Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/06
By: Chen Chi-fong and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, April 6 (CNA) A homeroom teacher at an elementary school in Kaohsiung has been

accused of sexual harassment after making what she claimed was a joke and is scheduled to undergo investigation by a gender equity review committee, the school said in a statement released Friday.

On March 28, the female teacher, who has been a teacher for more than 20 years, asked her sixth-grade class what movie they wanted to watch.

Upon hearing one of the students jokingly suggesting porn, she retorted in what she is claiming to be a joke by saying that one of her female students could just act it out for them.

The teacher chose the student because her name has the Chinese character for “love” in it, which has been a source of teasing from her peers in the past, who have nicknamed her “make love.”    [FULL  STORY]

ROC LABEL: The Formosa Alliance urged Taiwanese to demand a referendum on independence, saying now is the time to vote because the nation has international support

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 07, 2018
By: Lee Hsin-fang and Sherry Hsiao  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Overseas supporters of the Formosa Alliance’s (喜樂島聯盟) proposal for an independence

referendum and the nation’s participation in the UN under the name “Taiwan” yesterday ran a full-page newspaper advertisement in Taiwan announcing their support.

The advertisement in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) printed the names of 1,350 leaders of overseas Taiwanese groups who support the alliance’s appeals, including All Japan Taiwanese Union president Chao Chung-cheng (趙中正), Taiwanese Canadian Association of Toronto president Douglas Chiang (江文基), Taiwanese Association of America president Cheng Shao-fang (鄭劭方) and former World Federation of Taiwanese Associations Europe chapter president Lu jung-chieh (盧榮杰).

Formosa TV (FTV, 民視) chairman Kuo Pei-hung (郭倍宏) on Feb. 28 announced plans for the alliance’s establishment along with politicians who support Taiwanese independence, including former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮).

The alliance has called for amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) and is pushing for an independence referendum on April 6 next year, as well as Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN under the name “Taiwan.”    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-04-05

The government is blasting funeral groups for an advertisement they printed during this

Tomb Sweeping holiday. Their ad read, “Has the Tomb Sweeping Festival disappeared? So-called green burials are just a misunderstanding”. The ads were critical of the new call for greener burials and tomb sweeping methods promoted by the government.

The practice of burning paper money at cemeteries causes much pollution. Thus, the government has encouraged people to do the gesture at home with digital paper money.

In 2016, 96% of the deceased were cremated. As Taiwan’s land resources are limited, the government encourages families to bury ashes of loved ones in tree cemeteries or the ocean. Before the burial, family members are encouraged to honor those who passed with a funeral.

Taiwan has 31cemeteries for natural burials that have served over 39,000 persons while nearly 7000 have had natural burials outside of cemeteries. There are nine cities and counties that host ocean burials and have served nearly 2,000 persons.   [SOURCE]

Too much emphasis has been placed on the Executive Yuan’s promise to foster Taiwanese unicorns.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/04/04
By: David Green

The National Development Council (NDC) is charged with implementing policies

formulated by Taiwan’s Executive Yuan, or Cabinet. With the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) now well into its first term, The News Lens sat down with NDC Vice-Minister and Asia Silicon Valley Development Agency (ASVDA) co-chief executive officer Dr. Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮) to talk about how the government’s aims to transform Taiwan’s economy are progressing,

The News Lens: Under a recently announced action plan, The Executive Yuan has promised to help incubate Taiwan’s first unicorn business (a startup valued at over US$1 billion) within two years and foster a total of three in the next six years – who is responsible for achieving this goal?

Chiou Jiunn-rong: We’re concerned that too much emphasis has been placed on the idea of fostering unicorns, but they are important to provide other companies with an example to aspire to. But we can’t focus all our resources on that. Various ministries need to work on fostering a healthy ecosystem. The ASVDA will work in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA), the Ministry of Science and Technology and other departments to ensure that there is sufficient early funding, and that talent is developed and regulations are adapted, so that the government can partner startups across multiple channels and help them advance in the international market. It’s not the responsibility of one ministry or government department.    [FULL  Q&A]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/04/05
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Government websites of Taiwan are hit with more than 20 million

cyber attacks every month, mostly from China, reported CNA on April 5.

According to Chien Hung-wei, Director of Executive Yuan’s Department of Cyber Security, the island is exposed to a staggering number of 20 million to 40 million hacking activities into its public sector per month, 360 of which were successfully carried out in 2017.

Despite the fact that the online attacks are often well camouflaged, Chien believes they are largely conducted by Chinese perpetrators, judging from analyses of the characteristics and types of the offensive maneuvers.

