Barely a week after the deadly Aloha Coach crash, yet another tour bus is involved in a collision

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/09/22
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A tour bus carrying 26 students and one teacher from

National Cishan Agricultural & Industrial Vocational Senior High School in Kaohsiung smashed into a low clearance in Taoyuan’s Luzhou District yesterday evening, injuring five, reported Liberty Times.

The students were just wrapping up the second day of a three-day, two-night graduation tour of northern Taiwan and were heading to their lodging for the night when the bus collided with a height clearance bar for a bridge, smashing windows, ripping part of the bus’s frame, injuring five, and dragging the heavy steel bar as it plowed through.

Among those injured was an 18-year-old male student surnamed Yang (楊) who suffered a 5 centimeter laceration to his forehead and several broken teeth, but he did not lose consciousness and has no life-threatening injuries, but was sent to the hospital for further medical treatment.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/22
By: Edward Tsao and Frances Huang

Los Angeles, Sept. 21 (CNA) Two other Taiwanese nationals were confirmed dead in

Mexico City on Thursday after their bodies were recovered from the rubble of a building that collapsed during a strong earthquake there earlier in the week, the Taiwan representative office in Mexico said.

The bodies of King Pei-ju (金珮如) and Lai Ying-hsia (賴映遐), two of the five Taiwanese who were trapped, when the building was collapsed, were found by rescue workers on Thursday, said Carlos Liao (廖世傑), Taiwan’s representative to Mexico.

Two other Taiwanese, Carolina Wang (王家妤) and Lin Chia-ching (林家慶), also died in the disaster and their bodies were found a day earlier, while King’s daughter Huang Hsien-yu (黃嫻鈺) remained missing, according to Liao.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2017/09/21
By: Matthew Fulco

New York regulators’ fining of Mega Bank last year for lax compliance practices was

a wake-up call for Taiwan, which has since moved swiftly to brush up its international compliance on money-laundering.

In a victory for the nation’s regulators, Taiwan in July was removed from a regional list of countries judged to have insufficient money-laundering controls. Taiwan had spent months revising legislation and pushing its financial institutions to crack down on money laundering as it sought to be eliminated from a list that put it in the same category as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Papua New Guinea.

“We revised anti-money laundering legislation and enacted a law to prevent terrorism financing, bringing Taiwan into line with international standards,” Hugh Hung, an auditor in the Banking Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), said by email. The government this March also established an Anti-Money Laundering Office under the Executive Yuan, directed by a minister without portfolio.
[FULL  STORY]

A businessman and a woman who was earlier reported alive are the victims

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/09/21
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Two Taiwanese citizens died in the magnitude-7.1

earthquake which struck central Mexico, including a woman who earlier in the day had been reported as having been rescued alive from the rubble, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced Thursday evening.

A total of five Taiwanese were believed to have been buried under one collapsed building, while the total death toll from the quake stood at more than 250.

The first Taiwanese national to be reportedly pulled out of the wreckage without a sign of life was Lin Chia-ching (林家慶), who had moved from Paraguay to Mexico for his computer business, reports said.    [FULL STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/21
By: Timothy J. Hwang and Kuan-lin Liu

New York, Sept. 20 (CNA) Three of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies spoke up in support of

Taiwan’s participation at the United Nations during the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.

During the general debate, which is the annual meeting of heads of state and government at the beginning of the General Assembly session, leaders from Paraguay, Swaziland and the Republic of Nauru spoke up in favor of Taiwan’s participation at the U.N.

Paraguayan President Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara remarked that “The Republic of China (Taiwan) has, through international collaborations, promoted programs related to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With years of history aiding Paraguay and other countries, Taiwan has made effective contributions to the world.”

The president went on to ask on behalf of Paraguay that U.N. members work to find a way to enable Taiwan to participate in the U.N. including attending U.N. meetings and events, so its 23 million people can form alliances with countries around the world and officially take on the responsibility of global citizens.    [FULL  STORY]

DIFFERING GOALS:While the DPP has backed the Executive Yuan’s 72-bill list, other political parties are narrowing their focus to concentrate on specific issues

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 22, 2017
By: Chen Yu-fu, Tseng Wei-chen and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Legislative caucuses yesterday announced their priority lists of bills and amendments

for the new legislative session that begins today.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said it has prioritized bills covering food safety, tax reforms and anti-drug efforts.

