Plastic bag ban to expand to breakfast shops, market stalls

Plastic bag ban to expand to breakfast shops, market stalls

2024-04-18

Taiwan plans to expand its plastic bag ban. Currently, the Ministry of Environment prohibits supermarkets and convenience stores from giving out free, single-use plastic bags to customers. It wants to extend the restriction to breakfast shops and vendors at traditional markets and night markets. A proposal will be released as early as next year.

Lee Yi-hua
Resource Circulation Administration official
This year, we’ll be having discussions with relevant businesses, such as vendors that issue invoices, and those at traditional markets and night markets. We’ll see if there’s a chance to further reduce the use of plastics.

Stall owner
This will be an inconvenience. Customers are used to having plastic bags.

Stall owner
Oh well, it will save us money.

Member of public
Consumers can pay for their own bag. Actually I came here today on the spur of the moment. Usually I bring my cooler bag.

Officials say they’ll start by holding discussions with the targeted business demographic. The goal is to release a proposal by next year, and to ultimately phase out all single-use plastics by 2030.

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

市場、早餐店擬禁用塑膠袋草案最快明年公布

2024-04-18

環境部實施限塑政策20多年來，成功減少50%的塑膠袋使用，不過，傳統市場和早餐店等場所，至今未納入規範當中，因此使用量甚至佔全國整體6成以上。對此環境部考慮擴大限塑，未來在這些場所，不得免費提供塑膠袋，最快明年公布草案。

[[環境部資源循環署組長李宜樺]]
“今年度也會邀集相關業者，針對像是有開立發票的店家，或是傳統市場、夜市來進行討論，看看有沒有機會進一步減少減塑。”

[[攤販]]
“這樣比較不方便吧，客人都習慣塑膠袋了。”

[[攤販]]
“反正這樣我們也省錢。”

[[民眾]]
“使用者付費呀，其實我今天是臨時的，不然我通常會自己帶保冰袋。”

環境部初步先跟業者溝通，最快明年預告草案，希望透過管制使用量，逐步走向2030年全面禁用的目標。

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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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TSMC posts consolidated revenue of NT$592.64 billion in Q1 2024

TSMC reported a stellar first quarter at its earnings call on Thursday. Consolidated revenue reached NT$592.64 billion and earnings per share hit NT$8.7, a new high for the quarter. Looking ahead, TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said the April 3 earthquake and the April power price hike could have a minor impact on TSMC’s gross margin in the second quarter.

TSMC announced exceptional figures in the first quarter. Consolidated revenue stood at NT$592.64 billion, and earnings per share at NT$8.7. As TSMC expands globally to meet client demand, it’s also facing higher costs associated with overseas factories.

Voice of C.C. Wei
TSMC CEO
We do encounter some kind of higher costs overseas, or even recently the inflation and electricity. We expect our customers to share some of the higher costs with us.

The chipmaker said it would evaluate ways to share the higher costs with clients. It also gave an update on its global expansion. Three fabs are under construction in the U.S. The first is slated to enter mass production in the first half of 2024. The second and third are expected to come online between 2028 and 2030. TSMC’s second fab in Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture is expected to start production in 2027. The company’s project in Dresden, Germany will mostly focus on automobile and industrial chips. TSMC is also facing higher costs in Taiwan, after electricity rates rose on April 1.

Voice of Wendell Huang
TSMC senior vice president
Primarily due to impact of the earthquake on April 3, as just discussed, and higher electricity costs in Taiwan, TSMC’s electricity price in Taiwan was increased by another 25% starting April 1 this year. This is expected to take out 70 to 80 basis points from our second-quarter growth mark.

The April 3 earthquake and rising electricity bills are expected to have a minor effect on gross margin. But with its long-term outlook still strong, TSMC’s leadership in the sector remains unthreatened.

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

2024-04-18

Downpours disrupt morning commute in greater Taipei

Heavy rains battered Northern Taiwan on Thursday, wreaking havoc during the morning rush hour. Commuters had to contend with flooded roads, cut-off tunnels and inundated metro facilities. Traffic jams appeared across Taipei and New Taipei, triggering complaints on local officials’ Facebook pages.

