FISH OR FOWL? Food delivery platforms must take out insurance for their workers, whether they are deemed employers or contractors, the Ministry of Labor said

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 16, 2019
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said that he had instructed the Ministry of Labor to step

up inspections of large innovative firms or chains following several fatal road accidents involving food couriers.

Su made the remarks at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei in response to lawmakers’ questions about the deaths of Foodpanda and Uber Eats couriers in traffic accidents on Thursday and on Sunday respectively.

The incidents have raised questions about the labor practices of the food delivery platforms.

The two companies do not take out labor insurance for deliverers due to a lack of a formal labor-management framework defining whether the platforms are contractors or employers.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 14 October, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

While most people in Taiwan were enjoying a four-day break for the National Day holiday this past weekend, a group of people in the east-coast county of Hualien took the opportunity to clean up the beaches and coastal waters.

The ocean off the coast of Hualien is teeming with beautiful marine life. But the habitat is endangered, as you can see from this fishing net which is hampering the coral’s respiration. Both fish and coral are dying from the pollution. But just this past weekend, a group of people went down to the coastline to help clean things up.

The local Water Resources Agency hosted a cleanup event over the long National Day weekend. People made good use of the holiday by helping clean trash from the ocean and the beach.

The opening of the Port of Hualien has resulted in the loss of coastline, but officials say that anti-erosion efforts are making a difference.    [FULL  STORY]

Voice of America
Date: October 14, 2019
By: Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI – Taiwan set out nearly 50 years ago to grow its own defense industry because the island's leaders never know how many arms they can get from abroad. Taiwan seeks a strong defense to deter China, an old military adversary with the world's third strongest armed forces.

That industry is growing steadily now in line with goals established by the ruling party in 2014 and contributing to an economy long dependent on tech but facing pressure to diversify.

"Over the past few years President Tsai Ing-wen has been promoting a self-defense industry policy and that's a good thing," said Michael Tsai, chairman of the Institute for Taiwan Defense and Strategic Studies in Taiwan.

2020 goal

The party's defense committee suggested in 2014 that to "revitalize" Taiwan's defense industry expenditures to domestic weapons production should reach at least 60% of military investments by 2020.    [FULL  STORY]

Cop confesses to taking NT$10 million bribe to cover up 1.5-ton drug load smuggled from Vietnam

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/14
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After the discovery of the biggest drug cache inside a container in Taiwanese history, a police officer has confessed that he took NT$10 million (US$326,000) in bribes to cover it up.

Earlier this year, Kaohsiung's Ciaotou District Prosecutor's Office directed the seizure of 1.5 metric tons of illegal drugs stashed inside a container, which, in turn, led to the arrest of a police officer surnamed Wu (吳), who had taken bribes to look the other way. Prosecutors found that Wu, an officer with the Special Police Third Headquarters, imported containers under the name of a company with a good track record in exchange for NT$10 million, reported UDN.

On Jan. 28 of this year, officers opened up a container in Kaohsiung Harbor and found 1.5 tons of illegal drugs inside, a record haul from a container in Taiwan. The authorities traced the shipment to a 48-year-old customs broker surnamed Shen (沈), who informed them that a police officer surnamed Wu had been helping to cover up the shipments, according to the report.

When police took Wu in for questioning, he confessed that he had helped smuggle illegal drugs on two occasions. Prosecutors said that a 45-year-old man surnamed Lin (林), a man surnamed Chen (陳), and Wu were part of a drug-smuggling ring.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/14
By: Chen Wei-ting, Liang Pei-chi and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed on Monday a cluster

infection of a respiratory virus in 10 newborns at a postpartum nursing care center in Taipei that the center did not immediately report.

The CDC confirmed the infection in response to a report that the Dianthus postpartum center in Shilin District concealed or delayed reporting the cluster infection of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and kept the parents of the affected babies in the dark.

Between Sept. 24 and Oct. 4, 10 newborns developed fevers, coughs, and runny noses and were confirmed to have RSV infections after being examined, CDC Deputy Director-General Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said, citing information from the center.

