The Asian Federation of Exhibition & Convention Associations (AFECA), one of the most important international exhibition organizations in Asia, hosted its 2017 Annual Conference and a series of events in Kaohsiung on September 5th. The Conference was attended by over 150 exhibitors from throughout Asia, including representatives from the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), Philippines Department of Tourism, Singapore Tourism Board (STB), and Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB).

Walter Yeh, President and CEO of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), who also serves as Chairman for the AFECA and Taiwan Exhibition & Convention Association (TECA), has expressed special thanks to Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Kaohsiung City Government, and TECA for their support and sponsorship in making the Conference possible.

On September 5th, a joint meeting was held by AFECA and the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), a US-based key global association for exhibitions. Chairman Yeh from AFECA and 2018 Chairman-Elect Daniel McKinnon from IAEE served as Co-Chairs to lead the discussion about exhibition industry development trends in Asia and America. CEO Arun Madhok from Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre was also invited for a seminar to speak about his experience of managing a convention and exhibition center. Interactions and idea-exchanges from convention and exhibition industry participants were very warm.

This year, the AFECA Conference, Asian MICE Forum 2017 (AMF), and Joint-IAEE Conference were all hosted in Kaohsiung, where important figures from the convention and exhibition industry across the globe gathered, greatly enhancing Kaohsiung’s international reputation. On the following day, AFECA hosted the AFECA Asia MICE Youth Challenge and AFECA Awards, where winners were announced.

AFECA is the only international convention and exhibition association in Asia that is founded by Asians. It was established in Singapore in 2005, while the first annual convention was held in Singapore in 2006. The Association’s purpose is to promote the development of Asia’s exhibition and convention industry, and to facilitate and establish standard operational practices. In addition to Taiwan, members comprise 15 countries/regions including Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, and Thailand. Globally, AFECA has already become a representative of the Asian convention industry.

Copyright © 2017 Ministry of Economic Affairs

Taipei, Oct. 3 (CNA) Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) said Tuesday that Taiwan’s military is strong enough to resist a possible Chinese invasion for “more than two weeks” — longer than one of his predecessors, Lee Tien-yu (李天羽), had envisioned nearly a decade ago.

Feng made the remarks in answer to opposition Kuomintang lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), who asked him how long Taiwan’s armed forces would be able to resist a Chinese attack now, as Lee had once said the country could “hold on” for just two weeks in such a scenario. Lee was defense minister from May 2007 to February 2008.

“It’s been quite a long time since Lee was minister of national defense, and our military has become much stronger since then. We will be able to resist (such an attack) for longer than that,” Feng said.

(By Wang Cheng-chung and S.C. Chang)
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Taipei, Oct. 3 (CNA) Premier Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said Tuesday that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will not declare Taiwan independence.

The statement was given by Lai in an interpellation session at the Legislative Yuan.

The “Resolution on Taiwan’s Future,” approved by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) congress in 1999, made it clear that Taiwan is a sovereign nation, Lai stated.

At the end of Tuesday’s interpellation session, Lai agreed to sing the national anthem and carry the national flag on Double Ten Day this year. He also noted that he had overseen several Double Ten celebrations when he served as Tainan mayor from 2010 to 2017.

In the past, some DPP politicians have refrained from attending National Day ceremonies, singing the anthem and waving the national flag of the ROC, as such acts would be regarded as China-linked.

(By Chen Jun-hua and Isabel Wang)
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Taipei, Oct. 3 (CNA) The Taiwan government has lodged a protest with Qatar Airways over the airline’s designation of the nationality of flight attendants from Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday.

Chen Chun-shen (陳俊賢), chief of MOFA’s Department of West Asian and African Affairs, said the 100-plus Taiwanese flight attendants employed by the state-owned flag carrier have recently been designated as “Chinese (TWN)” on their work IDs.

The change was made in September, from “Taiwanese” to “Chinese (TWN),”obviously due to pressure from China, where Qatar Airways has seven destinations, Chen said in a regular press briefing.

MOFA has lodged a protest through viable channels, in view of the fact that Taiwan does not have a representative office in Qatar, and is awaiting a response from the airline, he said.

The Taiwan government, however, does not hold any business bargaining chips that can be used to negotiate with Qatar Airways because the airline does not serve any destinations in Taiwan, Chen said.

A similar situation had occurred in May with Emirates, in which the carrier ordered its Taiwanese cabin crew members to use Chinese lapel but revised the directive after Taiwan protested.

Emirates operates six routes in Taiwan.

(By Ku Chuan and Y.F. Low)
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Brussels, Sept. 23 (CNA) In an effort to expand Taiwan’s renewable energy development, a team of experts headed by Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Su Fong-chin (蘇芳慶) recently left for Europe to seek exchanges with a number of renowned European renewable energy developers.

According to the technology ministry, the team comprised of academics and industry players from Taiwan already toured the city of Genk in Belgium, home of EnergyVille, a renowned sustainable energy research institute.