A scooter sails across the water. In greater Taipei, the morning downpour caught many commuters off guard.

A lake formed on the road near Taishan Station on the Taoyuan Metro. In Wugu District, Shuhong 10th Road was submerged in 8 centimeters of water. At this underpass in Yonghe, a waterfall cascades from the ceiling.

A strong convective cloud system brought heavy rains to Taipei and New Taipei. In Xizhi District, a road near Chongde Elementary School turned into a river. Several scooters parked on the street fell to their side, getting completely submerged.

Su Hung-chieh
Chongde Borough warden
At around 6 o’clock this morning, heavy downpours caused flooding in some areas. Water levels reached 45 to 50 centimeters. It was around the time that many residents were going to work or school, and it wasn’t easy for them to retrieve their scooters. They had to wade through the water, and in some cases they couldn’t even get to their scooters.

At Taipei Main Station, a passage connecting Taiwan Railway to the Taoyuan Metro was flooded with 10 centimeters of water. Cleaning staff tried to clear out the water, as passersby waded across, pulling up on their clothes.

Member of public
It’s crazy! Of course it is. This is a key transport hub and it’s all flooded. It’s shocking.

Over at Wenzhou Street, strong winds topped a large tree. At Section 2 of Zhongyang North Road in Beitou, a car got trapped in a flooded tunnel. Water pumps were deployed to clear out the passage.

Lin Ping-yu
CWA forecaster
There was significant rainfall during the day in the central and northern Taiwan. After midday, and especially in the afternoon, the precipitation will be more pronounced in Southern Taiwan, especially in mountainous areas, as well as Hualien and Taitung. The wet weather will start easing in the evening.

Taipei and New Taipei established a Level Three disaster response center to manage the rains. Even so, online complaints flooded the Facebook pages of local officials. For many drenched commuters, the rains put a damper on the entire day.

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

2024-04-18

Japan company sends vehicle to help restore Hualien roads

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Policy to reinforce old buildings makes homes and offices more quake-proof

Since the April 3 earthquake, many people have been rechecking the structural resilience of their homes. If you think your building is quake-proof enough, government support may be available. A government policy to reinforce old buildings applies to both homes and businesses. FTV visited buildings improved by the policy, to see what the work involves, including a National Property Administration office, and a residential unit in Yilan.

This is the National Property Administration office on Aiguo East Road in Taipei. With its thin pillars, the walls of this 40-year-old building have been turned into windows. This structural engineer was concerned by its questionable earthquake resilience, although it has withstood several big quakes. The government’s new “Reinforcement Policy” aims to strengthen buildings’ earthquake resilience, especially consolidating older buildings.

Wu Liang-yu
Taiwan Structural Engineers Association
This pillar has been “column-jacketed.” Its dimensions are clearly larger than the other pillars. How you make it is you first shave off the original plaster, to reveal the structural elements beneath, and on the outside of the old pillar, you re-jacket the column with steel bars surrounded by concrete. So it becomes a new, larger pillar, and its earthquake-resilience is increased. That’s column-jacketing.

Chou Chung-cheh
National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering
Adding an inclined strut or a wall is a very effective method, because their lateral rigidity has much more capacity to withstand quakes than a single pillar. We can say almost 80% of the force of an earthquake is absorbed by the walls and the inclined struts. So when the first tremor comes, they absorb most of it, and even if they are damaged, they protect the pillars. The pillars stay standing. So the building doesn’t collapse, and the people have a chance to escape.

In Yilan, the assembly of a residential unit discussed the building reinforcement policy, and agreed by majority vote on a reinforcement project that would take more than a year. Now their building is stronger than ever, although the improvements are invisible.

Huang Chin-huang
Residential Unit Owner Assembly chair, Yilan
This building is very safe after the reinforcement. For example, this wall was originally here, and this was empty space. The tiles were originally openwork. That was a big threat to the safety of the building. An engineer designed this for us, and it was all reinforced. High-strength cement was poured in to create a load-bearing wall.

