GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Double 10 holiday in Taiwan and China, to celebrate the 10 October 1911 Wuchang Uprising that ultimately led to the end of imperial rule in China had a special significance yesterday, as it marked the 100th anniversary of the event and drew a line under a very slight thawing in relations between the two Chinas that sprang up in its wake. Not surprisingly, the day was marked with some differences, with colourful celebrations in Taiwan, which considers this its national holiday and traditionally celebrates it with a flourish, and in a more muted way in mainland China.
The Taiwan community in Denver, Colorado held a special celebration, for Sun Yat-Sen, father of the Republic of China (Taiwan), against whom the Communists fought in the years after the Wuchang Uprising, was actually in Denver the day of the uprising, seeking funds.
Links to other sites: Huff Post-Denver, CNN commentator, Xinhuanet
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Residents of Taiwan and the N Marianna Islands in the Pacific will not in future need visas to visit Switzerland as tourists, the federal government announced 22 December. The change accompanies a change in the rules of the Schengen Area, of which Switzerland is a member.
The new rule goes into effect 11 January. It applies to residents who will be staying for less than three months and not doing “gainful work”, which has a precise and strict definition in Switzerland, Bern notes in its announcement. Volunteers and trainees who are doing work that might otherwise be considered labour that requires pay are considered to be gainfully employed in Switzerland, for example, and they are subject to work visa laws, in order to prevent abuse of foreigners by employers who do not pay them.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Taiwan, in its first attempt to fight an international organization in court to keep the name “Republic of China (Taiwan)”, has lost its case in Swiss courts. A Swiss federal tribunal of the Supreme Court ruled 9 September that it would not hear an appeal from Taiwan after a lower court in Geneva ruled its case inadmissable.
The International Standards Organization (ISO) was taken to court in Geneva in 2007 by Taiwan over the ISO’s use of “Taiwan, province of China” to designate the island in international standards. The Geneva court refused to hear the case, which cites articles 28 and 29 (which deals with international law) of the Swiss Civil Code. Taiwan then appealed to the Swiss federal civil high court in Lausanne. Thursday the higher court ruled that Taiwan’s case does not fall within the jurisdiction of civil courts: in its own words according to court documents, the ruling notes, Taiwan is “battling politically for its existence as an independent democratic state to be recognized internationally.”
China and Taiwan will be signing what looks like the most important agreement since they were separated 60 years ago. The Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement (ECFA) is expected to significantly improve trade between the two, already an estimated $110bn a year. Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has made reduced tensions with China a key part of his administration.
But shadow cast by iPhone plant suicides
Apple store, Rives in Geneva, day before iPad arrives, 27 May 2010
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Apple (Ah-pull’ in Geneva French, if you’re looking for the store) shop in the Rive district in Geneva was bustling Thursday, but it appeared to be busy business as usual, rather than buzz related to the new iPads that go on sale at 08:00 Friday.
The only sign of iPad frenzy was a large sign with remarkably little information about Apple’s newest baby, saying it will arrive Friday.
Down the street in chic leather goods shops, iPad holders were set out smartly, however.
Europe welcomes the iPad Friday just as the news is out that Apple has overtaken Microsoft in capitalization, with a stock market value of $222 billion late Wednesday, some $3 billion ahead of Microsoft.
“The fact that Apple, not Microsoft, is the more valuable franchise represents a remarkable turn of events in the history of computing,” reports CNet.
The Financial Post has drawn a neat graph tracking the two companies’ capitalizations since 2004.
But the success of flavour of the year Apple has had a shadow cast over it this week, with the large company in China that makes its iPhones, Taiwan manufacturer Hon Hai, trying to cope with a growing number of suicides in its corporate “village” of 45,000 people.
A tenth person jumped to his death Wednesday, a 23-year-old man, according to the Guardian, UK.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Eight countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus and five in Southeast Asia are implementing early warning systems to protect against weather-related events, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Today 14 October is International Day for Disaster Reduction, and the agency is highlighting how early warning and disaster risk reduction can save many lives when extreme weather strikes. Similar projects were introduced in seven southeast European countries in 2007.
These national and regional cooperation projects are part of a concerted programme that relies on technical expertise and funding provided by the WMO, the World Bank, UNDP and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).