The center did not report the cluster infection until Oct. 9, a delay that violates the Communicable Disease Control Act and could result in a fine of NT$10,000-NT$150,000 (US$327-US$4,901), Lo said.    [FULL  STORY]

DIGNITARY: President Tsai Ing-wen said she chose the TSMC founder as her envoy because of his respected world status and extensive knowledge of the tech sector

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 15, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday announced that she had once again tapped Taiwan

Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) to represent her at the APEC leaders’ summit next month.

It is the second straight year that Chang is to go to the annual summit, which is to take place in Santiago, Chile, on Nov. 16 and 17.

Chang also represented Taiwan at the 2006 summit as then-president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) representative.

Chang, 88, is the former chairman of TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker. He retired on June 5 last year after more than three decades at the company’s helm.    [FULL  STORY]

Epioch Times
Date: October 13, 2019
By: Nathan Su

CUPERTINO, Calif.—At a media meetup event on Oct. 10, leaders of Taiwanese American society in northern California criticized China for blocking Taiwan’s access to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL).

The 88th INTERPOL Assembly is to open in Santiago, Chile, on Oct. 15. Taiwan has not been a member of INTERPOL since 1984, when its participation in the organization was replaced by China’s.

Under political pressure from China, Taiwan is not able to attend the assembly with a non-member observer status. As a result, the island cannot access the critical intelligence shared instantly via the I-24/7 global police communication system.

Taiwan officials have stated that it is essential to have access to this intelligence in order to counter transnational crimes and to protect the safety of communities in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Number of pets projected to outnumber children aged under 15 in Taiwan in 2020.

Mothership
Date: October 13, 2019
By: Kayla Wong

Taiwan’s northern New Taipei City has introduced seven more pet-friendly bus services, in addition to its three existing ones, according to The Liberty Times.

The new services have started running from Thursday, Oct. 10.

The new bus routes run through three pet parks: Yonghe Emerald Pet Park, Zhonghe No. 4 Pet Park, and Xinhuang Sports Park.

New Taipei City, located in northern Taiwan, is the most populous city in the self-ruled island.
[FULL  STORY]

With formal recognition from only 15 countries, Taiwan approaches diplomatic isolation

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/13
By: Timothy Rich, Western Kentucky University, Agencies

In September 2019 both Solomon Islands and Kiribati ended diplomatic relations with Taiwan (formally the Republic of China), leaving the country with formal recognition from only 15 countries.

This follows the departure since 2016 of five other diplomatic partners: Sao Tome and Principe, Panama, Burkina Faso, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. But the importance of this may be overstated.

The underlying problem for Taiwan is one of sovereignty. Although Taiwan displays the standard requirements of a state laid out in the Montevideo Convention (such as control over its territory and a stable population), it lacks recognition from most other states because the People’s Republic of China (China) views Taiwan as a renegade province that must eventually reunify. As China is opposed to dual recognition, where a country could establish formal relations with both Taiwan and China, countries must choose.

With China’s growing economic and political influence, and a willingness to provide expansive aid packages, Taiwan remains at a severe disadvantage. And since Taiwan’s election of Tsai Ing-wen from the traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party as President, China has increased its efforts to isolate Taiwan diplomatically.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/13
By: Huang Ya-shih and Joseph Yeh

Vatican City, Oct. 13 (CNA) Taiwan’s Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) on Sunday attended the canonization of late British Cardinal John Henry Newman and four others in Vatican City.

Serving as the special envoy of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Chen sat next to Brazilian Vice President Antonio Mourao and Ireland’s Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh during the ceremony, which was attended by delegations from around the world.

The dignitaries included Charles, Prince of Wales; Italian President Sergio Mattarella; Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Vellamvelly Muraleedharan; and Swiss Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter.

At the ceremony, Pope Francis canonized Cardinal Newman, a 19th century British theologian and poet; Indian Sister Marian Thresia, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family; Italian Sister Giuseppina Vannini; Brazilian Sister Dulce Lopes Pontes; and Marguerite Bays, a Swiss consecrated virgin of the Third Order of St. Francis.    [FULL  STORY]