TPP Hsinchu-mayor-elect Ann Kao suspected of corruption, released on NT$600,000 bail

2022-12-16

Hsinchu Mayor-elect Ann Kao and current Taiwan People’s Party lawmaker on Friday was listed as a suspect in corruption offences. That’s following an investigation into allegations that she made fraudulent deductions from the payrolls of her legislative assistants and embezzled public funds. Kao, the director of her legislative office, her aides and her boyfriend were summoned by prosecutors on Thursday. After being questioned all night at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office Kao was released on bail of NT$600,000 early on Friday morning.

Hsinchu City Mayor-elect Ann Kao, who prosecutors suspect of fraudulently pocketing wages from her legislative assistants, was summoned for questioning in relation to charges of corruption and forgery. She was released on bail of NT$600,000 early on Friday morning. The new legal wording of her status as defendant subsequently issued by prosecutors indicates they may think her crimes are more serious than what they initially thought.

Kao left in a rush, accompanied by her lawyers. At the same time, a number of staff from her legislative office were also summoned for questioning.

Kao’s legislative office director Chen Huan-yu and a legislative assistant Wang Yu-wen both were released after they posted bail of NT$100,000 each.

Kao’s boyfriend, Lee Chung-ting, who was also her legislative aide, and Huang Ling-hui, a witness, were both released without bail.

Chiu Chen-yuan
TPP caucus whip
Fundamentally we respect the entire process and related procedures based on respect for the independence of judicial investigations and the principle that investigations are not made public. With a case that has such high public interest, and is of such a highly political nature, we call on prosecutorial agencies not to let politics intrude in the case. The case must be handled with this approach consistently.

DPP politicians as ever called on Kao to face the music.

Hsu Chih-chieh
DPP lawmaker
We really are sincerely appealing to her. All the information actually shows there’s a good chance that there’s a case. I think she should really face up to the part where she appropriated public funds related to her office.

The KMT for its part made a show of saying it respected the judiciary – along with a few political barbs.

Lai Shyh-bao
KMT lawmaker
Now it seems like the chickens have come home to roost. There’s also a strong sense of a political witch hunt. Of course we respect the judiciary, and we hope that prosecutors will conduct this in a professional way without interference and do whatever they think needs to be done.

Kao’s case has attracted much media attention, as she is the only elected mayor from the newly-formed and professedly neutral Taiwan People’s Party. How this influences the rest of Taiwan’s political landscape, remains to be seen.

改列"偵字案被告"! 高虹安涉貪60萬元交保

2022-12-16

民眾黨新竹市長當選人高虹安，涉嫌詐領國會辦公室助理費案，檢調週四(15日)大動作傳喚高虹安、國會辦公室主任、助理，和男友等人，經過漏夜偵訊，週五凌晨5點多，高虹安從他字案改列"偵字案被告"，以60萬元交保。

民眾黨新竹市長當選人高虹安，涉嫌"詐領助理費"，被檢調依貪汙和偽造文書等罪嫌約談。週五一早，高虹安以60萬交保，但從"他字案"被告改列"偵字案"，也意味著"涉案嫌疑重大"。

高虹安在律師陪同下，快步離開。同步遭到約談的還有國會辦公室多位工作人員。

高虹安國會辦公室主任陳奐宇，以10萬交保。助理王郁文同樣10萬元交保。

高虹安男友、身兼助理的李忠庭，和證人黃鈴惠，都是無保請回。

[[民眾黨立院黨團總召邱臣遠]]
“基於尊重司法調查的獨立性，還有偵查不公開的原則，我想我們基本上尊重整個相關的程序。在這麼高度社會關注的一個案件，又牽涉高度政治性，我們呼籲檢調單位不要政治辦案，一定要這個態度一致。”

綠營立委依舊呼籲高虹安誠實面對。

[[立委(民) 許智傑]]
“真的是誠心呼籲就是說，她這個所有資料，媒體資料顯示，其實她真的是涉案機會滿大。辦公室裡面有用到公款的部分，我認為就應該很誠實的面對。”

