Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-10-25

Premier William Lai on Thursday demanded all relevant government agencies step up

their efforts in getting to the bottom of the recent deadly train crash. A Puyuma express train derailed and overturned, killing 18 and injuring 210 in Yilan on Sunday.

Lai said the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) has had too many accidents, but its study of the causes of the crashes has been too superficial. He is calling on the TRA to initiate serious reforms. Transportation minister Wu Hong-mo said he will have the plans for a complete inspection of the TRA system by next week.

Meanwhile, Wu on Thursday approved the resignation of the TRA head, Lu Chieh-shen for the accident. Wu said he has also tendered his resignation to the premier and that he takes responsibility for the crash as well. Lai has yet to approve or turn down Wu’s resignation.    [FULL  STORY]

As Pride approaches, world-famous fashion photographer Leslie Kee is casting Taiwan’s LGBT community in its very best light.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/10/25
By: Cat Thomas

Every year on the last weekend of October, thousands of people from around Asia flock to Taipei for the continent’s biggest Pride Parade. The annual march, which has been running since 2003, is attended by people from all walks of life to celebrate the human right to be yourself.

As Pride approaches, celebrated Singaporean photographer Leslie Kee – who has snapped subjects such as Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Kate Moss over his 20-year career – spent last Sunday photographing 200 LGBT subjects for “Out In Taiwan,” which follows his successful exhibits “Out in Japan” (ongoing since 2015) and “Out in Singapore” (2018).

The projects aim to humanize the LGBT community and familiarize the public with their diverse faces.

Taiwan has long led the way in LGBT rights in the region and currently boasts a progressive gender equality education policy in the form of the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法), which has been in place since 2004. Additionally, in May 2017 the Constitutional Court ruled that marriage is a human right and should not be denied on the basis of sexuality, in the process giving Taiwan’s parliament a two-year deadline to legislate on its decision.    [FULL  STORY]

Super Typhoon Yutu strongest to ever hit US territory, Northern Philippines, Southern Taiwan in its crosshairs

Taiwan News 
Date: Date: 2018/10/26
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Super Typhoon Yutu became the strongest typhoon to ever hit a U.S. territory when it hammered Saipan and Tinian yesterday and now is on a path that appears to be headed somewhere between the Northern Philippines and Southern Taiwan.

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said that Super Typhoon Yutu, the 26th tropical storm of the year, has weakened somewhat, but is nearing Taiwan, and is expected to reach the waters off the coast of southern Taiwan by next week. However, varying models from different national weather agencies have Yutu, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) described as the strongest typhoon on Earth this year, possibly striking the northern Philippines, southern Taiwan or Japan’s Ryukyu Islands.

According to the CWB, Yutu shifted southward when it hit the Northern Marianas and is now moving west. The CWB said the peak of its strength has passed and it now expects to reach the northern part of the Philippine island of Luzon and the waters off the coast of southern Taiwan by Oct. 31.

However, forecasts from weather agencies of other countries have Yutu either shifting northward in the Pacific Ocean ahead of schedule or crossing the heart of Luzon Island, thus the ultimate impact on Taiwan is difficult to predict, and its path will not become more evident until next week.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/25
By: Ku Chuan

Taipei, Oct. 25 (CNA) The resignation of Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) Director-

General Lu Chieh-shen (鹿潔身) in the wake of a train derailment in northeastern Taiwan on Oct. 21 has been approved, Transportation Minister Wu Hong-mo (吳宏謀) said Thursday.

The derailment of Puyuma express No. 6432, which took place in Yilan County, left 18 dead and 210 injured.     [FULL  STORY]

SWEEPING REFORM: The Executive Yuan has ordered the transportation ministry to submit a bill for the creation of an independent safety committee within a month

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 26, 2018
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

The Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) accident reviews often exude an air of

complacency as if the agency “embraces its shortcomings,” Premier William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.

“The TRA had caused many accidents before. This time, it must engage in serious introspection and make strenuous efforts to introduce sweeping reform,” Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka quoted Lai as telling a news conference in Taipei.

