Monthly Archives: April 2016

Taiwan-Thailand investment forum held to promote exchanges

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/26
By: Liu Te-chang and Elaine Hou

Bangkok, April 26 (CNA) A Taiwan-Thailand investment forum was held Tuesday in Bangkok, in

(From the Department of Investment Services' Facebook page)

(From the Department of Investment Services’ Facebook page)

an effort to promote investment exchanges between the two countries.

Organized by Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, the forum was attended by officials and business representatives from both sides.

The Taiwanese delegation to the forum consisted of representatives from the automobile parts, green energy and construction sectors, said Lien Yu-ping (連玉蘋), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Investment Services.

In addition to the forum, the delegates also had the opportunity to have one-on-one meetings with their Thai counterparts to explore business opportunities, Lien said.     [FULL  STORY]

Powertech foresees slow, steady growth

FAN-OUT PACKAGING:The firm plans to boost capital spending by about 38 percent this year to finance capacity expansion and the development of advanced technology

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 27, 2016
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

Powertech Technology Inc (PTI, 力成科技) expects revenue to grow gradually over the next three quarters on rising demand for advanced handset chips, after seasonal weakness pared net profits 12.7 percent sequentially last quarter, company executives said yesterday.

The Hsinchu-based chip tester and packager also said the government’s suspension of a NT$19.4 billion (US$599.45 million) investment plan by Chinese semiconductor firm Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd (清華紫光) would not affect this year’s business outlook.

“We have arranged cash and technologies to support the company’s business plan this year. The Tsinghua Unigroup case, which is still under government review, will not affect our business, revenue, cash position and capital spending,” chairman Tsai Du-kung (蔡篤恭) told an investors’ conference yesterday.     [FULL  STORY]

Legislators to visit South Korea

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-26
By: Chia Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Lin Te-fu said Tuesday that he along with several other 6750646legislators will visit South Korea from May 9 to 13 on behalf of Legislative Speaker Su Chia-chyuan, marking the first time Taiwan embark on an official visit to the Northeast Asian nation since the two severed ties in 1992.

Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Lin Te-fu said Tuesday that he along with several other legislators will visit South Korea from May 9 to 13 on behalf of Legislative Speaker Su Chia-chyuan, marking the first time Taiwan embarks on an official visit to the Northeast Asian nation at the official invitation of its congress since the two severed ties in 1992.
Relations between the two nations have seen major improvements in recent years as tourism and bilateral trade have increased.

The legislator said the visiting delegates will include Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Yu Mei-nu, Wu Kuen-yuh and Chen Ying, KMT legislator Sra Kacaw, and New Power Party (NPP) legislator Chen Yi-chieh.     [FULL  STORY]

Old man falls from rooftop, kills woman

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/26
By: Hsiao Po-yang and CNA intern Lauren Hung

Taipei, April. 26 (CNA) An elderly man fell to his death from the seventh floor of a building in

(Police photo)

(Police photo)

Nantou County Tuesday, hitting and killing a woman, according to the county’s fire department.

The man and the woman were taken to Tsenghanchi General Hospital and Yumin Hospital, respectively, by fire fighters who rushed to the scene, where both were pronounced dead.

The man, 66, fell when trying to cross a fence to a neighboring building. The woman, 74, was a vegetable vendor.      [SOURCE]

Chang Ching-sen angers with anti-activist remarks

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 27, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

Minister without portfolio-designate Chang Ching-sen (張景森), who was president-elect Tsai

Premier-designate Lin Chuan speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times

Premier-designate Lin Chuan speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times

Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policy office executive director, stirred up controversy with comments on Facebook calling activists “pathetic” for having sided with a family who resisted an urban renewal project that demolished their residence, but are now reportedly receiving five apartments in the completed apartment complex.

The post, criticized by activists and politicians alike and deleted soon after it was posted, also prompted a response from premier-designate Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday.
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Lin said he wished to remind Cabinet members that “with the change of our positions, every slip of the tongue can cause social distress and lead all our efforts in preparation for future reforms to go up in smoke.”

“Urban renewal has to be done, but it should not be the means for corporations to speculate and rake in profits. The Wenlin Yuan case was so controversial because then-Taipei City Government had become the demolition team of the construction company, which had advertised the project before the dispute was resolved,” Lin told a news conference yesterday. “The procedure was indeed flawed.”