As the Legislative Yuan has just one month to concentrate on the passage of legislation, the KMT altered its strategy and decided to focus on select issues, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) said.

The KMT would focus on pushing important bills during the session, and it would scrutinize budget proposals for the 2018 fiscal year.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 21, 2017
By: The China Post

Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod announced Thursday that

Taiwan’s first national indigenous peoples museum will be built in Kaohisung’s Chengcing Lake area.

Other members of a committee tasked to pick the site said that Kaohsiung is chosen for its location as a hub linking the high indigenous population areas of Pingtung, Taitung and Tainan, its natural environment and its ability to facilitate international and local academic exchange, etc.

Kaohsiung is replacing New Taipei City, the location picked by the previous government in February 2016, as the home of the museum. Minister Icyang Parod explained that the change was made because the previous government had agreed to give the decision rights concerning the museum to the new administration and that lawmakers had proposed to restart the selection process.    [FULL  STORY]

The inditement of Taiwanese NGO worker Lee Ming-che, currently detained in China, cited social media messages on Facebook and elsewhere as evidence of subversion. Unless we stand up and protest, anyone traveling to China could share Lee’s unfortunate fate.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/09/20
By: John Liu

When I read through Taiwanese activist Lee Ming-che’s (李明哲) confession made

publicly in a Chinese court, all I could feel was frustration and fury. As a student, my hands are tied in terms of offering physical aid to my countryman. The least I can do is call attention to this outrageous show-trial. China is tightening control over its own people, foreign visitors, and even non-Chinese outside its territory. Soon, we could all be Lee Ming-che.

“Many stand beside Lee Ching-yu to demonstrate that Taiwanese people are not intimidated by China’s tyranny.”

Lee, 42, is the first foreign worker to be prosecuted under a law regarding non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which was introduced in January this year. He has been detained in China for nearly seven months having disappeared in March while traveling from Macau to Guangdong Province in southern China. Following his detention on the grounds of conducting activities harmful to national security, China had revealed nothing save that he was suspected of subverting state power. No specifics were offered to his relatives or Taiwan’s authorities. His wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜) has relentlessly pressed for information, despite the fact that many disagreed with her outspoken approach – most recently tattooing messages of support for her husband on her forearms and beaming the images worldwide. Her calls for public and international support defied an alternative narrative (link in Mandarin) pushed by some in Taiwan suggesting that her husband’s welfare may have been best protected by treating with China in secret. Yet many stand beside her to demonstrate that Taiwanese people are not intimidated by China’s tyranny.
[FULL  STORY]

Five Taiwanese have been affected by the 7.1 magnitude earthquake

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/09/20
By: Juvina Lai, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Following the magnitude-7.1 earthquake which struck

central Mexico, Taiwan’s government has expressed its willingness to help.

The tremor struck at 1.15 pm local time, and caused more than 200 casualties, with five Taiwanese nationals reported probably buried under a collapsed office building.

In the light of such an event, Taiwan’s Executive Yuan spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said earlier today that Taiwan is standing ready to help Mexico if any assistance was required.

“If Mexico needs any help, Taiwan’s search and rescue personnel and dogs are fully prepared and can fly immediately to Mexico to offer our help,” said Hsu.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/20
By: Chu Tsei-wei, Tsai Yi-chu, and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, Sept. 20 (CNA) Police said Wednesday that they are looking for an individual who robbed the Taipei Star Bank’s Shilin branch of NT$300,000 (US$9,943) earlier that day.

According to Hougang police sub-station chief Chuang Ching-hsiung (莊清雄), an individual wearing a motorcycle helmet and a face mask held a woman at knifepoint and forced a teller to hand over the NT$300,000 at around 1 p.m.

In an attempt to protect the woman from injury, the bank teller handed over the money, after which the robber took off.

The police said they were studying surveillance tape to try to identify the perpetrator, a task made difficult because of the fact that the robber was covered up. All they had to go on is that the robber was wearing a black shirt and jeans.    [FULL  STORY]