Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Inoculation against poll interference

Taipei Times Editorial

The WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool on Aug. 29 announced a licensing agreement with Taiwan’s Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp to make the company’s COVID-19 vaccine accessible worldwide to people in need.

This is the first time a Taiwanese vaccine manufacturer has used the WHO patent access model to offer its know-how for a COVID-19 vaccine to the world. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed his gratitude to Medigen for sharing its patent to support countries in fighting the disease.

Expats crucial to countering China

Taipei Times Editorial

The battle for public opinion begins long before any shot is fired. Governments worldwide are well aware of this, and none more so than authoritarian regimes like China and Russia, who dwell in fear of a discontent populace. Having perfected their propaganda techniques internally, global ambitions have led them to launch influence campaigns against their rivals.

For those far away, the attempts seem laughable. US voters are likely familiar with stilted English and awkward memes vaulted their way by Russia in the past few election cycles, concerning in their number but easily spotted.

Construction laws need a revamp

Taipei Times Editorial

On Thursday evening, many people living near Lane 94, Dazhi Street in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) heard a loud thud from a nearby construction site. Then tiles in their homes began to fall, large cracks appeared on walls and iron bars on windows bent. while a few buildings seemed to be tilting. Police and firefighters quickly arrived and found that several adjoining buildings were leaning and had large cracks in their walls, while the road surface had crumbled and partly collapsed. They evacuated more than 100 people and cordoned off the surrounding area.

After about two hours, at 10:49pm, as Taipei City Government officials and Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) were at the site assessing the situation and leading operations, another large rumbling sound was heard and one of the buildings suddenly sank, with the first floor crushed underground.

Ko’s house woes: a mother’s meddling

Sophia Lee 李欣芬

Chinese-lanuage media recently reported that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) four-story house in Hsinchu County has an illegal rooftop construction. During the interview, Ko’s mother, Ho Jui-ying (何瑞英), wailed into the microphone that “knives are out for me because my son is running for president,” and shed many tears in front of the camera.

Ko is far from the only one whose candidacy has elicited media interest. All former candidates running for president have been subjected to close scrutiny, regardless of their political affiliation. Ho would be mistaken if she thought she could make the media attention go away or garner sympathy with a few tears.

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