Among the 360 incidents where the networks of Taiwanese public websites were breached last year, most registered as first- to second-grade minor events, involving change of website content, for example. However, 12 cases were identified as the more serious third-grade cyber security events, such as disruption of important service systems and data breach, an example being unauthorized access to email accounts of the Bureau of Consular Affairs via password cracking that led to the leak of personal data regarding oversea travel.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/05
By: Chen Wei-ting and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, April 5 (CNA) The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is monitoring 3,013

individuals who have come into contact with 11 people in Taiwan confirmed to have contracted measles, in order to prevent a further wave of infections.

The CDC confirmed on Thursday five new cases of measles in the country, taking the total tally for this year to 11 — six imported and five domestic.

Of the five new cases, one of the measles-infected individuals is a flight attendant for Taiwan’s budget carrier Tigerair Taiwan, the third member of the airline’s flight crew to have been confirmed to be infected with the virus.

Given the nature of their job, the flight attendants have come into contact with thousands of people across Taiwan and those interactions are being closely monitored by local health departments.    [FULL  STORY]

MEASLES:The  Centers for Disease Control said it is monitoring 852 people who might have had contact with a woman diagnosed with the highly contagious virus

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 06, 2018
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan (台灣虎航) yesterday denied that it had tried to cover up

that two of its flight attendants had measles.

Tigerair Taiwan said in a statement yesterday that it has never purposely put ill crew members on duty and that it immediately canceled the two staff members’ upcoming flights once they exhibited symptoms of measles.

One staff member had sought medical attention several times since the onset of the symptoms, but he was misdiagnosed with a cold, the carrier said, adding that he was immediately quarantined after being listed as a suspected measles case on Monday.

A passenger list of those who could have had contact with the infected crew members has been sent to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the airline said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-04-04

The Philippines has sent 78 Taiwanese nationals suspected of telecom fraud to China.

The 78 were part of a fraud ring whose members were arrested in the Philippines in January.

The decision to send the Taiwanese suspects to China late Tuesday has sparked a strong protest from the foreign ministry.

On Wednesday morning, the ministry said it had urged Manila to extradite the suspects to Taiwan. However, despite the work of Taiwan’s representative office in the Philippines, local authorities decided to send the suspects to China instead amid strong pressure from Beijing.

Beijing claims jurisdiction in such cases of international telecom fraud involving Taiwanese nationals on the grounds that their victims are Chinese citizens in China.
[FULL  STORY]

Dan Cunningham writes that cultural and creative industries are thriving in Taiwan, but their loose definition means that almost any business can qualify.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/04/04
By: Daniel Cunningham

Taiwan is in the midst of a push to re-establish its culture and creative industry (CCI) credentials at the top of the global tree, aiming to revive the heady days when pop stars like Teresa Teng dominated the airwaves, or dramas like “Meteor Garden” could be found flickering ubiquitously on TV screens across Asia and beyond.

Companies involved in the sector face stiff competition from international rivals benefiting from sharply honed models that maximize return on investment and ensure a virtuous circle of creative growth. Conversely, in Taiwan, the term wenchuang (文創, cultural and creative) has achieved commodity fetish status among marketers, but a lack of attention invested in determining which enterprises deserve the title threatens to undermine the sector’s vitality.

Taiwan already has a thriving CCI sector, but is its development is hampered by the inclusion of large enterprises in other industries.

Taiwan’s CCI sector is currently worth some NT$807.25 billion (US$27.7 billion) or 4.72 percent of Taiwan’s total GDP, according to figures from the Ministry of Culture (MoC). It accounts for 63,339 companies and 2.25 percent of total employment. The majority of companies are low earners; just over a quarter earn less than NT$100,000 per year, a further 35.02 percent earn less than NT$1 million, and another 22.2 percent earn less than NT$5 million. Less than 1 percent earn over NT$100 million, painting a picture of a sector dominated by small enterprises with relatively few heavyweights.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/04/04
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei (CNA) – A second case of measles has been confirmed among flight attendants

working for budget airline Tigerair Taiwan, raising concern for the passengers on the six flights the second victim worked on after contracting the virus.

Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang of Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported on Wednesday a new imported case of measles contracted by a female flight attendant in her 20s who works for Tigerair Taiwan.

On March 17, the steward who was the first reported case of measles and the stewardess came into contact with a 30-year old Taiwanese man who contracted measles in Thailand and flew to Okinawa in Japan where he was treated.

The steward, in his 30s, was confirmed to have contracted the disease on April 3. He was put under quarantine on April 2, according to Tigerair Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]