Your house may have withstood many strong earthquakes, but that doesn’t mean it is without risk. You may benefit from doing a “health check” on your house, so your home is ready for whatever comes its way.

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

2024-04-18

Ferry on Taiwan-Penghu route gets broadband internet connection

A ferry that serves the Taiwan-Penghu route has a new broadband internet connection. Phone signal out at sea has traditionally been nonexistent or very patchy. It’s a big problem for ferry workers who spend long periods at sea separated from family and friends. But now, a project by the Ministry of Digital Affairs has brought signal to 90% of the route, which Minister Audrey Tang says is a human rights issue. Maritime experts say they hope similar upgrades can be brought to other routes in Taiwan’s waters.

The Penghu launched last year. In the past, phone signal was unavailable on the ship while at sea, but now it’s easy to send messages and photos to friends.

The Ministry of Digital Affairs worked with central and local government departments as well as telecoms providers to set up five new base stations, and improve 81 preexisting stations in the sea of Tainan and Kaohsiung. The upgrades mean you have internet signal throughout 90% of the 4.5-hour journey of the Penghu.

Audrey Tang Feng
Digital affairs minister
At the Ministry of Digital Affairs, we see broadband internet as a basic human right. We realized that this kind of ferry can be remodeled into a kind of quasi-base station. Normally it would take more than a year to build one station. But we have completed the line in just six months.

Yu Cheng-lieh
Captain of The Penghu
I remember when the internet was connected, I was on the ship and I received a text from my child, saying, “Happy birthday dad!” It’s impossible to express the warmth you get from such a message.

There’s both 4G and 5G phone signal, which means a lot for people who work on the ship long-term, and will no longer be cut off from family and friends. Now there are questions about whether the system can be extended to other shipping routes around Taiwan.

Yeh Hsieh-lung
Maritime & Port Bureau head
Every year, 600,000 trips are taken along the Budai-Makung Route. This upgrade will provide a good communication service. We can ask the Ministry of Digital Affairs to collaborate with us again on the Taima Route and Eastern Route.

This milestone in maritime internet provision will have a big impact on sailors and allow people traveling to Penghu to post photos of the beautiful ocean journey in real time.

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

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President-elect Lai makes Time’s most influential list for 2024

President-elect Lai Ching-te has been named one of Time magazine’s most influential people of 2024. Lai’s entry for the annual ranking was written by former U.S. Ambassador to China John Huntsman, who compared Lai to the mythological Atlas who must shoulder the world.

Time magazine has released its list of this year’s 100 most influential people. Lai Ching-te, who will become Taiwan president on May 20, was included in the Leaders category, alongside Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was listed under Innovators.

Olivia Lin
Presidential Office spokesperson
This international recognition affirms the democratic achievements of the people of Taiwan. In the future, Vice President Lai will uphold Taiwan’s democracy. He will work with likeminded nations to maintain regional peace and stability and lead the nation forward.

On its webpage introducing Lai, Time magazine features a contemplative portrait of him and a tribute written by a prominent U.S. politician.

Jon Huntsman, Jr., who ran in the 2012 Democratic presidential primaries, is a former governor of Utah and one-time U.S. ambassador to China. In his tribute, he introduced Lai as Taiwan’s next president. Lai is inheriting the large task of “ensuring his government’s very survival” amid Chinese aggression, he wrote. The article noted that Taiwan supplies more than half of the world’s chips, but has never been at higher risk due to tensions with China. Huntsman said that for Lai, the tasks ahead might make him feel like “Atlas shouldering the world.” He said Lai’s decisions will affect the world and the future of democracy in Asia. On social media, Lai responded to the tribute, writing that Taiwan will continue to take steady and confident steps forward, as it shoulders the responsibilities of the times.

Lin Chun-hsien
DPP lawmaker
This is not just a personal achievement for Lai Ching-te, but one for the entire nation. It highlights the importance of Taiwan. Because of our geopolitical position and economic strength, the international spotlight shines on Taiwan’s president.

