Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-01-08

A Taiwan television show has been pulled in China after Chinese web users complained

that it had received funding from Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture.

The show in question is “My Dear Boy”, which was produced by Taiwan actress Ruby Lin, who is also featured in the program. Chinese web users complained that the NT$20 million (US$69,000) in funding was tantamount to “pro-Taiwan independence” sponsorship.

Media reports say that the Chinese authority responsible for licensing television services in Guangdong Province has confirmed that the program had been pulled after just two episodes.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture responded to the news on Monday. It said that it was regrettable that the political views and positions of Taiwan’s entertainers are frequently subject to censorship in China.    [FULL  STORY]

The sandbox is a first step towards a more flexible regulatory approach as Taiwan attempts to compete in a global race to attract fintech talent and capital.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/01/08
By: David Green

If the initiative is to be successful, it will demand lightness of touch and depth of engagement from regulators.

Taiwan has moved one shuffling step closer to being a financial technology (fintech) hub in Asia by creating a regulatory framework for the most innovative companies in the sector to experiment.

Under the Financial Technology Innovation Experimentation Act passed Dec. 29 in the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan will host a regulatory “sandbox” for companies to experiment with new business models that currently do not have a legal framework.

The crux of the sandbox concept is that fintech innovation is moving too fast for legal systems to keep up, so companies require an environment free from the threat of regulatory or legal punishment to maximize their potential. The idea is that regulators will periodically review developments in the sandbox and adjust regulations in order to facilitate innovations that entail the most benefit for business and consumers.
[FULL  STORY]

Man shot dead at a sleazy KTV club in Taiwan’s Changhua County

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/08
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A man was shot in the chest while he was at an adult KTV club by unknown assailant in Xihu Township in Changhua County early this morning (Jan. 8) and later succumbed to his injuries at a nearby hospital, reported CNA.

The 38-year-old man, surnamed Li (李), was singing with with girlfriend in a KTV room of a club in Xihu Township, when the female manager of the club surnamed Hsu (徐) told police that she heard gunfire in the room at approximately 2 a.m. When Hsu looked inside the room, she found Li lying on the ground alone, with no signs of who the assailant may be.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/08
By Wang Shu-fen, Wen Kuei-hsiang, Huang Shu-min and Tsai Chia-ling and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Jan. 8 (CNA) Train services at the Taipei Railway Station returned to normal Monday night after being disrupted by a protest by labor groups earlier that evening.

The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) ordered a suspension of both northbound and southbound trains at the station at 6:55 p.m. when some of the protesters laid down on the tracks.

The 10 protesters lying on the tracks were completely removed by police at around 7:42 p.m., and rail services returned to normal at around 8 p.m., the TRA said.

According to the TRA, a total of 19 trains with 11,250 passengers were affected by the suspension of service.    [FULL  STORY]

‘IMPRISONED ITSELF’: The legislature should represent the public, but it has surrounded itself with barricades as though it is afraid of something, a union leader said

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 09, 2018
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

Labor rights groups yesterday camped outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, demanding

that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) withdraw its proposed amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) that passed its second reading at the legislature on Dec. 4.

An extraordinary legislative session that began yesterday is slated to conduct cross-party negotiations over the amendment proposed by the Cabinet.

The Legislative Yuan had asked protesters not to gather on Zhenjiang Street (鎮江街), because there is a kindergarten there, event co-organizer and Taipei City Confederation of Trade Unions executive director Chen Shu-lun (陳淑綸) said, citing a police statement.

On Sunday night, the groups announced that the staging area was changed from the intersection of Zhenjiang Street and Qingdao E Road to the intersection of Qingdao E and Zhongshan S roads.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-01-07

More than a thousand migrant workers and their supporters took to the streets of Taipei

on Sunday to draw attention to labor rights.

The crowds braved the cold weather and driving rain to participate in the demonstration, organized by the Taipei-based Migrants Empowerment Network in Taiwan.

This year’s theme was “Recognizing Non-Citizens”. The protestors marched from the labor ministry to the Presidential Office building. They called on the government to do more to protect their labor rights and to allow them to participate in the policymaking process.

A migrant worker from the Philippines addressed the crowd before the march. The woman, who asked not to be named, said that Taiwan should recognize the civil rights of non-citizens, including migrant workers. She also said the government should abolish the existing migrant worker employment broker system, which has been criticized as exploitative.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 08, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday launched a series of postcards featuring

professions in which overwork is prevalent, as it tried to block amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), which are due to be reviewed in the legislature today, calling on the public to inundate lawmakers and top government agencies with postcards expressing people’s anger.

While the government is shutting out the people through thick barricades and heavy police security, the KMT designed these postcards to let the public vent their anger, KMT spokesman Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪) told a morning news conference in Taipei.

“As the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] administration does not want to listen [to people’s voices] and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has complained about protesters being too loud, we have to resort to the written word and the power of the Internet to let the Tsai administration see our anger,” Huang said.

Huang was referencing Tsai’s remarks in May last year in response to a spate of protests against her administration since her inauguration in May 2016.  [FULL  STORY]

The Nation
Date: January 07, 2018
By EPA-EFE

The Enlightening Earth Systems shows a painting of Buddha on display at the Taoyuan Arena in Taoyuan City, northern Taiwan, on Sunday.

The painting, measuring 166.5 by 72.5 meters and nearly finished, is done by Zen master and painter Hung Chi-sung to promote world peace. Only a third of the painting is on display at the Taoyuan Arena and the completed painting will be displayed in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, in May.     [FULL  STORY]

The man was struck by one train and pushed into the path of the second

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/07
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On the evening of Jan. 6 in Pingtung County, a middle aged

man crossing the train tracks was struck and killed.

The accident occurred southern Taiwan, in eastern Pingtung County at 6:25 p.m. near Xishi Station(西勢站).

According to the report from CNA, the man was crossing the tracks and was struck by a TRA Juguang (莒光) No.734 train. The force of the strike threw the man into the air, and into the path of an oncoming No. 513 train headed the opposite direction.

The man likely misjudged his timing, and his distance from the oncoming trains.

Without time for the train to slowdown, the man was instantly killed, being run over by the most of the length of the 513 train.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/07
By: Wang Shu-fen and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Jan. 7 (CNA) Taiwan is calling for discussions with China on issues related to aviation management in the Taiwan Strait, in the wake of China’s recent unilateral activation of four aviation routes close to the median line of the strait.

Last week, China reneged on a 2015 cross-strait agreement with Taiwan and unilaterally activated four new aviation routes in the Taiwan Strait — a northbound path on the M503 route and three east-west extension routes called W121, W122 and W123.

The M503 at its nearest point is only 7.8 km from the centerline of the strait and close to the Taipei Flight Information Region, while the W122 and W123 are close to Taiwan’s offshore islands of Matsu and Kinmen, respectively.

China’s move to open the four flight routes without prior negotiation with Taiwan has sparked concerns in Taipei about potential intrusions into domestic flight routes to and from Matsu and Kinmen.    [FULL  STORY]