The government must “let experience be its guide” and show determination to prevent similar tragedies if it is to live up to public expectations, Lai said after listening to a briefing by officials on Sunday’s derailment of a Puyuma Express train in Yilan County.

The government would take the first step toward reform by conducting an impartial, open and transparent investigation into the incident, which would establish facts based strictly on evidence and hold accountable all agencies and people who bear responsibility, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-10-24

Premier William Lai has traveled from Taipei to Hualien on a Puyuma Express train. The

east-coast service resumed Wednesday after a crash on Sunday that killed 18 and left 190 injured.

On Wednesday, Premier William Lai boarded a Puyuma Express train bound for Hualien on Taiwan’s east coast. Lai’s train was the first to run on repaired track following the fatal derailment of another Puyuma Express train Sunday. The accident was the worst train disaster in Taiwan for 37 years.

Lai said his trip was a concrete way of encouraging public confidence in the service’s safety. He called on the public to support the service.    [FULL  STORY]

A military insider reveals how events like the Kansai Airport disinformation incident expose deep flaws in Taiwan’s strategy to counter Chinese influence campaigns.

The News Lensa
Date: 2018/10/24
By: Lieutenant Ho

The Republic of China (ROC) military is not usually candid about internal affairs as it fears they will negatively affect morale. But without a war to fight, even if the Eight Flags of the ROC Army are bursting with morale, it will not make much of a difference.

Surely it is be better to openly discuss internal problems, so that we at least know what needs to be improved.

Personally, I’m not afraid of leaking any internal secrets to the enemy. After all, the worst kept secret is that, in the fight against Chinese psychological warfare, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has no clue what it’s doing.    [FULL  STORY]

The move will see 8000 businesses barred from offering customers plastic straws

Taiwan News
Datye: 2018/10/24
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The government is planning to introduce new regulations to curb

plastic use in certain places next year.

Many places across Taiwan will be barred from providing customers with single-use plastic straws starting July 2019. A number of top hotels around the country have already kicked the habit and are instead using paper straws. It is estimated measures will reduce the consumption of around 300,000 units per year.

The Executive Yuan’s Environmental Protection Administration is to place a ban on the use of plastic straws in four major places: government departments and public buildings, public schools, shopping centers and fast food chains. Around 8000 businesses will be banned from offering single-use straws altogether.

Although the new regulation will only come into effect in July next year, many private businesses have begun adjusting practices already.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/24
By: Ku Chuan and Lee Hsin-Yin 

Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) An Executive Yuan task force that is currently investigating the deadly derailment of a Puyuma express train on Oct. 21 said Wednesday that the train driver did report about turning off an automatic train protection (ATP) system, refuting what the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said earlier in the day.

According to Minister without Portfolio Wu Tze-cheng (吳澤成), who is heading the task force, the driver told dispatchers at 4:46 p.m. that he had turned off the ATP, four minutes before the train derailed near Xinma Station, Yilan County.

Deactivation of the system could lead to speeding, which was the main cause of the derailment as the train was traveling at nearly twice the permissible speed when it entered the station, prosecutors said.

While the train driver had told prosecutors that he turned off the system near Daxi Station, 44 km north of Xinma, it had been unclear whether he had reported about his move and got approval as he should have.    [FULL  STORY]

UNTAINTED: The Democratic Progressive Party caucus did not want to see religious groups smeared due to the chaos surrounding the bill, the caucus convener said

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 25, 2018
By: Yang Chun-hui, Lin Liang-sheng, Lee Hsin-fang and Sherry Hsia  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Due to controversy over a draft religious basic act, the Legislative Yuan’s Internal

Administration Committee decided to cancel a scheduled review scheduled for yesterday.

The draft act was sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) and Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), as well as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺), and cosigned by more than 30 legislators across party lines.

Article 10 of the bill would have established the principle of the separation of “divine” and “mortal”, and forbidden the governing authorities from interfering in religious affairs.

The same article would have prevented the courts from mediating religious affairs, or interfering with the organizing of religious groups and the appointing of group personnel.
[FULL  STORY]