Monthly Archives: April 2016

Chiang Ching-kuo’s tomb at risk from quake: official

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 24, 2016
By: Lo Tien-pin and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A senior government official yesterday warned that the mausoleum of former

The entrance to the Tzuhu Presidential Burial Place is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: Tsai Chia-yen, Taipei Times

The entrance to the Tzuhu Presidential Burial Place is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: Tsai Chia-yen, Taipei Times

president Chiang Ching-kuo (將經國) might be in danger due to its proximity to a faultline.

The bodies of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his son Chiang Ching-kuo were not buried. Chiang Ching-kuo’s body was preserved at a mausoleum in Taoyuan’s Dasi District (大溪) and Chiang Kai-shek’s remains were entombed at a mausoleum in Tzuhu (慈湖).

Both mausoleums are old and require a lot of money to repair, said the official, who declined to be named, adding that repairs last year to the Chiang Ching-kuo mausoleum cost NT$13.2 million (US$408,289), while the Tzuhu mausoleum cost NT$10.4 million.

The official said that Chiang Ching-kuo building has cracks and has leaked since its commissioning in 1988 and the structure is slowly deteriorating.     [FULL  STORY]

Man jailed over male model rapes

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 23, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The High Court on Wednesday handed down a 15-year sentence to Tu Po-wen (杜博文), 45, for a string of homosexual assaults committed against models in Taiwan and China.

The ruling can be appealed.

Police said Tu was notorious for his use of “date rape” drugs mixed into drinks to render people incapacitated or unconscious, when Tu would commit sexual assaults.
Before he was arrested two years ago, authorities in Taiwan and China tagged him as a “sex predator of male models,” with police records saying he raped at least 11 men, although there are likely far more victims, as Tu had traveled to Japan and Vietnam.

Police arrested Tu at his home in New Taipei City in 2014 based on evidence provided by Chinese public security agencies, as Tu was wanted for rape and in connection to the drug overdose death of Xiang Hai (項海), 24, a rising young star in the China’s modeling industry.

At that time, the arrest was touted as a successful collaboration between Taiwan and China according to the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議), with officers from both sides working together on the case.     [FULL  STORY]

Fraud Suspects From Taiwan Have Confessed, Chinese State Media Reports

The New York Times
Date: APRIL 22, 2016
By AUSTIN RAMZYAPRIL 22, 2016

In a joint meeting, Chinese and Taiwanese officials discussed cooperation in the investigation and trial process of the 45 Taiwanese citizens charged with telecommunications fraud. By CCTV, via REUTERS on Publish Date April 22, 2016. Photo by Yin Gang/Xinhua, via Reuters.
HONG KONG — Forty-five fraud suspects from Taiwan who are suspected of cheating mainland Chinese by telephone from a base in Kenya have admitted guilt and will soon face trial, according to the Chinese police, the state news media reported on Friday.

The suspects were deported from Kenya to China this month, stirring concern in Taiwan that Beijing was using its international clout to control the fate of the accused.

Officials from Taiwan visited the Beijing detention center where the suspects were being held on Thursday, and they met with Chinese officials to discuss visitation rights and treatment of the detainees. Only some of the suspects have seen a lawyer, according to Xinhua, China’s state-run news service.

Some of the suspects had been tried for fraud in Kenya and acquitted, while the others had not yet faced trial when they were deported. Because the victims of the purported telephone hoaxes were overwhelmingly from the mainland, Chinese officials demanded that the suspects be sent there, along with Chinese citizens also accused of involvement in the alleged fraud ring.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan shares end moderately lower

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-22
By: By Frances Huang, Central News Agency

Shares in Taiwan closed moderately lower Friday as investors took cues from the losses on Wall Street overnight amid concerns over earnings among the heavyweights in the U.S. market, dealers said.

Selling in the bellwether electronics sector in Taiwan was evident as investors locked in their gains from the previous session, which pushed down the broader market, dealers said.

The financial sector, however, remained resilient, helping to shore up the weighted index, they said.

The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange ended down 32.90 points, or 0.38 percent, at 8,535.75, after moving between 8,501.03 and 8,580.33. Turnover totaled NT$78.55 billion (US$2.43 billion) during the session.     [FULL  STORY]

Wages affected by lower year-end bonuses

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/22
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Frances Huang

Taipei, April 22 (CNA) The average wage for the first two months of this year fell 201604220020t0001from a year earlier as employers doled out lower year-end bonuses before the Lunar New Year holiday in the wake of an economic slowdown, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Friday.