During the visit, Belgian researchers were briefed on green energy development in Taiwan in recent years, including the planned construction of a solar energy, wind power and a green energy-oriented science-based town in Shalun, Tainan.

The Belgium tour on Sept. 19 also took the Taiwanese delegation to Leuven, where they exchanged ideas with a team of experts from a battery and smart home electronics institute.

Two days later, Su and his team visited Park 20/20, an innovation and sustainable green energy technology park in the Netherlands.

The Taiwanese delegation was warmly received by members of the Dutch think tank and local industry representatives, all of whom expressed a willingness to cooperate with Taiwan, an official from Taiwan’s representative office in the Netherlands said.

(By Tang Pei-chun and Ko Lin)
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New York, Sept. 22 (CNA) Five more of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies spoke up for the country at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, pushing for the international organization to recognize Taiwan as a member.

As the general debate of the U.N. General Assembly continues, leaders from five more of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, namely Kiribati, Saint Lucia, Solomon Islands, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Belize, took turns calling for Taiwan to be included as a member of the U.N. family.

Kiribati President Taneti Maamau said that if the U.N. family is incomplete, discussions regarding the promotion of human welfare cannot take place.

He pointed out that though the U.N. preaches inclusivity and unity at the general assembly each year, “we have chosen to ignore Taiwan’s 23 million people, depriving them of their right to be a part of this global family and to participate and contribute to the sustainable development goals (SDGs).”

On behalf of Kiribati, Maamau asked the U.N. to allow Taiwan to be a member of the U.N. family.

The fact that Taiwan’s 23 million people are being excluded was a recurring theme in the speeches of other leaders.

Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare called the U.N. out for contradicting its own principle of “leaving no one behind” in promoting the SDGs when the international organization has clearly let Taiwan’s people slip through the cracks.

Sogavare commented on Taiwan’s willingness and readiness to contribute to human welfare, saying that the attainment of the SDGs requires the participation of the whole world.

Like Maamau, he ended his speech on Taiwan on a strong note, asking the U.N. to acknowledge Taiwan as a member after having ignored the right of Taiwan to self-determination for so long.

Both Belize’s Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington and Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Michael Chastanet commented on Taiwan’s continued efforts to support global development and the core principles and goals of the U.N, but as Elrington pointed out, Taiwan has been treated unfairly by the U.N.

This unfairness and disparity in what the U.N. has set out to do and how it handles the situation with Taiwan was further highlighted by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sir Louis Straker of St. Vincent & the Grenadines who said that it was an issue that needed to be corrected immediately.

As of Friday, 12 of Taiwan’s 16 allies who have taken the stage during the general debate have voiced their support for Taiwan’s participation in the U.N. whether as a member or in an alternative capacity.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) previously held a seat at the U.N. until 1971 when it withdrew before the organization could vote to admit China and expel Taiwan.

(By Timothy J. Hwang and Kuan-lin Liu)
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Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) Taiwan is banning all trade with North Korea starting next week, according to a statement issued by the Executive Yuan on Friday.

Premier Lai Ching-te (賴清德) is invoking Article 5 of the Foreign Trade Act to ban all trading activities with North Korea, Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) was cited as saying in the statement.

North Korea’s continued missile tests have threatened global security and global order, and as a member of the international community, Taiwan is complying with international actions to impose sanctions against the country, Hsu said.

In practice, the ban will have little bite because of the limited amount of trade between the two countries.

Taiwan imported US$1.25 million in goods from North Korea — mostly ginseng and textiles — in the first six months of the year and exported a mere US$36,575 in goods to the Hermit Kingdom during the same period.

Both totals were down around 90 percent from the first six months a year earlier.

The ban will reportedly go into effect sometime next week and is Taiwan’s way of contributing to both the United Nations’ efforts and peace in the region.

Taiwan, along with the rest of the international community, has called on North Korea to cease any action that may damage or threaten the peace in Asia Pacific as well as abide by Resolution 2375 that the U.N. Security Council passed earlier this month.

The new sanctions described in the resolution and imposed on Sept. 11 include a ban on the supply, sale and transfer of all condensates (the liquid phase produced by the condensation of gas) and natural gas liquids to North Korea as well as a ban on its exports of textiles.

(By Elaine Hou and Kuan-lin Liu)
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Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL), Taiwan’s largest carrier, will operate four direct flights to London every week, starting from Dec. 1 this year. CAL direct flights between Taipei and London Heathrow were opened in March 2011, but were suspended one year later.

The destination airport this time will be Gatwick.

In addition to British cuisine and shopping stalls, CAL will offer 500 limited “fortune parcels” at a price of NT$1,499 each at the fair.

Each parcel will include a lottery ticket for prizes ranging from NT$3,000 (US$99)-worth of airline ticket coupons to two round-trip Taipei-London flight tickets, according to the company.

(By Wang Shu-fen and CNA intern Chang Yu-hsi)
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Shanghai, Sept. 13 (CNA) China is using Taiwanese human rights activist Lee Ming-che’s (李明哲) case as a warning to all foreign NGOs operating within the country, a prominent leader of the Chinese democracy movement said on Wednesday.

