1. Sewage recycling plants potential solution to water
shortages
Taipei, March 24 (CNA) The Water Resources Agency (WRA)
said Sunday that it is working with the Ministry of the Interior to
build sewage recycling plants in an effort to stabilize water
supplies in the country.
The agency said it has been working with the ministry to build
eight sewage recycling plants around the country in the hope of
producing 1.2 million tons of recycled water per day by 2031.
The plants would process both household and industrial waste
water, it said, adding that it has chosen Taichung and Kaohsiung
as pilot areas for the recycling projects.
So far, both Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC)
and China Steel Corp., the largest steel maker in Taiwan, have
joined the agency's water recycling project in Kaohsiung's
Nantze Export Processing Zone.
Minister of the Interior Lee Hong-yuan said the recycled water
will be sold for industrial, irrigation and toilet flushing use.
Taiwan produces about 2.85 million tons of waste water each
day, according to government statistics.
Lee said that in New Taipei alone, the figure is 1.2 million tons
per day. If the water is recycled completely, it could ease the
country's water crisis, he said.
He also pointed out that the build-up of silt in reservoirs is
significantly reducing their storage capacity.
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The storage capacity of the 50 reservoirs in Taiwan has been
reduced to 60 percent of their original capacity and this could
fall to only 50 percent by 2030, he said.
The use of processed waster water becomes a hot issue again as
a major shortfall in precipitation since late last year causes an
alarm in much of the country.
The first-stage water restriction measure has been introduced in
Taoyuan, New Taipei's Linkou District and Kaohsiung, where
pipeline pressure is reduced at night in order to conserve water.
2. Japan planning to offer bullet train technology to Taiwan
Tokyo, March 23 (CNA) Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Central)
is planning to sign a contract with the Taiwan High Speed Rail
Corp. (THSRC) to provide it with bullet train technology,
Japanese media reports said Saturday.
JR Central will help THSRC, which operates the country's high
speed railway, to improve its operation and management
systems, including an automatic train control system for a
planned line between Taipei and Nangang and systems to
control operations in case of earthquakes.
A contract between the two companies is expected to be signed
within several months, the reports said, adding it will be the first
time the Japanese company has struck such a deal with an
overseas rail company.
The THSRC began operations in 2007, using bullet trains based
on a Japanese model, marking Japan's first successful export of
its high-speed trains.
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In 2011, the government expressed hope that JR Central would
provide assistance for rail safety improvements, according to the
reports.
In response to the news, THSRC said that it and JR Central,
West Japan Railway Co. and Kyushu Railway Co. reached
consensus in 2012 to jointly expand their overseas markets.
In addition to providing THSRC with technology and
professional support, the three companies will provide THSRC
with research and development and personnel training programs.
3. Acer head shrugs off Samsung's plan to 'kill Taiwan'
Taipei, March 22 (CNA) Acer Inc. Chairman J.T. Wang said
Friday it is "impossible" for South Korea's Samsung Electronics
Co. to carry out its plan to "kill Taiwan."
After the 2008 financial crisis, Samsung's top business operating
policymaking meeting decided to adopt a "kill Taiwan" strategy,
the local Business Today magazine reported March 20.
On the sidelines of a forum on corporate social responsibility,
Wang shrugged off the South Korean electronics giant's strategic
goal, describing it as an impossible dream.
"It is a very complex world, consisting of various needs and
diverse preferences. There is no company that can take it all,"
Wang told reporters.
"It is a thrilling view, but it's not realistic," he added, referring to
Samsung's reported goal.
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After jolting Taiwan's high technology industry, Samsung is now
taking aim at Taiwanese tech giants Hon Hai Group -- the
world's largest electronics manufacturing service (EMS)
provider -- and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
(TSMC), the world's top contract chipmaker.
Samsung has become the world's leading producer of dynamic
random access memory chips (DRAM) and Flash memory chips
(NAND Flash) and has been aggressively expanding its contract
chip manufacturing business in recent years, becoming a major
competitor against TSMC.
Asked about Acer's economic outlook, Wang said the company
may break even in the first quarter and see "better growth" in the
second, but he did not give any precise projections.
4. Taiwan ranked Asia's 3rd most democratic country;
world's 35th
Taipei, March 20 (CNA) Taiwan's democracy ranking improved
two spots in the 2012 Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU's)
Democracy Index from the 2011 index to 35th in the world and
3rd in Asia.
The report shows that Taiwan had an overall score of 7.57 in
2012, up from 7.46 in 2011, marking the country's first
improvement since the U.K.-based think tank published the first
report for the 2006 index in 2007.
Taiwan was ranked 32nd in the first index, 33rd in 2008, 36th in
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2010 and 37th in 2011. No reports were published for 2007 or
2009.
The index is based on five categories -- electoral process and
pluralism, the functioning of government, political culture, civil
liberties and political participation.
Taiwan scored the same in the first four categories as last time,
but scored an improved 6.11 out of a possible 10 in the political
participation category in 2012, up from 5.56 the previous year.
According to the report, Taiwan is one of 54 countries that fall
into the index's "flawed democracies" category, the same as
Hong Kong, which is ranked 63rd in the world.
Only 25 countries, representing 11.3 percent of the global
population, are ranked as "full democracies," 37 states are
"hybrid regimes" and 51 are categorized as "authoritarian
regimes."
Japan (23rd) and South Korea (20th) are the only two Asian
countries among the 25 full democracies.
According to the report, the world's democracy was at a
standstill as there was neither significant progress nor regression
in democracy in 2012. Average regional scores that year were
very similar to scores in 2011, it noted.
The most democratic country in the world is Norway, followed
by Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and New Zealand, according to
the EIU's 2012 democracy index.
