Mainland to focus on young people and small businesses after earlier efforts failed to advance its reunification agenda

South China Morning Post
Date: 30 April, 2017
By: Lawrence Chung
Choi Chi-yuk

Beijing has been reviewing its Taiwan policies after they failed to bear fruit and is considering a shake-up of the people in charge of cross-strait relations, sources and experts say.

But analysts in Taiwan say that between 2008 and last year Beijing lost its best chance to engage young Taiwanese and realign their mindset about the island’s historical link with the mainland.

Beijing would have a difficult time turning things around if it believed increasing exchanges with Taiwanese youths and small and medium-sized enterprises would work wonders to solicit their support, they said.

Mainland China has detained Taiwanese rights activist, says wife

The new approach has echoes in Beijing’s approach to Hong Kong, where young people increasingly identify themselves as Hongkongers rather than Chinese 20 years after the former British colony’s return to Chinese sovereignty.

The weird road marks make some drivers feel dizzy and vomit

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/30
By: Rana Yeh, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Breaking News Commune (爆料公社) member Zhouxin Jie

posted images of weird wavy road lines at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA) on April 26.

When posting the image, Jie said the winding road marks made him dizzy. At one time he couldn’t tell if he was drunk, or it was the wavy mark which made him feel a wave of nausea.

According to TNUA’s official website, the wavy lines are designed to slow down the speed of the cars on campus. The lines cause a blurry vision when they drive too fast and effectively make them slow down.

However, some netizens think the wavy road marks may lead to more car accidents when it’s too dark. Some say the lines will make them perform a dangerous S-drive unconsciously.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiw2an
Date: 2017/04/30
By: Yang Su-min and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, April 30 (CNA) Office workers in Taiwan sleep 6.4 hours a day on average

during the work week and 86 percent of them feel sleep-deprived, according to a poll released Sunday ahead of International Workers’ Day.

Only 11.7 percent of office workers in the country get the recommended eight hours sleep per day, the poll by the online job bank yes123 showed.

Among the 86 percent who do not get enough sleep, 79.7 percent make up for it when they have time off, 59.3 percent catch up on sleep on weekends and holidays, 50.8 percent take naps during their lunch breaks, and 30.5 percent sleep while commuting to and from work, according to the poll.

On average, office workers get 6.4 hours of sleep on work days and 63.6 percent of them generally do not get enough rest, the poll found.

Minister Without Portfolio Lin Wan-i spoke about opposition to reforms of the public servant pension system in an interview with ‘Liberty Times’ (sister paper of the ‘Taipei Times’) staff reporter Jennifer Huang, saying public support is at a historical high and that reforms are crucial to avoid bankrupting the system

Taipei Times
Date: May 01, 2017
Translated by staff writers William Hetherington and Jake Chung

Liberty Times (LT): Despite public opinion polls showing 80 percent support for the

reforms, misconceptions and opposing voices remain. Should these be addressed and clarified?

Lin Wan-i (林萬億): The biggest point of contention has always been about violation of the principal of legitimate expectation if reforms are retroactively applied. However, the reforms have never called for retroactive application, meaning there has never been a plan for previously distributed pensions to be returned. The reforms focus on changes that are to be applied to the future implementation of the system.

The Council of Grand Justices in 2014 passed Constitutional Interpretation No. 717, which clearly explains that if the nation’s interests are at stake, cuts to pensions are to be allowed. Therefore, adjustment of the 18 percent preferential interest rate is not a violation of constitutional law.

The reforms are intended to rescue the pension system and allow it to do much more for the public good, safeguarding the interests of aging civil service pensioners and protecting the nation’s finances; it is absolutely not a violation of the principal of legitimate expectation.    [FULL  INTERVIEW]

The China Post
Date: May 1, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A gunfight followed by a tense three-hour standoff in New Taipei

ended with the suspect, 60-year-old Liu Pang-cheng (劉邦誠), arrested on Sunday.

At around 11 a.m., shooting rang out as police pursued Liu for alleged offenses including heroin dealing, blackmail and illegal possession of firearms.

About 30 shots were exchanged between the suspect and police, sending locals running for cover, before the suspect fled into an apartment by Xingnan Night Market in Zhonghe District.

A SWAT team was deployed to the area, sparking a three-hour standoff that saw the suspect’s brother and New Taipei City Police Commissioner Hu Mu-yuan (胡木源) on the first floor of the building, shouting at the suspect on the fourth.    [FULL  STORY]

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Taitung County

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/30
By: Rana Yeh, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Light to moderate shaking was felt in parts of the island.

An intensity level of 4 was felt in Orchid Island, an intensity level of 3 was registered in Central Tainan City and neighboring Pingtung County, according to CWB data.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-04-29

A ferry that became stranded off Taiwan’s northern tip on Friday has been safely

towed into Keelung Harbor.

The ferry was around 45 nautical miles off Cape Fugui when its engines lost power. There were five passengers and 23 crew members on board at the time. The Maritime Patrol Directorate General sent rescue ships to the ferry, removing the passengers and towing the boat into port.

According to the Maritime and Port Bureau, the ferry arrived off Keelung at around 9:30am Saturday, docking shortly after 11:00am with the help of tugboats.

The 32-year-old ferry regularly crosses the Taiwan Strait between Keelung and the outlying Matsu Islands.    [FULL  STORY]

China and India stay on Priority Watch List

Taiwan News
Date 2017/04/29
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan stayed off the annual “Special 301” watch lists issued by the Office of the United States Trade Representative for the ninth year running, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) emphasized Saturday.

Each year, the office draws up a watch list and a priority watch list of U.S. trading partners “with harmful records on protection, enforcement, or market access for U.S. innovators and creators,” its website says. The list is the result of a review of international developments in trade and intellectual property issues.

China and India both remained on the priority watch list, with widespread “trade secret theft, rampant online piracy, and counterfeiting, and high levels of physical pirated and counterfeit exports to markets around the globe” mentioned in the case of the former country.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/29
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Lilian Wu

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) An estimated 10,000 local workers will take to the streets

Monday in a Labor Day march to call for greater protection of labor rights.

The workers will gather on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office in the afternoon and begin to march at 1 p.m. toward the buildings of the Chinese National Federation of Industries and the General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China on Fuxing South Road.

They are expected to make five demands, including a call for all trades to be placed under the Labor Standards Act, for a ban on dispatch work and a freeze of atypical employment.    [FULL  STORY]

EYEWITNESSESVictims of crime have been called to testify in trials, but are not given the right to express their opinion to the court or participate in hearings

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 30, 2017
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The Ministry of Justice on Friday announced plans to better protect the rights of

victims of crime and their families, by enhancing their legal status and allowing them to participate in trial hearings, introducing a draft bill to address deficiencies in the judicial system.

As part of the ongoing judicial reform process, the changes would allow victims and their families to be represented by legal counsel and respond to court rulings, while for serious crimes, including murder, legal assistance would be provided throughout the entire legal procedure, Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said.

To arrive at these objectives, the ministry is to draft amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) for submission to the legislature within six months, Chiu said.    [FULL  STORY]