Lithuanian parliament speaker meets President Tsai, VP Lai

Lithuanian parliament speaker meets President Tsai, VP Lai

2023-10-23

The speaker of Lithuania’s parliament, Victorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, is in Taiwan on a four-day tour. President Tsai Ing-wen hosted her and her delegation at a luncheon on Monday. At the event, Tsai thanked Lithuania for supporting Taiwan on the international stage. The Lithuanian speaker also sat with Vice President Lai Ching-te, who voiced hope for further bilateral exchanges.

Wearing a blue blazer is Victorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, speaker of the Lithuanian parliament, who’s leading a delegation to Taiwan. On Monday, President Tsai Ing-wen hosted a luncheon for the delegation. They discussed matters related to security in the Indo-Pacific and trade ties between Taiwan and Lithuania.

Tsai Ing-wen
President
In addressing the changing geopolitical landscape, Taiwan continues to leverage the Central and Eastern European Investment Fund to bolster economic and trade ties with Lithuania. And this July, Lithuania published its Indo-Pacific Strategy, in which it stated that it is seeking to enhance practical cooperation with Taiwan.

Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen
Lithuanian parliament speaker
In turn Lithuania has a lot to offer. Particularly our sectors of technology and innovation are advancing rapidly, and we could well become Taiwan’s gateway to Europe.

In recent years, Taiwan and Lithuania have only grown closer. In 2021, the two sides agreed to the establishing of a Taiwanese representative office in Vilnius, which became the first in Europe to feature the word “Taiwanese” in its official name. The office is now an important bridge between Taiwan and Europe. The Lithuanian speaker also met with Vice President Lai Ching-te.

Lai Ching-te
Vice president
As hegemony expands in the South and East China Seas and in the Indo-Pacific region, taking action to support Taiwan is tremendously meaningful. Recently, Lithuania’s foreign ministry released its Indo-Pacific strategy, stressing the goals of security, resilience and prosperity. We look forward to stronger cooperation between Taiwan and Lithuania.

Lai thanked Lithuania for taking concrete action in support of Taiwan. The Lithuanian delegation has a four-day itinerary in Taiwan, and is scheduled to visit the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday to deepen bilateral exchanges.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

立陶宛國會議長首度訪台蔡總統喊話加深雙邊關係

2023-10-23

立陶宛國會議長希米利特，近期訪台展開4天行程，今天(23日)總統蔡英文以及副總統賴清德，都親自接見，蔡英文特別感謝立陶宛政府多次公開支持台灣國際參與，也針對印太區域安全、台立經貿合作議題，進行交流。

身穿藍色西裝外套的，正是立陶宛國會議長希米利特，率團旋風訪台，總統蔡英文特別設宴款待，也針對印太區域安全、台立經貿合作議題，深入交換意見。

[[總統蔡英文]]
“面對地緣政治的改變，台灣也持續運用中東歐投資基金，來深化和立陶宛的經貿關係。我們也看到立陶宛在今年7月提出了印太戰略報告，當中提到立陶宛正尋求加強和台灣的務實合作關係。”

[[立陶宛國會議長希米利特]]
“同樣的立陶宛也有許多可以貢獻的地方，尤其是我們的科技，以及創新的產業，我們可以成為台灣打入歐洲的一個大門。”

兩國關係緊密，2021年經雙方同意，我國在立陶宛首都維爾紐斯設立代表處，更是歐洲首個以台灣為名的外館，成為台灣和歐洲的重要連結，這次訪台，副總統賴清德也親自接見。

[[副總統賴清德]]
“在區域霸權，在東海、南海擴張，升高印太的情勢之下，用行動表達對台灣的支持，顯得格外有意義。立陶宛外交部才發表印太戰略，追求安全、韌性、繁榮的目標，未來我們非常期待台灣跟立陶宛能夠加強合作。”

賴清德特別感謝立陶宛，時刻用行動力挺台灣。訪問團形成為期4天，預計週二將赴立法院演說，深化台立兩國交流。

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民視台灣台（152頻道）週日至週五晚上9:30
民視新聞台（53頻道）週二至週六凌晨1:00

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Wang Mei-hua
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The Industrial Development Administration contacted Hon Hai yesterday, and Hon Hai released a statement. I think the company itself will respond to the probe. The Ministry of Economic Affairs will keep monitoring the situation.

