Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/03/26
By: Hsieh Chiachen, Huang Chiao-wen and Ted Chen

Taipei, March 26 (CNA) The Water Resources Agency (水利署, WRA) said Thursday that the

two periods of rainfall over the past weeks have brought enough water to sustain the supply at Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) for an additional 10 days only.

Bolstered by 800 million tons of rainfall, the water level at Shihmen Reservoir has far risen by 55.9 mm and is expected to continue climbing, the agency said.

The situation at the country’s other reservoirs is similar, the WRA said, estimating that the depletion time has been extended by 1 to 8 days since the recent rains started.     [FULL  STORY]

RISKS?A national security official said that the launch of the route would keep PLA air force patrols closer to the Chinese coast, giving Taiwan more response time

Taipei Times
Date:  Mar 27, 2015
By: Chiu Yen-ling, Tsao Po-yen and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

About 40 members of the Restoration of Taiwan Social Justice group clashed with police

yesterday after staging a surprise protest against a controversial Chinese flight route at the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) offices, calling on MAC Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) to step down.

The M503 flight route — which runs close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait and is scheduled to be inaugurated on Sunday — has come under heavy criticism from many in Taiwan.

Critics say that it could endanger national security and that it circumvents legislative oversight.

The route was an arbitrary announcement by China, the group’s chief executive, Lin Yu-lun (林于倫), said, adding that even after negotiations with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, Beijing only agreed to move the flight route westward by 6 nautical miles (11km), placing it 10.2 nautical miles from the median line of the Taiwan Strait.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-03-26
By: CNA

Chen Kuo-en, commissioner of the New Taipei City Police Department, has been appointed the

new chief of the National Police Agency (NPA), Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior announced Thursday.

Chen will take over from retiring NPA director-general Wang Cho-chiun on April 1, the ministry said.

Wang, 63, became head of the National Police Agency on June 20, 2008 and is Taiwan’s longest serving police chief to date.

The interior ministry said that since the start of Wang’s law enforcement career in 1975, he has held several important posts and has done outstanding work, cracking several major criminal cases. In recognition of his efforts, the ministry will present him with a professional medal and a first-grade police medal on Friday.     [FULL  STORY]

Thanh Nien News
Date: March 26, 2015

A scaffolding collapse at Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ha Tinh Province late Tuesday has killed

at least 16 construction workers and injured 27, officials said.
Nguyen Huy Tang of the Ha Tinh border guard said the accident occurred at around 8 p.m. when the workers were building the scaffold, which stood between 30 meters to 40 meters high, in the Ha Tinh Steel Complex & Son Duong Port, invested by Formosa Plastics Group.

The collapsed scaffold was part of a project contracted by a labor supply company based in the central city of Da Nang and invested by Samsung C&T, a subsidiary of Samsung.
“A tunnel below the scaffold structure has hindered rescue work,” Tang said. “All available resources have been mobilized to rescue around other 100 workers trapped under the rubble.”    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/03/25
By: Yin Chun-chieh and Lilian Wu

Taipei, March 25 (CNA) Taiwan’s former Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) and Chinese

President Xi Jinping (習近平) are expected to meet at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference on Saturday, sources said Wednesday.

The sources said the meeting will focus on Taiwan’s bid to join international organizations and participate in regional economic integration.

Siew and Xi may also discuss the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the sources said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/03/25
By: Lung Pei-ning, Chen Ching-fang and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, March 25 (CNA) Tests completed on 193 of 283 food items sneaked into Taiwan from Japanese areas contaminated by radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 showed no traces of radioactive substances, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Wednesday.

The 283 products, which should not have entered Taiwan because of a ban on food from the nuclear-affected Japanese prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gumma and Chiba, were seized on market shelves after FDA inspectors discovered some Japanese imports carrying false labels during customs checks last month.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-03-25
By: CNA

While the United States has praised consensus reached by the two sides of the Taiwan Strait

on a controversial commercial flight route that comes close to the median line of the strait, Taiwan’s main opposition party wants the government to be held liable for what it describes as a failure to properly handle the controversy.

Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng said Tuesday that the way in which the government handled the issue on the south-north flight route M503, which China has announced it will begin using March 29, is “not in line with the nation’s best interests.”

In a written statement, Cheng said that judging from the latest developments on the issue, “the Taiwan side has obviously been only passively informed by the Chinese side of its test flights and the date it has set to begin using the route.”     [FULL  STORY]

RADIOACTIVE?The admission comes amid mounting pressure from Japan and a discovery of foodstuffs that have entered the country under counterfeit origin labels

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 26, 2015
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Minister of Health and Welfare Chiang Been-huang (蔣丙煌) yesterday acknowledged that the

ministry is mulling lifting its ban on imports of food products from five Japanese prefectures near the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, following discoveries that more than 250 food products manufactured in the five areas have illegally entered the country with false origin labeling.

Chiang made the remarks when pressed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) at a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee yesterday morning to confirm reports that the government is deliberating relaxing the ban due to mounting pressure from the Japanese government.

“It is true that Japan has made such a request, actually more than once over the years since the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi meltdown. It stressed that its nation’s [food] products were safe, and to my knowledge, many other countries have agreed to similar requests,” Chiang said.     [FULL  STORY]

FAMILY WAKE:The premier was bombarded with questions about the nature of Ma’s visit following media reports saying that ‘Ma was on a private trip’

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 25, 2015
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan and Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporters

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday made an unexpected visit to Singapore to pay

tribute to the late Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀), with government officials offering ambiguous answers to questions about in what capacity Ma is making the trip.

Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) told lawmakers during a question-and-answer session at the legislature that Ma was traveling to Singapore as the “head of state.”

A government official, who asked to remain anonymous, said Ma was invited by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍), one of Lee Kuan Yew’s sons, to attend a private family wake at the official residence of the prime minister in his capacity as Lee Kuan Yew’s “old friend.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/03/22
By Bear Lee CNA Staff Writer

Nearly 220,000 migrant health care givers currently work in Taiwan, but about 200,000 of

those, being hired as either domestic helpers or caregivers, are not protected under Taiwan’s Labor Standards Law. That means longer working hours, lower pay and fewer protections than migrant workers in other industries.

Wu Ching-ju (吳靜如), a member of the Taiwan International Workers Association, a non-profit organization for the protection of migrant workers, noted that the NT$15,840 (about NT$498) average monthly wage for migrant domestic helpers has remained unchanged for 18 years.     [FULL  STORY]