藍營則是在高喊"尊重司法"的同時，語帶諷刺酸了幾句。

[[立委(國) 賴士葆]]
“現在看起來是秋後算帳，政治追殺的味道很濃厚。那當然我們尊重司法，我們也希望檢調勿枉勿縱，該怎麼辦就怎麼辦。”

高虹安涉貪風暴延燒，對藍綠白政治版圖會有多少衝擊，各界高度關注。

President Tsai welcomes a visit from Ohashi Mitsuo, the chair of Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association

2022-12-16

Taoyuan signs sister city agreement with Long Beach in California

The city of Long Beach in the U.S. state of California has become Taoyuan’s newest sister city. It’s the 18th city to sign such an agreement with Taoyuan under the leadership of Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan. Mayor Cheng and his counterpart in Long Beach voiced hope that the agreement would further city- to- city exchanges in culture, education and tourism. For Taoyuan, it’s also an opportunity to get more countries around the world to see what Taiwan has to offer.

Cheng Wen-tsan
Taoyuan mayor
These exchanges over the past few years have built up a good friendship between Taoyuan and Long Beach.

Via video conference, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan speaks with his counterpart for the Californian city of Long Beach, Robert Garcia. The two cities signed a memorandum of understanding, and have now formally become sister cities.

Robert Garcia
Long Beach mayor
Taoyuan is a place that is very similar to Long Beach, and so we are very grateful for this partnership.

Long Beach is the 18th city to sign a sister city agreement with Taoyuan under Cheng’s
administration. And Taoyuan is Long Beach’s first sister city in 15 years. The two hope to conduct more bilateral exchanges on education, tourism and culture in the future.

Cheng Wen-tsan
Taoyuan mayor
I think that over the past eight years, Taoyuan’s international visibility has indeed gone up. And indeed many cities around the world have come to know Taiwan’s “airport city,” Taoyuan. I think all the efforts have really paid off.

Three years ago, Cheng himself led a delegation to Long Beach to meet Garcia. All these years of work have finally born fruit, showing Taoyuan’s success in promoting city-to-city diplomacy.

Cheng Wen-tsan
Taoyuan mayor
Through city-to-city diplomacy, we can meet many local and national representatives from other countries, as well as important political leaders. We have also built up a strong friendship with foreign ambassadors and representatives in Taiwan. I believe it has all been fruitful.

Over the past eight years leading Taoyuan, Cheng has initiated exchanges with cities around the world, as well as with foreign envoys in Taiwan, so that more and more countries can get to see just what Taiwan can offer.

2022-12-16

Taiwan shares close down 205 points following increased interest rates in Taiwan and US

2022-12-16

Mother and daughter due bring Asian art to the forefront in self-founded art galleries

Today, in our art spotlight series, we meet art gallery founders Tina Keng and Shelly Wu. Keng is the founder of a well-known gallery in Taiwan called Tina Keng Gallery. Her daughter Shelly Wu also runs a successful gallery called TKG+ Gallery. Wu’s gallery hopes to showcase the work of Asian artists and bring them to the international stage. FTV reporter Stephany Yang met the mother-daughter duo to find out more.

This is Shelly Wu, the founder of TKG+ Gallery, a contemporary art gallery based in Taipei. The gallery showcases experimental art by contemporary artists from throughout Asia, who employ a range of media including installations, digital media, video, and photography.

Shelly Wu
Art gallerist
My goal has never changed. I’ve always wanted TKG+ and its artists to be recognized internationally. I know that is not something that you can easily do or happen within a couple of years. For the past 10 years, we have a solid foundation. In the next 10 years, we are looking into exploring the Western part of the world to really bring our talents into more people’s homes and more museum institution’s collections.

Wu studied in New York. After returning to Taiwan, she saw that there were many outstanding young artists in Taiwan and decided to start her own gallery in 2009. She founded TKG+, which is contemporaneous with her mother’s gallery, the Tina Keng Gallery. Tina Keng has been an established art gallerist for over 30 years, a forerunner in promoting Asian classical-art masters and modern Taiwanese art. Wu says her mother greatly influenced her and inspired her to start her own, which was not an easy road.

