Read News 2020.02.20: Taiwan and International Focus Topics

February 20, 2020 (ROC Year 109) — a daily roundup of trending Taiwan and international news topics, covering technology, lifestyle, travel, transportation, industry and finance, business, corporations, stocks, foreign exchange markets, investment, real estate, automobiles, breaking news, sports, entertainment gossip, art, design, politics, society, mainland China, cross-strait relations, weather, natural disasters, current affairs, and more.

The “Read News” section collects the headline events and brief summaries of the key news that deserve your attention in recent days, tracing the currents of society through the rapid flow of news events one after another.

Taiwan and International News Events for February 20, 2020

International and Social Focus

Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) reported that Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which had a cluster infection of the novel coronavirus pneumonia, added 79 new Wuhan pneumonia cases today, bringing the total to 621 confirmed infections among those on board.

Mainland China’s Wuhan pneumonia outbreak at the end of last year has now spread to 29 countries worldwide, causing more than 70,000 confirmed cases and more than 2,000 deaths. The U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal published an article earlier this month titled “China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia,” which angered Chinese Communist Party officials. With no response from the other side, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said the Chinese side had decided to revoke the press credentials of three of the newspaper’s Beijing-based correspondents effective immediately.

Taipei City recently launched the “Taipei Easy Living — Tiered Rent Subsidy Extra Train,” which is currently in its application period. The subsidy is funded by the Taipei City Housing Fund and is an additional top-up subsidy. Eligibility includes annual household income below NT$1.4 million and average monthly income per person below NT$59,518, with subsidy amounts set by three tiers, up to NT$11,000 per household per month.

To let people buy alcohol at pharmacies, Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation has partnered with Chunghwa Post. Effective immediately, the 75% epidemic-prevention alcohol produced by TTL will be delivered to 23 Chunghwa Post locations, after which Chunghwa Post will handle the back-end distribution to 5,660 NHI partner pharmacies across Taiwan, so that pharmacies have sufficient epidemic-prevention alcohol for the general public to purchase.

Technology and 3C Products

To improve air quality, the Yunlin County Government, after increasing subsidies for low-income households last year, has expanded eligibility this year to middle- and low-income households, with up to NT$30,000 per person; in addition, for university students registered and studying in Yunlin, it adds up to NT$22,000.

The novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak has indirectly prompted Apple to issue a profit warning and may also affect the company’s sales plans this year! Nikkei reported that production of the iPhone SE2 (iPhone 9), originally planned for this month, may need to be postponed to March due to the epidemic.

According to Jann Horn, a researcher on Google’s internal security team “Google Project Zero,” some of Samsung’s actions regarding the Android kernel appear to potentially make the Android system less secure. Although Samsung’s main purpose in making these modifications was to improve the security of its own phones, Jann Horn believes that these drivers, which involve Samsung’s own customization for accessing the Android Linux kernel, actually create more security vulnerabilities.

After the Halloween special event ended, the popular mobile game “Pokémon GO” adjusted the spawn rates of Pokémon. Now when players open the game, they will no longer see streets flooded with “Pidgey” and “Rattata.”

Business and Investment

The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic has become a black swan affecting the economy, unexpectedly stirring up the public’s financial awareness. Yuanta Financial Holding found that Yuanta Securities’ new account openings surged 10-fold in January and February, and other financial firms have also widely promoted digital financial services, giving rise to an alternative “stay-at-home economy.”

The Taiwan stock market rose 109.86 points today to close at 11,758.84, with a turnover of NT$136.880 billion. Among the three major institutional investors, foreign investors and mainland Chinese investors were net buyers, investment trusts were net sellers, and dealers were net buyers, for a combined net buy of NT$5.501 billion.

Since the Republic of China brand “DAPHNE” entered mainland China in the 1990s, it once held titles such as “affordable shoe king” and “China’s number one women’s shoe brand,” but in recent years its brand advantage has gradually declined, with losses exceeding NT$10 billion since 2015. According to the group’s latest business announcement, in 2019 DAPHNE closed 2,288 stores in mainland China, an average of 6 stores closing every day.

Although U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, the pullback was small, and the Nasdaq index hit a new high again, spurring Taiwan stocks to stage a major counterattack today (the 19th), led by the three electronics giants. Traditional industry heavyweight stocks, the four Formosa Plastics companies, strengthened, and all financial heavyweight stocks held steady above the flat line. The index opened high and moved higher, reclaiming the 11,700 level, and ended up sharply by 109.86 points at 11,758.84, back above the 5-day and monthly moving averages, with a turnover of NT$136.88 billion.

Economic worries triggered by the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic continued to pressure stock markets, and the appeal of safe-haven assets rose accordingly. On Tuesday (the 18th), international gold prices rose to a nearly 7-year high. April gold futures closed up US$17.2, or 1.1%, at US$1,603.6 per ounce, a new high since March 2013.

In response to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, various ministries of the Executive Yuan have proposed related assistance measures, and today (the 18th) the Financial Supervisory Commission also announced that it has required banks to adopt a debt assistance mechanism. For people who have difficulty repaying due to the epidemic, credit card payments can be deferred for 3 to 6 months, and the principal or interest of other personal loans can likewise be extended…