He said that Chang’s remarks “blurred why the project was contentious” since “people’s rights, their emotional attachment to their home, democratic procedure and public interest” are things that cannot be measured in terms of money, “and this is what we should always remember.”     [FULL  STORY]

Premier slams Japan over island claims

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-26
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Premier Simon Chang slammed Japan Tuesday over its detention of a 6750685Taiwanese fishing crew based on claims over a reef which was only “three tatamis large.”

The Japanese coast guard stopped the Tung Sheng Chi No.16 fishing boat from Pingtung County early Monday, claiming it had been just 150 nautical miles from the coral reefs of Okinotori, which is 9 square meters large.

Taiwan has disputed Japan’s interpretation that the island can be inhabited, thus claiming a 200-mile exclusive economic zone in which it can detain fishing vessels from other nations.

Chang said Tuesday the Taiwanese ship had been operating in international waters, and Japan had no right to board it and detain the 10-member crew. He reportedly said Okinotori was only “three tatamis large,” a reference to the Japanese straw mats which are also used as a unit of measurement.

International law recognized the area as a reef, but certainly not as an island, the premier said.     [FULL  STORY]

Organizer jailed for fiery blast at water park party (update)

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/26
By: Paige Tsai, Chen Wei-ting, Yu Kai-hsiang and Y.F. Low

Taipei, April 26 (CNA) The organizer of a party in New Taipei last June during which nearly 500

(CNA photo June 27, 2015)

(CNA photo June 27, 2015)

people were injured in a dust explosion was sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison Tuesday. Fifteen of the victims later died of their injuries.

Lu Chung-chi (呂忠吉), the head of the local firm that organized the Color Play Asia party at the Formosa Fun Coast (八仙樂園) water park in the city’s Bali District on June 27, 2015, was found guilty of negligence causing death and injury.

Duty lawyers representing the victims expressed regret at the light sentence handed down on Lu and said they will decide whether to request prosecutors to appeal the case after discussing the details with the victims’ families.

The blast occurred when colored cornstarch powder used for party effects exploded and burst into flames, engulfing partygoers in fire.     [FULL  STORY]

Majority unclear on ‘1992 consensus’: poll

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 27, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Despite President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) frequent reference to the so-called “1992 consensus,” a significant majority of respondents to a poll published yesterday said they are unaware of the contents of the “consensus.”

The telephone-based survey, conducted by the Taiwan Brain Trust on Wednesday and Thursday last week, sought to gauge the public’s perceptions of the “1992 consensus” and their national identity.

The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.

Of those polled, 76.2 percent were unclear about the main appeal of the “1992 consensus,” with 18.2 percent saying they had a clear understanding of the content of the “consensus.”

Asked whether they supported letting the “consensus” be the foundation of cross-strait interactions, more than half, or 52.3 percent, of the respondents opposed the idea, compared with 33.3 percent who supported it.     [FULL  STORY]

Penghu restates heavy penalty for entering ‘Blue Cave’

Taiwan News
Date 2016-04-26
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Penghu County Government reiterated on Tuesday that entering the ‘Blue Cave’ on Xiji Islet in 6750688the South Penghu Marine National Park is subject to heavy fines after word spread that yachts have sailed close to the cave entrance for tourists to engage in snorkeling activities.

Xiji is a small, uninhabited island in a remote part of the archipelago chain of Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait.

The Blue Cave, located in the Penghu South Sea Basalt Nature Reserve, is fast becoming a tourist draw after photographs taken around the Blue Cave went viral on the Internet.

The county government said news has spread that some tourists visiting the Blue Cave were trapped in an area with rapid currents and later safely rescued last year.     [FULL  STORY]

Hundreds of Taiwanese Companies Fined for Exploiting Workers

The News Lens
Date 2016/04/26
Translated and compiled by Yuan-ling Liang

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Photo Credit:洪慈庸

On April 25, the Taipei City’s Department of Labor issued the latest list of companies that have violated the Labor Standards Act. Industries such transportation, medical care, finance, catering and media are all on the list. Well known companies including MUJI, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, Michael Kors, Edwin and Net are among those named.

Since January, four lists of companies and organizations that violate the Labor Standards Act have been announced. Liberty Times reports, most of the violators, including 48 companies, have been fined for not giving extra payment to their employees even when they extend their working hours. Thirty four companies were fined for not letting employees rest on weekends while 30 of them make workers work overtime.

According to another survey conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the Ministry of Labor, in 2015, 337 companies violated the regulations, including McDonald’s and the Formosa Fun Coast, where the water park powder explosion accident took place.

Disadvantaged groups are more likely to be exploited by their employers and usually do not complain, OSHA says.     [FULL  STORY]