Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/08
By: Joseph Yeh, CNA staff reporter and CNA Team 

In response to accusations that the country is a major source of international fraud,

Taiwan’s government has since 2014 amended related laws three times, paving the way for Taiwan nationals found guilty of telecoms fraud at home and overseas to receive heavier penalties.

The most recent revision took place in April 2017 when amendments to the Organized Crime Prevention Act took effect, under which telecommunications fraud is now categorized as organized crime, according to Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) during a February interview with CNA.

As a result, gang leaders convicted of telecoms fraud face 3-10 years in prison and a fine of up to NT$100 million (US$3.41 million), while those involved in such activities are subject to a prison sentence ranging from six months to 10 years and a fine of up to NT$10 million.    [FULL  STORY]

March 25 marked the 71st anniversary of renowned Taiwanese painter Chen Cheng-po’s death during the brutal crackdown on anti-government uprisings that began on Feb. 27, 1947 — known as the 228 Incident. Ko Tsung-ming, first-prize winner in the New Taiwan Peace Foundation’s Taiwanese Historical Novel literary contest awarded on March 17, expounded on the idea behind his winning piece, titled ‘The Chen Cheng-po Code,’ in an interview with ‘Liberty Times’ (sister newspaper of the ‘Taipei Times’) staff reporter Lan Tzu-wei

Taipei Times 
Date: Apr 09, 2018 

Liberty Times (LT): Can you tell us how you came to write the novel, The Chen Cheng-po

Code (陳澄波密碼)?

Ko Tsung-ming (柯宗明): My wife, Shih Ju-fang (施如芳), and I have long worked together writing scripts, and in 2007 we were approached by [artistic director] Wang An-chi (王安祈), who asked us to create a script based on localist imagery, for a piece that would be performed by the Guoguang Opera Company.

We believed our home was our ancestral land, and everything on Taiwan should therefore be considered local. We did not believe that localist culture should be confined to the temples. I thought of Chinese calligraphist Wang Xizhi’s (王羲之, 303-361) work, Sunlight After Snowfall (快雪時晴), that was collected by the National Palace Museum. The piece of calligraphy was brought to Taiwan and has since become part of Taiwan’s culture.

When Wang, along with the then-Chin Dynasty [晉朝, during the Western Chin period, 265-317], settled in [China’s] Jiangnan region (江南), he told his children that Jiangnan was their home, that they were not refugees, but had rather relocated to the region.

It is from this perspective that my wife and I came to write the script for the play that shared the same name as Wang’s calligraphy.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: April 7, 2018 
By: Phillip Charlier

Two vendors were stabbed at the Lehua Nightmarket in Yonghe District, New Taipei city, after dispute over a driving incident this morning, April 7.

At around 3:00am, a seafood restaurant manager named Tsai was clearing up the street-side display of seafood after close of business. A man named Sun, driving a white sedan, ran over a tub of ice Tsai had placed on the street.

Twenty-nine year-old Tsai chased the car while waving a broom. Sun, 23, rolled down his window and a brief verbal altercation ensued.

Sun drove away, but returned a short time later with two companions. Sun was armed with a machete, his friend, Liu, 21, brandished a butterfly knife, and the third man, who remains unidentified, carried a baseball bat.    [FULL  STORY]

The Straits Times
Date: Apr 7, 2018

TAIPEI – The largest sandstorm to hit Taiwan in five years sent air quality in Yunlin County, located in the central part of the island, to hazardous levels on Saturday (April 7), Taiwanese media reported, citing environment authorities.

Across Taiwan, air quality ranged from moderate to unhealthy, reported the semi-official Central News Agency.

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA)’s station in the industrial area of Yunlin’s Taixi township saw the Air Quality Index (AQI) hit the maximum level of 10 in the 10-tier indicator as of 10am.

That means that air’s impact on health impact had reached “emergency” conditions, the EPA said according to the news agency.    [FULL  STORY]

The Formosa Alliance has been formally established, calls for citizens to demand referendum in April 2019 amending the constitution

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/04/07
By: Duncan DeAeth,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Formosa Alliance (喜樂島聯盟), an international coalition of

overseas Taiwanese organizations, called on Taiwanese citizens to demand a referendum on a formal declaration of independence on April 6.

In a full page advertisement printed in the Liberty Times, the names of 1,350 leaders of overseas Taiwanese organizations across the world were included in a joint statement of the alliance calling for the referendum and for Taiwan’s inclusion as a full member of the United Nations.