According to the DGBAS, the average wage stood at NT$67,425 (US$2,087), down 2.69 percent from a year earlier after employees on average received year-end bonuses equal to 1.54 months of their salary, down from an average of 1.69 months of their salary seen a year earlier.

The DGBAS said that due to slower business, employers here gave about NT$4,950 less in year-end bonuses this year than a year earlier. The latest year-end bonuses were the lowest in three years in terms of the number of months paid, the government agency said. In 2014 and 2013, year-end bonuses doled out by employers here were equal to 1.55 months of wages and 1.44 months, respectively, the DGBAS data showed.     [FULL  STORY]

IEK sees slow pickup in manufacturing

CONSERVATIVE OUTLOOK:The market researcher expects the manufacturing sector’s revenue to contract this quarter, before rising by 0.87 percent next quarter

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 23, 2016
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

The manufacturing sector is expected to return to growth only from next quarter,

Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center senior researcher Peter Cheng speaks about the future of global manufacturing yesterday in Taipei. Photo: Wang Meng-lun, Taipei Times

Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center senior researcher Peter Cheng speaks about the future of global manufacturing yesterday in Taipei. Photo: Wang Meng-lun, Taipei Times

as a stagnant global economy and intensifying competition continue to stifle demand, the Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK) said yesterday.

IEK originally expected the manufacturing sector to recover from a recession this quarter.

Now, the Hsinchu-based market researcher expects the sector to see revenue shrink by 0.48 percent this quarter, before picking up and posting an annual growth of 0.87 percent next quarter.

For the whole of this year, IEK forecasts sector revenue growth of 0.11 percent to NT$17.79 trillion (US$550.26 billion), down from the 0.96 percent increase to NT$17.94 trillion it estimated three months ago.     [FULL  STORY]

Corrupt officials to lose pension benefits

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-22
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Legislative Yuan on Friday approved an 6749740amendment which will see officials who are sentenced to at least seven years in prison for corruption forced to return their retirement benefits.

The legal amendments have been dubbed the “Yeh Shih-wen articles” after the former Taoyuan County vice magistrate who was the focus of public outrage after he was known to continue drawing a government pension even after receiving a 21-year prison sentence for taking bribes from developers.

Under the new version, corrupt civil servants will see their retirement benefits end completely, while they will be forced to pay back pension funds already received, reports said.     [FULL  STORY]

Mercury could exceed 30 degrees in most areas of Taiwan until Sunday

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/22
By: Huang Yu and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 22 (CNA) Daytime temperature highs will stay at over 30 degrees

Taipei, Thursday.

Taipei, Thursday.

Celsius until Sunday, when a new weather front will bring occasional showers to areas north of central Taiwan, eastern Taiwan, and mountainous areas in the south, the Central Weather Bureau forecast Friday.

Under the influence of the approaching front, daytime highs in northern Taiwan will decrease slightly to 29 degrees April 24 and will drop further to 25 degrees April 25, the bureau predicted.

The influence, however, will be mild in central and southern areas next week, where highs will remain at 30-32 degrees, according to the bureau.

Occasional showers in eastern and northern Taiwan and mountainous areas of central and southern Taiwan were forecast for Friday afternoon, while the weather in other areas was expected to be mostly cloudy, the bureau said.     [FULL  STORY]

Future Cabinet spokesman stands by minister-designate’s import comments

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 23, 2016
By: Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter

Cabinet spokesperson-to-be Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) yesterday defended Council of Agriculture minister-designate Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻) over his remarks about lifting the ban on importing US pork products, saying Tsao’s comments are in line with the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) four fundamental principles on the issue.

Joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a common aspiration in Taiwan and talks on membership are certain to include whether to lift the ban on importing US pork products, he said.

“The DPP has four basic principles on the issue: ensuring food safety, reducing the impact on the industry, staying in line with international standards and establishing a mechanism to smoothly communicate with all parties,” he said. “It is under such preconditions that we would take care of the pork products import issue in negotiations for the TPP.”

“Tsao’s remarks did not go beyond the four principles. It is just that sometimes, newspapers might focus on different things,” Tung said.

However, DPP lawmakers appeared divided on the import issue.     [FULL  STORY]