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5. Asia's largest bike show expects to generate US$300
million in business
Taipei, March 20 (CNA) Asia's largest bike show opened
Wednesday in Taipei, attracting over 1,000 exhibitors who are
expected to generate over US$300 million in business,
organizers said.
The Taipei International Cycle Show has attracted 1,103
exhibitors from 36 countries, over a quarter of whom are foreign
exhibitors, Wang Chih-kang, chairman of the Taiwan External
Trade Development Council (TAITRA), said at the opening
ceremony of the show.
A total of 7,000 international buyers are estimated to attend the
show that will run till March 23, he said.
"Taiwan has become the supply center of the world's high-end
bicycles," he said, highlighting the country's strength in the
research, development and branding of bicycles.
The export value of Taiwanese bicycles reached US$1.8 billion
in 2012, up 8.68 percent from a year earlier, while the total
export value of bicycles and bicycle parts touched US$2.73
billion in 2012, an increase of 11.74 percent from the previous
year, according to TAITRA, Taiwan's main trade promotion
body.
Taiwan also exported 94,200 bikes valued at US$45.29 million
to China last year, a significant growth of 179 percent and 158
percent, respectively, from 2011, TAITRA said.
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Wang attributed the growth to a reduction of tariff barriers in
bicycle trade since the 2010 Economic Cooperation Framework
Agreement between Taiwan and China took effect.
He said the Taipei bike show is currently Asia's largest and
among the top three in the world, and expressed hope that the
show will become the world's largest, after construction is
completed on a new exhibition hall near the current venue at the
Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall.
He added that the show is also expected to boost business in the
tourism, transportation and communications sectors.
Anthony Lo, chairman of the Taiwan Bicycle Exporters'
Association, said Taiwan should continue its efforts to become a
"cycling island" by continuing to research and develop
high-quality bike products, improving its cycling environment
and transforming its cities into low carbon cities.
Currently, over 25,000 people use the Youbike system -- a bike
rental system in Taipei -- every day, Lo said, adding that the
number of bikes under the program is expected to increase from
around 1,500 to over 5,500 by July this year, benefiting over 10
million riders in the city each year.
Youbike was launched by the Taipei city government in 2009
and allows registered users to use their "Easy Card" prepaid
transport cards to rent the bikes for free for the first half hour of
rental, after which they are charged.
Vice President Wu Den-yih said the government is determined
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to support Taiwan's bicycle industry and urged the Ministry of
Economic Affairs to accelerate the construction of the new
exhibition hall.
The four-day show will showcase a diverse range of bicycles,
bicycle accessories, sportswear and other bicycle and
sports-related products.
Forums will also be organized to discuss the latest
breakthroughs in motors, batteries and emerging market trends
and how to transform Taiwan into a "cycling island."
An international expo showcasing sports textiles and accessories
will also be held March 20-23 in Taipei, while an international
sporting goods show and an international diving and water
sports show will take place March 19-22.
At the opening ceremony, Wu also presented awards to the four
gold award winners of the Taipei Cycle d&i awards, jointly
organized by TAITRA and Taiwan Bicycle Exporters'
Association and executed by iF International Forum Design
GmbH for the second time.
The gold award winners include an innovative full carbon wheel
set, a cycle shoe insole, child's bicycle seat and bicycle brake
caliper.
The annual event, now in its 26th year, will take place at the
Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall and Hall 1.
6.
Liver transplantation survival rate in Taiwan reaches U.S.
8
level
Taipei, March 22 (CNA) Liver transplantation technology in
Taiwan has advanced to a level similar to that of the United
States, which leads the world in this field, an official at the
Bureau of National Health Insurance (NHI) said Friday.
In Taiwan, the three-year survival rate of patients receiving liver
transplantation reached around 80 percent in both living-donor
and deceased-donor transplant cases, said Lin Li-jen, an NHI
division chief, citing bureau data on 2,623 liver transplant
patients in the 10-year period between 2001 and 2011 in the
country.
In comparison, Lin noted, the survival rate of patients with
living-donor liver transplants stood at 84.7 percent in the U.S.,
and the rate for those with deceased-donor liver transplants
stood at 79.9 percent.
The five-year survival rate for all liver transplant patients in
Taiwan is some 76 percent, compared with 80.8 percent for
living-donor liver transplant patients and 73.6 percent for
deceased-donor transplants in the U.S, according to Lin.
The 10-year survival rate in Taiwan reached 70 percent, while
that in the U.S. was 67.4 percent in the case of living donors and
60.4 percent in the case of deceased donors, Lin said.
In NHI statistics, data on the survival rate of living donor liver
transplants and deceased donor liver transplants is not available
separately, Lin added.
According to the American Liver Foundation, nearly 6,500 liver
transplants were performed in the U.S. in 2005, and the number
continues to rise.
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Liver transplant patients have an approximately 86 percent
one-year and 78 percent three-year survival rate, the foundation
said.
The NHI report on liver transplants in 2001-2011 showed that
the number of liver transplants in Taiwan has increased since
1994, when the country began to perform living-donor liver
transplantations.
The report indicated that there were 418 liver transplant patients
on the island in 2001-2004. The number of liver transplant
patients increased to 978 in 2005-2008, and further to 1,227 in
2009-2011, the report said.
At a conference on liver transplants held by the NHI at the
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan
Friday, the health insurance bureau also publicized data showing
that although 21 hospitals around Taiwan had performed liver
transplants in the 2001-2011 period, most of the transplants
were conducted at the Kaohsiung Chang Gung hospital, the
Linkou Chang Gung hospital in New Taipei, and the National
Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei.
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