Shelly Wu
TKG+ executive director
I grew up in this art environment and really since a child I’ve been with my mother visiting museums, artist studios, and galleries so I’ve always been in favor of one day I wanted to become a gallerist as well. It’s actually financially, it is very costly to really be supporting young talents because internationally there are a lot of expenses and everything. There are challenges we are facing like there are not just our gallery. There are also a lot of younger emerging galleries and then we share similar programs. How to differentiate ourselves and how to build a stronger program. That’s something you always have to break through.

Tina Keng
Tina Keng Gallery executive director
I’m already passing down art to her because art is my life. Ever since she was a child, she has come with me to visit art museums and galleries. So, this has also become her life. She has her own sensitivity to art and she also studied art. Her English is good and she was educated overseas, so her outlook will definitely be wider, and the angle from which she sees things will definitely be different.

Through years of hard work, Wu has played an important role in bringing cutting-edge Taiwanese artists to international audiences. TKG+ exhibits works of art from Taiwan, and also from artists in Southeast Asia.

Shelly Wu
TKG+ executive director
I have a strong foundation in Taiwan itself because as I said, there are a lot of young talents here but that is kind of my foundation as if you are building a building. Meaning that I want to set foot in this realm itself and have a very solid foundation, and then move to other parts of Asia. So I’ve been starting to work with artists such as Kong Chun Hei and also artists from Cambodia, and also artists from Myanmar, and also artists from Thailand.

Tina Keng
Tina Keng Gallery executive director
The difference between the two of us is era. My era and her era. I think one of the important things for us to do when organizing art exhibitions is to reflect on our era. Works by the important artists of my era have become classics. She is from a different era. To me, her era is a huge transitional period. I also feel like I have a new life now because she is willing to participate in what I do. I am very willing to move forward and integrate my old soul into a new field.

Both mother and daughter hope to continue to promote works by Asian artists, and to share these works with the world.

2022-12-16

Kaohsiung’s Shoushan Zoo reopens after nearly two years of renovations

2022-12-16

State-of-the-art technology powers Taoyuan Metro with 5G and artificial intelligence

Did you know that the Taoyuan Metro is now powered by state-of-the-art technology involving 5G? 5G connections have been integrated into many of its operations, to improve the efficiency and safety of the railway system. Sensors collect data round the clock to build up a cloud data platform that can give early warnings when maintenance is needed and accurate data on the railway’s performance that overall boosts the system’s stability.

He offers a detailed explanation of how Taoyuan Metro incorporates 5G technologies into its maintenance, surveillance and transport operations. This mass rapid transit system is cooperating with the Railway Bureau to bring in 5G and improve the efficiency and safety of smart transportation services. Through these state-of-the-art 5G applications, passengers can enjoy a more reliable and safe ride on the metro system.

Wu Sheng-yuan
Railway Bureau
We’re bringing together industry, academia and research agencies. Since 2021 and until next year, we’re throwing ourselves into eight different R&D projects. They are projects related to the signaling systems and things like that.

Thanks to construction process analysis, the system can detect key markers that can affect the equipment in the system. Through a 5G connection and the Internet of Things, data gets sent to a central system that can issue timely warnings. The operations control center is staffed with environmental control engineers and train control engineers, so that the center can approach problems more directly -- from detecting issues, to providing maintenance personnel with the relevant information. Artificial intelligence has also been brought to train stations in the form of service attendant Fei Fei. The virtual assistant can communicate in Mandarin, English, Japanese and Korean, to answer passenger’s questions and reduce the workload on staff that need to deal with the public.

Lee Hsien-ming
Taoyuan deputy mayor
In 2020, Taoyuan was named the top smart city in the world. We approach every issue as a smart city, to push forward Taoyuan’s overall development.

Through exchanges between industry, government and academia, 5G technologies are now helping to run Taoyuan’s train services, in line with the government’s policy to smartify railway systems. With the efforts already bearing fruit in the Taoyuan Metro, things can only develop further.

