters, talk about the craft of imitation pottery and how their lives are intimately tied up with the fortunes of the old pottery town in New Taipei City

Taipei Times
Date: May 01, 2016
By: Paul Cooper / Staff reporter

Kick-wheel potter Chan Kuo-hsiang (詹國祥) tells a story of how late president Chiang Ching-

Chan Kuo-hsiang throws a large vase in his factory in Yingge, New Taipei City. Photo: Paul Cooper, Taipei Times

kuo (蔣經國) was puzzled during a visit to the old pottery town of Yingge (鶯歌鎮). BMWs and Mercedes were parked along streets lined with dilapidated buildings — conspicuous wealth amid ramshackle abodes.

Before China opened up its market, Yingge potters producing imitation Chinese ceramics were raking it in.

“The heyday was probably 1980 to 1990,” says Cheng Wen-hung (程文宏), head of the Educational Promotion Department of the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum. “After that… most of the big factories moved to China.”

Chan and his brother, Weng Kuo-hua (翁國華), specialize in throwing huge pots. They have seen good times and bad. In many ways, their fortunes have been tied to those of Yingge itself.

Yingge has been a pottery town since 1804. It flourished because of local coal and clay deposits, and, later, because the arrival in Taiwan of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1949 put a temporary stop to pottery imports from Japan and China. This gave Yingge potters the chance to start producing functional wares for the domestic market. [FULL STORY]

HK’s Kary Chan set to blast Taiwan’s bowlers

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 30, 2016
By: Grant Dexter / Staff reporter

After blazing her way to 132 in a women’s Twenty20 match in Hong Kong last month, Kary

From left, Hong Kong women’s national team players Li Yi-ching, Alison Siu and Charlotte Chan and supporter Man Hei relax on Thursday in Tainan ahead of a cricket event at Chang Jung Christian University today and tomorrow. Photo courtesy of Taiwan Cricket

Chan is in Tainan to play local teams at Chang Jung Christian University today and tomorrow.

The Craigengower Cricket Club are to play a university team, Shih Hu Junior High School and the Darling Daredevils in a mixture of 11-a-side and Sixes matches, with men and women from Hong Kong and Taiwan involved.

Chan told the Taipei Times by e-mail that she is excited to visit Taiwan.

“This is my first time to come to Taiwan,” she said. “I know a lot of cricketers in Taiwan come from a baseball background, so they are very skillful at batting… I can foresee they will have more opportunities to improve their skills.”

Chan knows something about skills. On March 19, she made the season’s top score in their 131-run victory over USRC in a Hong Kong Cricket Association Cup game at the Po Kong Village Reservoir ground. [FULL STORY]

Battling Hsieh Su-wei crashes out in Prague

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 30, 2016
By: Dave Carroll / Staff reporter

Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei battled and made it tough, but she could not stop second seed Lucie Safarova advancing to the semi-finals of the Prague Open on Thursday.

Going into the tournament, the Czech world No. 16 had not won a match this season and she came up against a tricky opponent in the Taiwanese world No. 78 before eventually claiming a 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 victory in 1 hour, 47 minutes.

Safarova saved six of nine break points and converted four of eight, winning 84 of the 158 points contested in a topsy-turvy encounter to improve her career record against Hsieh to 2-0.

“She’s always a very tricky player, defending the court very well, and I’m very excited to be through to the semis,” Safarova told the WTA Web site. [FULL STORY]

Domestic fuel prices forecast to rise next week

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-29
By: By Lin Meng-ju and Frances Huang, Central News Agency

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Domestic gasoline and diesel prices are expected to move higher next week as international crude oil prices have been rebounding amid a weaker U.S. dollar, market sources said Friday.

The recent rise in international crude oil prices points to an increase in fuel prices next week by state-run oil refiner CPC Corp. Taiwan based on its fuel price calculation formula, the sources said.

They forecast that the price of the benchmark 95 octane unleaded could breach NT$24 (US$0.74) per liter.

CPC is expected to raise domestic gasoline prices by NT$0.4-NT$0.5 per liter and diesel prices by NT$0.5-NT$0.6 per liter next week, marking the third consecutive weekly increase in fuel prices, the sources said. [FULL STORY]

MediaTek Q1 net profit up sequentially

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/29
By: Jackson Chang and Frances Huang

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) MediaTek Inc., one of Taiwan’s leading integrated circuit designers, said Friday that its net profit for the first quarter of 2016 rose from a quarter earlier because of a reduction in non-recurring costs.

At an investor conference, MediaTek reported a net profit for the quarter of NT$4.47 billion (US$138 million), up about 7 percent from the previous quarter with the help of a sequential fall in one-time charges.

