‘VIOLENT SPEAKER’: The KMT caucus later condemned Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan, saying that he failed to remain neutral and was violent toward a legislator

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 21, 2018
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

A fracas broke out at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday before the Democratic

Progressive Party (DPP) caucus sent a draft amendment to the Act of Military Service for Officers and Noncommissioned Officers of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍軍官士官服役條例) to committee review with a majority vote.

The Executive Yuan last week unveiled the draft amendment, which proposes setting the minimum monthly pension for retired military personnel at NT$38,990, gradually phasing out an 18 percent preferential interest rate on the savings of retired personnel enlisted before 1995 and a formula for calculating pensions for military retirees.

The DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucuses yesterday each submitted a motion regarding the proposed legislation at a plenary session of the legislature, with the DPP aiming to send the bill to committee review and the KMT opposing the move.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-04-19

President Tsai Ing-wen announced on Wednesday that Taiwan will offer 100 scholarships

to students in Swaziland to finish schooling. Tsai is currently on a trip to the African ally for the first time since taking office.

Tsai said the King of Swaziland Mswati III hopes to develop his nation into a first world country by 2022. She said Taiwan will do all it can to help improve the living standards in Swaziland, especially its education.

Tsai spoke about the plan for Taiwan’s African ally. Tsai said, “I am proud to launch a new program today. This is a program that wil give promising but underprivileged young people in Swaziland full scholarships to enter the SCOT (Swaziland College of Technology). In the first phase, we plan to have 100 openings for full three-year programs.”   [FULL  STORY]

Ahead of a Girl Power Concert in Taichung, Esther Veronin traces her journey from starting out in Taiwan’s male-dominated entertainment industry to becoming a feminist icon.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/04/19
By: Jocelle Koh

“Okay, I’m ready”, says Esther Veronin, two minutes after I had turned on some music while waiting for her to finish up. Straightforward and no-nonsense even in the middle of an Adele song (EVERYONE has time for an Adele song), the 31-year-old heads Meimeiwawa Multimedia, a Taiwanese lifestyle entertainment and media production company.

She begins by recounting Meimeiwawa’s story as we lounge on floor chairs in the startup’s comfortable meeting space. Along with her sister and co-founder, the singer-songwriter Lara Veronin, Esther leads a team of six women who cover everything from artist management to video production.

The team has independently released over 200 videos and garnered hundreds of thousands of views on their YouTube channels, successfully executed a landmark NT$1 million (US$34,000) crowdfunding campaign and received accolades for their visual works at various film festivals in Taiwan and in the U.S.    [FULL  STORY]

Nearly 200 high school students in southwestern Taiwan’s Chiayi County have been stricken with food poisoning over the past two days

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/04/19
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Nearly 200 high school students in southwestern Taiwan’s

Chiayi County have sought treatment for food poisoning over the past two days, reported Liberty Times.

After being served lunch at National Chiayi Senior Commercial Vocational School yesterday afternoon, hundreds of students have reported suffering stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms associated with food poisoning, with 178 having officially checked in to Chiayi Christian Hospital.

The Chiayi City Public Health Bureau conducted on-site inspections of the school and school lunch suppliers and took samples of the lunches and the students’ vomit which have been submitted to the lab for verification of the cause in seven days.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/19
By: Kuan-lin Liu and Yu Hsiao-han

Taipei, April 19 (CNA) The Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Thursday that its annual evaluation of brokerage firms for migrant workers will begin next Monday and the results will be published later in the year.

The ministry said it will evaluate some 1,471 companies and will rate each one based on their performance in 2017 in areas such as management, client service and systems for dealing with labor law violations.

Based on their scores out of 100, the brokerages will be graded A (90 or above), B (70 to 89) or C (under 70).

The results of the evaluation will be published on the MOL’s website on Oct. 31 for the reference of employers seeking to hire migrant workers via brokers.
[FULL  STORY]

‘BORN DEMOCRATIC’: Only 2.4 percent of respondents to a survey said Taiwan should declare independence, while 1.5 percent said that Taiwan should unify with China

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 20, 2018
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Nearly 70 percent of Taiwanese are willing to go to war if China were to attempt to

annex Taiwan by force, a survey released by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy yesterday said.

The foundation considers it a fitting time to pose the question as the Chinese military has over the past few years been increasing activity near Taiwan, foundation president Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told a news conference in Taipei.

A total of 67.7 percent of respondents said they were willing to go to war to defend Taiwan if China launched an armed assault on the nation to force unification.

The number of people willing to fight to prevent unification with China rose to 70.3 percent among respondents aged 20 to 39, the survey showed.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: April 18, 2018 
By: Phillip Charlier  

A 71 year-old American man working as a cram school English teacher died yesterday, after being in a coma since April 8.

At around 4:00pm, April 8, the man, identified only as David by local media, was riding his scooter on Jianping Road in Tainan City, when a 61 year-old woman named Chen, also on a scooter, crossed an intersection against a red light, causing a collision.

David, who was not wearing a motorcycle helmet, was knocked unconscious and remained in a coma.

David’s son, Cody, arrived in Taiwan on April 15, and signed consent forms on April 16, that gave doctors permission to remove life support and donate David’s organs.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-04-18

The health minister, Chen Shih-chung, has called on friendly nations and diplomatic allies

to speak up in support of Taiwan’s inclusion at the World Health Assembly (WHA).

Chen issued his call Wednesday morning at the Legislature.

The WHA is the convening body of the World Health Organization (WHO). Taiwan attended the annual assembly as an observer from 2009 to 2016. However, it was not invited last year due to pressure from Beijing. The government has admitted that the situation this year is likely to be the same.

Several of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have already backed Taiwan’s participation in this year’s WHA, which will take place in Geneva from May 21-26.

In addition to calling for further support, Chen said Taiwan is continuing its own efforts to secure an invitation.    [FULL  STORY]

No appeals possible against Supreme Court verdict

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/04/18
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed a prison sentence

of seven years and four months for a taxi driver found guilty of raping a tourist from South Korea.

No appeals are possible against the verdict in the case which attracted international attention amid growing tourism from the other Asian country.

The driver, named as Chan Yu-ju (詹侑儒), worked for a company organizing tour packages for South Korean visitors, the Central News Agency reported.

After driving three young women from Jinguashi in New Taipei City to the Shilin Night Market in Taipei on January 12 last year, he mixed sleeping pills in yogurt drinks he offered to the women.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/18
By: Liu Lee-jung and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has not elevated its

combat readiness, despite an ongoing live-fire military exercise conducted by the China’s People’s Liberation Army, the Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday.

MND spokesman Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) called the live-fire exercise a routine drill, maintaining that claims that it is the first such exercise in the Taiwan Strait since 2015 are overplaying its scope.

The drill is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to midnight in waters off Quanzhou in China’s southeastern Fujian Province. It is contained within China’s territory, and according to the MND’s previous reports from a few days ago, it is not large or long, and has been labeled a routine drill based on precedent.

Taiwan has therefore maintained its current level of combat preparedness, which will not be dictated by any slight action by China, and is confident that its military can defend the country, Chen continued.    [FULL  STORY]