This isn’t the first time Taiwan’s leadership made Time’s list of influential people. President Tsai Ing-wen was included twice. With its leadership making global headlines, it’s clear that the eyes of the world are on Taiwan.

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

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US House plans to vote on military aid for Taiwan, Israel, and Ukraine

After weeks of delay, the U.S. House plans to vote on foreign military aid for Taiwan, Israel, and Ukraine. The Senate passed a US$95 billion package for the three nations in February, but the legislation has languished in the House. In a bid to break the deadlock, House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to separate the package into three bills: one for Israel, one for Ukraine, and a third for Taiwan. A vote is scheduled for Saturday evening.

The Biden administration’s US$95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan was passed by the Senate, but has been blockaded in the House for weeks. But Speaker Mike Johnson has announced that the package will be split into three bills, with a vote scheduled for Saturday night. U.S. President Joe Biden voiced his support. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, he urged lawmakers to approve the aid before the end of the week.

News anchor
CNN
We should surge support to Ukraine now to stop Mr. Putin from encroaching on our NATO allies and ensure that he doesn’t draw U.S. troops into a future war in Europe.

Johnson’s decision has been blasted by far-right Republicans.

Matt Gaetz
US representative
There’s no other way to describe it. It’s surrender. It’s disappointing.

Chip Roy
US representative
I’m well past the point of giving grace here.

Reporter
Is it time for him to get out of office.

Chip Roy
US representative
I need a little more time today, but it’s not good.

At least two members of Johnson’s own Republican Party have demand his ouster. As the GOP leads the House by just five votes, the bill’s passage will rely on Democratic votes.

Marjorie Taylor Greene
US representative
It is growing. I think some people are becoming more angry than I am. I don’t know how long people are going to tolerate this, because he’s doing nothing but serving the Democrats.

Mike Johnson
US House speaker
I’m operating with the smallest margin in U.S. history. The only way to get a rule on the floor is that it requires a couple of Democrats.

Three individual aid bills will be put forward, along with a fourth bill that bans TikTok if its owner ByteDance doesn’t sell its stake. After the vote, the House will send the four-bill bundle to the Senate for a vote. The bundle will not include a fifth bill on U.S.-Mexico border security, which was introduced to satisfy hard-line Republicans. It remains to be seen if Johnson can push the package through, or if he’ll lose his speakership in the coming days.

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

2024-04-18

Taiwan as part of global trend of seniors postponing retirement to make ends meet

Taiwan will officially become a super-aged society in 2025, but that doesn’t mean that there will be more retirees. With the rise of cost of living in an inflation economy and longer life expectancy, more and more people 65 and older choose not to retire. In a recent report by the BBC, the pension age in the U.K. could rise to 68 in 2044.

Seniors playing croquet on a field, that’s the kind of life many people hope to enjoy during their retirement. However, more and more people are choosing to put off retirement, opting instead to continue working.

Older adult
If I’m still able and have the strength, then I will still work. Like in Japan, there are lots of people working into their 70s.

Older laborer
I’m 68, and I’ve never retired. I cleaned houses, but that took a toll. Now I’m old and can’t do that anymore, so I clean outdoors, and that’s easier work.

According to a recent report by the BBC, retirement at age 65 won’t be possible for most people as “global life expectancy grows, social safety nets fray and cost of living spikes.” It points out that the “U.K. pension age is already set to rise from 66 to 67 by March 2028; and after 2044, it could rise to 68.” In Taiwan, the average life expectancy has increased to nearly 80 years old, and there is a serious labor shortage. This is why the government is offering incentives to encourage older adults to return to the workplace.

Lin Wan-i
Minister-without-portfolio
About 13% of people over 65 are still working. So why do they work? Well, 55% of them are working because of their financial situation. As life expectancy increases and the population ages, it looks like people will voluntarily postpone their retirement in the future.

Taiwan will become a super-aged society in 2025. Currently, the number of 65-year-olds has exceeded four million. Although the employment rate is not high for this age group at present, with longer life spans and the pressure from the rising cost of living, retiring at the age of 65 will likely be getting more and more difficult, as Taiwan follows the global trend.

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

2024-04-18