Speaking to CNA during a telephone interview on Wednesday, Wang Dan (王丹), a leader of the Chinese democracy movement and one of the student leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests who now lives in Washington, said that China is making an example of Lee Ming-che to warn foreign NGOs operating in China to abide by its regulations.

Wang noted that the Chinese government has ramped up its regulation of foreign NGOs in recent years and will continue to do so, given that it is trying to control the influence outside NGOs have in the country.

Notable examples of tighter government scrutiny of foreign NGOs include a charity law and a foreign NGO law, which were promulgated in mid 2016 and early 2017 respectively, introduced extensive registration and reporting requirements.

Chen Yu-huan (陳語歡), who has operated his own NGO in China for five years, says that Beijing has adopted a more regulated and standardized approach.

The government will not tolerate unchecked growth and development beyond its control, he continued.

Foreign NGOs are having a hard time coping with China’s new NGO law, which gives the police a wide range of powers to question foreign NGO workers, inspect their offices, review documents and even confiscate premises and assets, according to international media reports.

Even the charity law, which seems like a benign law to ensure the proper use of charitable donations, could be used by the government to “tame” charitable groups in China, Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢), a professor at National Chengchi University’s Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies, pointed out.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman An Fengshan (安峰山) made a statement on Wednesday, saying that individuals in China must obey the laws of the country and any violation will be prosecuted in accordance with the law.

(By Chen Chia-lun and Kuan-lin Liu)
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Jerusalem, Sept. 12 (CNA) Chinese American biologist and Tang Prize laureate Feng Zhang (張鋒) has suggested Taiwan invest in basic research and translational research to help establish itself in the global biotechnology sector.

Zhang said the investment in basic research is necessary because the biology of the human body and human cells remains unknown territory, and investing in translational research can help scientists turn basic technologies into useful medicines and therapies.

Investing in those areas could help Taiwan build a foundation and a presence in the biotech sector, Zhang said in an interview with CNA in Jerusalem on Tuesday before delivering a lecture at the annual congress of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS).

Translational research has been defined by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as the process of applying ideas, insights, and discoveries generated through basic scientific inquiry to the treatment or prevention of human disease.

In 2016, Zhang shared the Tang Prize in biopharmaceutical science with Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the United States for the development of CRISPR/Cas9 as a breakthrough genome editing platform that promises to revolutionize biochemical research and disease treatment.

In Tuesday’s interview, Zhang told CNA that he is now trying to develop a new genome editing technique with a brand-new algorithm to allow better gene repairing.

He hopes the new technique will be more accurate and efficient than CRISPR/Cas9 and be applied to treating cells in the brain, liver and other organs. If he succeeds, defective genes will be able to be repaired rather than simply being removed, he said.

Speaking of Taiwan and Tang Prize, Zhang said he has had good experiences with Taiwan and that his team has been happy to work with Taiwan and hopes to visit it again.

He also praised the Tang Prize as an award that plays the important role of drawing public attention to scientists and their work, which inspires more people to enter or invest in scientific research.

In his lecture, titled “From Microbial Immunity to Genome Editing,” at the FEBS congress, Zhang introduced the development, applications and research directions of genome editing, and he elaborated on ways to reduce errors in the editing process and improve its accuracy.

Zhang urged more scientists to join in related research, which he described as a broad territory needing joint exploration.

The lecture was jointly organized by the Tang Prize Foundation and the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB). It drew an audience of more than 1,000 people.

The Taiwan-based foundation formed a nine-year cooperation partnership with the IUBMB — an international non-governmental organization concerned with biochemistry and molecular biology — last year to promote the advancement of biopharmaceutical and biotechnological science education.

The Tang Prize, dubbed the “Asian Nobel Prize,” was established by Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin (尹衍樑) in 2012 to honor people who have made significant contributions in the fields of sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology and the rule of law.

(By Charles Kang and Elizabeth Hsu)
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Taipei, Sept. 12 (CNA) Commuters traveling on city buses in New Taipei will now be able to enjoy free Wi-Fi on the city’s 2,500 buses, Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) announced in a news conference Tuesday.

New Taipei leads other cities and counties in Taiwan in terms of free wireless network access, Chu said, citing as examples Taipei’s mass rapid transit (MRT) system and the high speed railway, in which Wi-Fi services have yet to be fully installed.

Buses are the most heavily used mode of public transport in New Taipei, with ridership of nearly 800,000 per day, he said, thanking the city’s bus operators for their support and for providing the convenience to commuters.

According to the city’s Transportation Department, users will be able to connect to the Internet without having to create an account or provide a password.

Free Wi-Fi is available on city buses bearing a logo sticker that says “New Taipei Free Wi-Fi,” and users can simply connect to the “NewTaipeiBusWiFi” service without having to log in with their personal Google or Facebook accounts, the department said.

(By Lin Chang-shun and Ko Lin)
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