The Formosa Alliance is a group whose creation was announced on Feb. 28 by Kuo Pei-hung, the chairman of Formosa TV (郭倍宏). When the declaration in February was made, the group already had support of 150 leaders from across various sectors and industries in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/07
By Christie Chen

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) Taiwan has achieved complete freedom of expression since the days

of totalitarian rule, but that freedom is now under threat from China, Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), former vice premier and wife of pro-democracy pioneer Cheng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), said Saturday on Taiwan’s Freedom of Speech Day.

Speaking to reporters after an event at National Taiwan University (NTU), Yeh said the totalitarian Kuomintang regime used to be the main threat to freedom of expression in Taiwan, but now it is China.

“We could lose our freedom of expression anytime in the face of Chinese hegemony. We see the forced disappearance of Lee Ming-che (李明哲), the forced apologies of Taiwanese businesses and the self-censorship of many in the entertainment world,” Yeh said.    [FULL  STORY]

ASSURED: The US has granted the permissions required for the sale of US technology needed to develop indigenous submarines, but other obstacles have yet to be overcome

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 08, 2018
By: William Hetherington  /  Staff writer, with CNA

The US Department of State has approved a marketing license needed for US

manufacturers to sell technology to Taiwan that would enable the nation to build domestic submarines, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.

Ministry spokesman Major General Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said in an interview that the ministry has received reports that the state department has agreed to grant the marketing license required for the sale of technology that Taiwan needs to develop indigenous submarines.

Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) confirmed the report, saying that the State Department notified Taiwan’s representative office in the US that it would provide the license.

This decision would not only help upgrade Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, but would also benefit regional safety and security, Lin said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-04-06

On March 27, Sun, an exchange student in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, was arrested for

threatening a school shooting. Police searching his apartment found over 1,600 rounds of ammunition for assault rifles, shotguns and handguns. The police also found a bulletproof vest and a handgun that he had assembled himself with parts bought through the internet.

Sun was arrested after telling a classmate not to come to school on May 1 as he was going to shoot up the school. Sun’s mother and his attorney claimed that his words were a joke. But local police say they believe Sun had the intention of carrying out his threat.

Sun remains in police custody pending his hearing. Meanwhile his parents, both Taiwanese entertainers, have arrived in the United States.    [FULL  STORY]

In 2016, Taipei hosted the world’s premier cycling conference and plugged bike-commuting as a green transportation option. Two years on, is Taipei any closer to emulating cycling capitals around the world?

The News Lens
Date: 2018/04/06
By: Siok Hui Leong

Street-smarts, gumption and a dollop of luck are part of the basic arsenal for bicycle-commuting in Taipei.

For expatriate Adam Graudus, his daily commute is a 30-minute endurance event involving boorish scooter and bus drivers, as well as obtuse general motorists.

“Drivers, scooter riders in particular, don’t indicate or look before switching lanes, or backing out of parking spaces. And buses cut in sharply to make a stop even though it means obstructing my lane,” says the video producer, who’s been bike-commuting in the capital for three years.

“In 2016, I was sideswiped by a driver who changed lane without indicating whilst exiting a bridge off Bade Road. We agreed not to file a police report because I wasn’t seriously injured,” says Graudus, adding: “Last year I was knocked over by scooter driver who made a sudden left turn.”    [FULL  STORY]

Heavy traffic on various freeways on the third day of the holiday

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/04/06
By: Jane Lau, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — According to the Freeway Bureau under the Ministry of

Transportation and Communications , there are still a lot of vehicles traveling up-north on the freeways as of 6 p.m. Friday.

Some of the jam-packed freeways include National Freeway no.5 Yilan-Toucheng, National Freeway no.1 Hsinchu-Hukou, National Freeway no.3 Guanxi-Daxi.

MOTC states vehicles driving up north from Western Taiwan are congesting numerous freeways. National Freeway no.1 Xiluo-Puyan, Daya-Houli, Miaoli-Toufen, Hsinchu-Hukou, National Freeway no.3 Guanxi-Daxi, Zhushan-Wufeng are jammed massively.

The number of vehicles on National Freeway no.5 has been increasing since noon, and the traveling speed from Yilan to Toucheng has been reduced to no more than 40 kph. It has been forecast that there will be another crowd increase from 9 p.m. Friday evening.
[FULL  STORY]