Taiwan English News
Date: July 6, 2019 
By: Phillip Charlier

A 65-year-old woman was charged with murder in Pingtung County yesterday, after the body of a 75-year-old man was found by a riverside in Gaoshu Township, June 4.

Police received a report at around 4:00am June 4, after members of the public doing their early-morning exercise found a man laying on the riverside path with no signs of breathing or heartbeat.

Investigators found the man dressed only in a shirt and underwear, with no documents, and no nearby vehicle despite the remote location.

The man’s neck had obvious marks, and his genitals had been bound with red rubber bands.
[FULL  STORY]

'Fake news' also key area of work for MJIB in run-up to January elections

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/06
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Investigation Bureau keeps a close watch on money from China influencing the 2020 election. (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) said Saturday (July 6) it would closely monitor the possibility that funds from China found their way into campaigns for next January’s presidential and legislative elections.

Officials have already expressed concern about China using “fake news” to influence the outcome of the January 11, 2020 elections, but indirect funding was also a risk.

The MJIB has reportedly already set up special taskforces to tackle the different topics, from “fake news” to the funneling of funds into Taiwan, the Central News Agency reported.

However, the service denied it was paying close attention to Chinese purchases of agricultural products from Taiwan. The activity formed a normal part of international trade and would not be targeted for further investigations, according to MJIB.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/06
By Wang Cheng-chung and Frances Huang

Taipei, July 6 (CNA) Terry Gou (郭台銘), a presidential contender of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), said Saturday that if he is elected the next president of Taiwan, he will levy a tax on the wealthy that will be worth around NT$160 billion (US$5.14 billion) per year to the government.

Gou, who is participating in the KMT primary for the 2020 presidential election, said that as one of the richest men in Taiwan, he has a better understanding than many other people in Taiwan about how to tax the wealthy.

"While others expect to collect only NT$8 billion to NT$15 billion in taxes on the rich, my method is expected to collect as much as NT$160 billion," Gou said in a Facebook post.

After entering the KMT primary, Gou called for a tax on the richest people in Taiwan, a move that is expected to allow the wealthy to shoulder a bigger burden of social welfare costs.
[FULL  STORY]

‘PEACE AGREEMENT’: An EVA attorney said the carrier did not make any concessions, as bullying is already illegal, and the union has agreed not to go on strike for three years

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 07, 2019
By: Hsieh Wu-hsiung and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union and EVA Airways (長榮航空) yesterday signed an agreement

to end a strike at midnight on Tuesday.

Union president Chao Kang (趙剛) and EVA chairman Steve Lin (林寶水) signed the agreement at the Taoyuan City Government, after Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) mediated talks.

Airline officials and union representatives at 2pm resumed negotiations for the third time as the strike entered its 17th day after starting at 4pm on June 20.

A preliminary understanding of the agreement was that it was roughly based on the terms and conditions proposed by EVA on June 28, which a majority of the union’s members had voted in favor of, except for a few changes in language and an increase to the number of people the union would appoint as directors or supervisors on the firm’s board from 11 to 13.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 05 July, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen says the public should have confidence in Taiwan’s position in its ties with the

United States and China. Tsai was speaking during an interview broadcast on Thursday.  

Tsai said Taiwan has its own role to play and has no need to bet on which side will gain the upper hand.

“Freedom, democracy and human rights are our values. We and other like-minded countries jointly maintain the values that have become a stabilizing force in the region.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2019/07/05
By: Timothy S. Rich

South Korea is unlikely to be the next in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.

Taiwan’s recent same-sex marriage legalization may indicate a global trend towards greater LGBT tolerance, especially among developed democracies. South Korea, however, remains an outlier in this trend in spite of its vibrant democracy.

Pro-LGBT organizations in South Korea were unable to register as charities as of 2015. The South Korean Court has only granted LGBT groups the right to register as tax-deductible charities two years ago, which finally allowed them to receive donations to carry out LGBT projects.

No major political party has openly supported LGBT rights. Left-leaning politicians, including Seoul mayor Park Won-Soon and President Moon Jae-In had even backtracked their previous statementsthat were perceived as supporting the LGBT community.

A few public opinion surveys differ from the government’s attitude. For example, over six waves of the World Values Survey (WVS), the percentage of respondents from South Korea claiming homosexuality to be never justifiable has declined by half since 1990, from 89.3 percent down to 42.2 percent in 2010.    [FULL  STORY]

City officials say broadcast had been approved by TAO

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Chinese officials looking on during the meeting between Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je and TAO chief Liu Jieyi (right in background, in blue shirt) (screensho

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – China broke off the Facebook live streaming of a meeting between Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and the Chinese government’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) chief Liu Jieyi (劉結一) barely 10 minutes after its start Friday (July 5).

The encounter itself, at a Shanghai hotel, had only been announced earlier in the day, with the Taipei City Government hurrying to report the change in itinerary to the Taiwanese Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), as required.

Ko, who is widely expected to announce a bid for the presidency in next January’s elections, has been spending three days in Shanghai for a twin-cities forum.

Taipei City spokespersons said the TAO had agreed to the live broadcast, but 10 minutes into the meeting, a Chinese official suddenly addressed the lens directly, asking to stop recording. A spokeswoman said the streaming had been approved, but the official kept insisting, covering the camera with his hands before the connection was cut, the Central News Agency reported.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/05
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, July 5 (CNA) About 60 members of the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union (TFAU) on Friday marched from Taoyuan to Taipei to deliver a petition to the Presidential Office in Taipei, asking the president to show support for flight attendants in their ongoing strike.

"We are not asking the president to fight for our benefits but to help supervise businesses and protect our labor rights," said Lin Yu-chia (林昱嘉), a TFAU director and EVA Air flight attendant.

After marching 27 kilometers from outside EVA Airways' corporate headquarters where the striking flight attendants are holding out, Lin and fellow union members delivered their petition and 30 letters from EVA Air flight attendants to a Presidential Office representative.

The representative said their appeals, which reminded Tsai that she supported striking China Airlines flight attendants in 2016 and asked that she stand on the side of justice, will be passed on to the president.    [FULL  STORY]

CONTINUING REFORMS: Sources said that amendments would stipulate penalties for people or groups that act against Taiwan’s national security or social stability

Taipei Times
Date: l 06, 2019
By: Lee Hsin-fang and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that her administration would push an initiative

through the Legislative Yuan that would outlaw the activities of “Chinese communist surrogates.”

The legislation would strictly regulate activities by people, groups or institutions that could undermine national security by spreading Chinese propaganda, making statements on Beijing’s behalf, or participating in official events hosted or organized by China, Tsai said on Facebook

The proposal is to be introduced when the legislature begins its new session in September, she said, adding that she hopes it could pass before the end of the session.

Tsai also expressed gratitude to lawmakers for passing amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) on Wednesday.    [FULL  STORY]

PROFESSIONAL COVER: Prosecutors said that the duo used their engineering firm to secure contracts at restricted facilities, where they collected sensitive materials

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 05, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Authorities yesterday detained two contractors with restricted communications following an

investigation by the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau over their alleged spying for China on military bases.

The two men, surnamed Chang (張) and Lin (林), in 2016 set up an engineering firm in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和), with Chang as the firm’s owner and Lin as his main business partner.

Following months of surveillance of the two men by the bureau’s national security division, raids were last month conducted at the firm and their residences, and they were taken in for questioning.

To prevent the duo from being tipped off about the impending raids, network jammers were used to disrupt their communications, the bureau said.    [FULL  STORY]