“Natural hazards are a part of life. But natural hazards only become disasters when people’s lives and livlihoods are swept away…” (Kofi Annan, World Disaster Reduction Day, 2003)
A strong earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale shook eastern parts of Taiwan and Japan’s southernmost Ryukyu islands early Monday morning 17 August. No immediate injuries were reported. Taiwan is still suffering the aftermath of typhoon Murakot, which dumped 2.5 metres of water on the island nine days ago and caused flooding and mudslides that may have killed more than 500 people. CNN, Reuters
Rescue workers have stopped trying to dig out the village of Shiao Lin in Taiwan, with nearly 400 people feared buried by a mudslide caused by Typhoon Morakot, which dumped two metres of rain on the island in a short time. The government says a memorial service will be held on the spot where 170 homes were buried. More than 15,000 people have been rescued after being hit by the storm which provoked Taiwan’s worst floods in 50 years, but rescuers are still trying to reach another 1,900 people. The government has to date confirmed 116 people dead from the storm, not including Shiao Lin. In a strange twist, Taiwan’s media carry the story of what is alternately described as the about-face in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on foreign disaster aid or an administrative mistake that led to a government office initially telling other offices not to accept rescue assistance from abroad. BBC, China Post, Taipei Times
Taiwanese rescuers located up to 700 people 11 and 12 August who were earlier feared engulfed in mudslides in the mountainous south of the country, in Kaohsiung county. “We have found around 700 people alive in three villages last night and 26 more this morning. We are deploying 25 helicopters to evacuate them,” said Richard Hu, a senior official in the rescue effort. The worst flooding in 50 years left at least 60 people dead and many hundreds still missing, after typhoon Morakot passed over the island and dumped 200 cm of rain in 24 hours. A rescue helicopter crashed into a mountain side in remote Pingtung County 11 August, killing all three people on board. CNA, Reuters
Chinese authorities evacuated almost one million people from coastal areas in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces ahead of typhoon Morakot, which made landfall early morning 9 August in China. Sustained winds of over 110 km per hour, and reports of 9-metre waves caused floods and destroyed buildings. Thousands of fishing boats were warned to return to harbour. The typhoon had already wreaked havoc in Taiwan: the BBC shows dramatic footage of an empty hotel being undermined by up to 200 cm of rain in 24 hours as the storm passed over the island. In the Philippines, the storm caused widespread damage, flooding and mudslides.BBC, CNN, Reuters, Xinhua
Crowd at the Piazza Grande - Photo ©Locarno Film Festival
Locarno, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Leopard is alive and well, thank you very much. The 62nd edition of the Locarno Film Festival got off to a great start this week in southeastern Switzerland. Almost 400 films (180 feature and 210 shorts) are on the agenda for the 10-day extravaganza in Locarno, canton Ticino, from 5-15 August.
According to its director, Marco Solari, this is the “edgiest” film festival in the world and it is keeping its cool by shying away from more “mainstream, commercial films.” Thus the movies competing for the Golden Leopard promise to keep the jury and the expected 180,000 spectators busy.
This year, a special Japanese animation retrospective has been scheduled as well as a Swiss films day. The festival’s Open Door Factory event is dedicated to Chinese films from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Nasa photos of solar eclipse 22 July: Taiwan at 08:30 and 09:30 - the world turns black and white
Nasa, the US aeronatics and space administration, has published a series of images of the 22 July total solar eclipse, the most complete eclipse during the 21st century, and it provides a wealth of information about the eclipes, including maps and a link to live coverage on a special Nasa 22 July total solar eclipse web site.
Film reviews from Visions du Réel
For writer and director Shen Ko-Shang, character development is fundamental to movie making. “I have seen many nice films here [at the Visions du Réel Film Festival] but for me to really like a movie, the characters have to have heart,” Ko-Shang explained through an interpreter. Shen Ko-Shang, whose documentary “Baseball Boys” and film short ”Fading” were screened this week at the Visions du Réel Film Festival, shared with GenevaLunch his impressions of the festival and thoughts on filmmaking.
Film characters have to "have heart"
A native of Taipei, Taiwan, Ko-Shang travelled “half-way” around the world for the premier of “Baseball Boys.” The documentary is based in a rural area of Taiwan, characterized by its native inhabitants and traditional lifestyle.
It was this unique background which interested Ko-Shang, and inspired him to document the trials and tribulations of an aspiring Little League boy’s team in Hulien Province on Taiwan’s East Coast. “These kids are unique due to their background and rural heritage. This way of life is very distinct from my reality in Taipei and I find their experiences interesting.”
Some 800 protesters have surrounded the hotel in Taipei where Chun Yenlin, the highest ranking Chinese official to visit Taiwan in decades, is staying, reports the BBC, while Xinhua News in China reports that cross-straits agreements signed between Beijing and Taipei this week are drawing strong interest from airline and shipping companies.
Typhoon Sinlaku slammed into Taiwan and is now headed for Japan after killing five people, with seven missing and rescue work underway in some areas, with at least one bridge that has collapsed and a hotel in a resort buried by a mudslide. CNN