It had first quarter earnings per share of NT$2.79, compared with NT$2.83 in the fourth quarter of 2015, the company said.

Despite the increase in net profit for the January-March period, MediaTek’s gross margin fell 0.4 percentage points from a quarter earlier and was down 9.2 percentage points from a year earlier to 38.1 percent.

The IC designer said the falling gross margin resulted from escalating competition in the global smartphone market. Smartphone chips accounted for about 60 percent of MediaTek’s total revenue. [FULL STORY]

ASE profit falls on weak SiP demand

RECOVERY:The chip tester and packager expects to see an increase in system-in-a-package demand in the second half, when clients launch second-generation products

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 30, 2016
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s largest chip tester and packager, yesterday posted its weakest net profit in three quarters, dragged by weaker-than-expected demand in its system-in-a-package (SiP) business.

ASE provides SiP services for fingerprint modules used in Apple Inc’s iPhones, as well as in wearable devices for other clients.

During the quarter ending March 31, net income contracted 17 percent to NT$4.16 billion (US$128.87 million) from NT$4.99 billion in the previous quarter and declined 7 percent from NT$4.47 billion the previous year.

Despite the decline, net income in the first three months of the year surpassed the NT$3.27 billion projected by BNP Paribas SA analyst Szeho Ng (吳思浩). [FULL STORY]

The dispute about pork imports should not be a nightmare for Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-29
By: Luis Ko, Taiwan News

Everybody’s aim is to safeguard the public’s health, to take care of pig farmers, and to prevent trade disputes between Taiwan and the United States.

In fact, because Taiwan is small, its population is dense, environmental pollution problems are serious, there is no way like 10 to 20 years ago to raise 12 million pigs. A number like 6 million would be the maximum today.

Most countries are already importing pork in large quantities. What the dispute is about, is the import from the United States of pork containing residues of the leanness drug ractopamine.

The absolute priority is to preserve the income and profit margins of the Taiwanese pig farmers who raise a grand total of 6 million animals. If imports are liberalized, subsidies should be based on the average price over the past eight years, and each year there should be an average rise of 1.5 percent in order to have an effective ban on the domestic use of lean-meat drugs. The measure would protect the livelihood of the pig farmers, Taiwan’s agriculture and the environment.

The current dispute has been focused on the use of ractopamine, but it is not the only type of leanness-enhancing drug that is used, because the beta-agonists include more than 40 varieties. [FULL STORY]

Weather across Taiwan stabilizes as northeast monsoon moves in

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/29
By: Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) The weather in Taiwan turned more stable Friday under the influence

Yunlin, Friday.

of the northeast monsoon, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said, forecasting higher temperatures and sunny skies across most of the country.

It said Friday will remain sunny, with scattered showers only in Hualien, Taitung, and mountainous areas of southern Taiwan.

Daytime temperatures will be 24-26 degrees Celsius in northern and eastern areas of the country and 29-30 degrees in the south, with lows of 19-22 degrees expected at night, the bureau said.

On Saturday, eastern parts of the island and mountainous areas in the center and south will experience afternoon showers as a wet air stream from southern China moves toward to Taiwan, the CWB said.

It forecast highs of 28-29 degrees in the north, 30 degrees in the central area, and 31-32 degrees in the south on Saturday. [FULL STORY]

Drum-maker breathes new life into traditional Taiwan craft

Taiwan Today
Date: April 29, 2016

New Taipei City-based Hsiang Jen Ho Bell and Drum Store is preserving the cultural heritage

Wang Hsi-kun adjusts the tension on one of his custom-made drumheads at Hsiang Jen Ho Bell and Drum Store in New Taipei City. (MOFA)

of drum-making in Taiwan while breathing new life into the traditional practice.

Producing drums since 1924, the workshop is the leading supplier of Taiwan’s Buddhist temples. Its clients include Dharma Drum Mountain, also in New Taipei, Fo Guang Shan Monastery in the southern Taiwan port city of Kaohsiung, and Lungshan Temple in Taipei City.

The workshop’s drums are also the instruments of choice for many of Taiwan’s top international performance groups like Han Tang Yuefu Ensemble, Ju Percussion Group and U-Theatre.

Wang Hsi-kun, the workshop’s second-generation owner and master craftsman, said his drums are custom made and never fail to satisfy the rigorous spiritual demands of temples. “They need resonating sounds creating a sense of peace and tranquility that can calm even the most unhinged of minds.

“Our hand-crafted drums are made to last for decades, with no need for maintenance,” he added, citing a signature piece produced by his father more than 60 years ago that can still produce a powerful sound. [FULL STORY]

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