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For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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Fish farmer innovates grouper fishing with new breeds and facilities

You may remember in 2022 China banned grouper fish imports from Taiwan, in an effort to hit Taiwan economically. Grouper fish are a lucrative industry that once relied on exports to China. But fish farmers have pivoted to new methods to head off the threat. Today we meet one farmer who has innovated so elegantly, his peers call him the “Grouper King.” He actually began to switch his methods six years ago, when he realized that Chinese farms were starting to cultivate the most common grouper breeds. So Tai Kun-tsai found new breeds, to export to countries like Japan and Singapore. And along with his family, he’s embraced cutting edge processes to make sure his business is ahead of the times.

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Tai Kun-tsai
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Right now we sell cucumber grouper live. We can produce cold chain fish. We send them to Japan and Singapore.

Tai’s daughter, Tai Tzu-ying, is taking some grouper fry to the vet for diagnosis. This is the Fish Disease and Aquaculture Safety Testing Center, set up by the company. It applies the maxim “prevention is better than cure” to aquaculture.

Tai Tzu-ying
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We detect health problems in the fish at an early stage. We don’t wait to lose large numbers of fish before we start to put medicine in or start to treat them.

Early testing also helps prevent any traces of medicines being detected when the fish are exported.

Tai Tzu-ying
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For the export fish, we always bring them into the factory first, to clean out any food in their digestive tract. That means less chance they’ll expel foods during transit.

Groupers destined for export are first brought to this preparation pool where they are not fed again. After they’ve passed all the tests they enter the final stage.

The pandemic of the last three years has changed the fish farming industry. Cold chain processing is now of the utmost importance. Tai Kun-tsai visited Japan to learn how it’s done.

Tai Kun-tsai
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In Japan I observed that after they let the blood of the fish, they don’t cool it down with freshwater. They always use cooled seawater.

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Fares to Japan sky-high amid tourism deficit

Airfares to Japan are sky-high as Taiwan struggles with a tourism deficit. As of August, 2.62 million visits were recorded from Taiwan to Japan. But there were just 500,000 visits the other way around, resulting in a tourism imbalance of more than 5 times. The deficit is reflected in ticket prices. Ahead of the 2023 Taipei International Travel Fair, airlines have announced very few discounts for Japan, with some flight prices even going up instead of dropping.

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A performer showcases strength and beauty at the Taoyuan Fine Arts Exhibition’s award ceremony. This year’s competition drew entries not only from Taoyuan, but also across Taiwan and the world.

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Aimed at nurturing artistic talent and promoting cultural events, the Taoyuan Fine Arts Exhibition is a visual arts competition with a long history. This year’s event was themed on three-dimensional and multimedia works. Fifty-five outstanding pieces were chosen for achieving breakthroughs, being highly relevant to the times, and bringing forth novel insights.

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Taking care of all these little cuties is expensive. Just the food and litter costs Huang NT$20,000-30,000 a month. On top of that is venue rental and the tests and vaccinations for each new arrival. Special medical treatments are always a big expense. The shelter is a cat cafe, which does provide a little financial help. But for Huang, the main thing is that her feline friends can live and grow up in good health.

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Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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The tufting teacher explains how you must ensure the yarn is properly threaded before starting work.

The tufting gun moves slowly through the fabric, leaving its track visible, but it’s no simple task to control its force and keep the gun stable.

Beginners often slip up because they don’t press the gun into the fabric. But you quickly get the hang of it once you get used to the feeling of the gun in your hand, the teacher says. When the shape is complete, you use a special rug glue to fix the picture and make sure the yarn doesn’t fray.

The rug is dried and then cut out and trimmed, and the piece is complete! Store owner Hans was born in 1997, and his first job was street performance.

You might have seen him bringing the house down with tricks like this in Xinyi District. But in May 2022, the pandemic hit performers hard, and Hans was left with no income, which led him to get into tufting.

Hans
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I love handicrafts and making things with my hands, myself, so I thought I’d bring this thing which I saw abroad to Taiwan and give it a try. More and more people asked me about it, so I thought I’d try opening a store. There were lots of designs that we wanted to try out and we developed, and that was quite hard work. So that slowed us down a lot at first.

After many months setting up, Hans and his team finally opened Taiwan’s first tufting store. They stock more than 50 different yarn colors. The new craft has gained popularity as a soothing and relaxing hobby during and since the pandemic.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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