2022-12-16

Officials warn of longer processing times for applicants who lose passports twice in 10 years

2022-12-16

China Airlines launches plant-based menu, Starlux to serve bubble tea

Air travel is recovering at last after two years of the pandemic. To win over customers, China Airlines has launched a vegetarian inflight menu created by a gourmet restaurant brand. As of Dec. 1, passengers departing from Taiwan can book a plant-based meal online. Over at Starlux Airlines, bubble tea will be on the menu in business and first class, starting next year.

Black truffle sauce is heated in the pan, before it’s blended well with white rice. This truffle risotto is served with crispy fried fish fillets. Then there’s this spring salad made with mountain yam noodles and tender succulent. Everything on the menu is plant-based.

Taking aim at post-pandemic travelers, China Airlines has launched a plant-based menu developed by a two-time winner of the Michelin Green Star. Entrees include plant-based meat with turmeric rice and plant protein with pasta shells. Starting this month, the meals will be available by preorder for all flights departing from Taiwan, to all cabin classes.

Jenny Tsao
China Airlines marketing director
In 2019, roughly 10% of our meal orders were vegetarian. Between 2016 to 2019, we’ve seen considerable growth in this segment. We’ve also been seeing the rise of low-carbon food culture across the globe. We think that this is the trend of the future.

But at an altitude of 35,000 feet, Michelin-starred dining is a test for both airline and chef.

Sean Hsueh
Restaurant chef
The truffle risotto is especially challenging, because of the way it’s made. The preparation had to be adjusted somewhat for China Airlines. It’s made a bit differently from the way it’s cooked in a restaurant. Our hope is that when the meal is opened up inflight, the aroma of the truffle will be fully preserved.

Starting next Jan. 1 at Starlux Airlines, bubble tea will be offered on select routes in business and first class. Starlux will serve a variety of classic drinks, along with delicacies from a renowned barbecue shop and a Michelin-starred restaurant and bar. To boost post-pandemic growth, airlines are investing big in premium inflight meals.

2022-12-16

Temperatures to plummet to 8 degrees in Northern Taiwan over the weekend

If you live in Northern Taiwan, brace for a cold weekend ahead, with temperatures as low as 8 degrees. Central and Southern Taiwan will also get rather chilly, with lows of 9 to 10 degrees. In addition, mountainous areas at altitudes of at least 2,000 meters may see snow. Forecasters say the cold will ease by Monday.

An approaching front brought rainy weather to Northern Taiwan on Friday. And starting Saturday, temperatures will drop significantly.

Wang Chun-hsien
CWB forecaster
Tomorrow, it will still be quite rainy, with showers expected all over Taiwan. But the downpours won’t be as heavy as today. Starting tomorrow, a cold air front will bring temperatures plummeting.

A cold front from the Arctic will ease the rains somewhat while sending temperatures dipping as low as 9 degrees in Central Taiwan and 8 degrees in the north. Coastal areas could see lows of 6 degrees.

Wang Chun-hsien
CWB forecaster
From Saturday to the early hours of Sunday, mountainous areas at altitudes of at least 3,000 meters may see snow. In central and northern Taiwan, snow may fall as low as 2,000 meters above sea level.

With the chilly weather, doctors warn that closing windows and doors can cause big gaps between indoor temperatures and outdoor ones. That and limited air circulation can give rise to winter heatstrokes.

Lo Chia-lin
Taiwan Adventist Hospital
If our bodies are unable to disperse heat, and we’re dehydrated, it can result in the body being unable to regulate its temperature. That can cause a heatstroke.

Wrapping up too warm or staying in stuffy environments for long periods can cause the body’s temperature to go up. That can cause thermoregulatory failure, resulting in symptoms like headaches, mouth dryness and dizziness. To prevent this, keep interiors ventilated and drink plenty of water.

Lo Chia-lin
Taiwan Adventist Hospital
The most important thing is water intake. If the air is very dry and hot, that can cause discomfort. So when indoors, there is no need to wear such thick clothes.

The doctor advises the public to wear several layers of clothing and remove some if needed. She reminds the public that high body temperatures, loss of consciousness and changes in the heart rate and blood pressure are all reasons to go see a doctor.

2022-12-16