Ahead of the talks, while most Taiwan experts anticipated a benign outcome for Taiwan from the summit, few, given the Trump administration’s unpredictability, were willing to fully rule out the possibility of an unexpected statement or announcement.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/04/08
By: TNL Staff

The leaders of the United States and China and their senior officials have not mentioned Taiwan in the initial official comments following the first face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping (習近平).

Discussions on trade and North Korea appear to have dominated the just-completed talks held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua reports that Trump and Xi “exchanged views on regional hot-button issues,” though it does not provide more detail.

Nor was Taiwan mentioned in the press briefing given after the talks by White House spokesperson Sean Spicer, Secretary of State Tillerson, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, and Secretary Commerce Wilbur Ross.    [FULL  STORY]

All 17 travelers from South Taiwan unharmed

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A group of 17 Taiwanese tourists escaped from a burning tour

bus on a highway in South Korea without harm, reports said Saturday.

The group had just arrived in the country from Kaohsiung on Friday for a five-day tour of the country.

As the tour bus was traveling on a highway through the Yangpyeong area of Gyeonggi Province east of Seoul Saturday afternoon, a group member from Tainan said most passengers became aware of the smell of something burning, but at first they assumed it was farmers burning straw along the side of the road.

However, the travelers at the back of the bus saw smoke emanating from the bus and told the driver to stop by the side of the highway.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/08
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Christie Chen

Taipei, April 8 (CNA) A regulation has recently been revised to lower the amount of

service fees that brokers in Taiwan can charge foreign migrant workers after they have worked in the country for more than two years. According to the amended “Standards for Fee-Charging Items and Amounts of the Private Employment Services Institution,” which was announced by the Ministry of Labor on Thursday, brokers should not charge migrant workers more than NT$1,500 (US$49) per month in service fees from their third year onward.

The revision came after an amendment to the Employment Service Act cleared the Legislative Yuan on Oct. 21 last year and went into effect on Nov. 5.   [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 09, 2017
By: Lo Tien-pin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A military source on Friday confirmed plans for the production of an upgraded version

of the navy’s Tuo Chiang-class stealth corvette that is to incorporate expanded anti-aircraft capabilities.

The new vessel type is to be longer, wider and equipped with 3D radar systems and a ship-to-air version of the Tien Chien II (“Sky Sword”) guided missile system.

A total of 11 vessels are to be produced in three lots, for a total of 12 ships including the original Tuo Chiang-class corvette, the source said.

The navy plans to begin operating three of the new vessels and make design adjustments where needed before commissioning the subsequent two lots, the source said, adding that the first lot is scheduled to be completed by 2025 at a cost of NT$14.434 billion (US$471.68 million).    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: April 9, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — George Hsieh (謝國樑), chairman of Hualien Media International Co.,

Ltd. (華聯國際) and publisher of The China Post, recently became Taiwan’s first student at an entrepreneurs’ college founded by Alibaba Group’s founder Jack Ma.

Hsieh, who made a career change to head Hualien and The China Post after serving as a lawmaker for three consecutive terms, became in late March a member of the third intake of students at Hupan College (湖畔大學) in Hangzhou, China, which Ma created with seven other entrepreneurs and distinguished scholars to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Hsieh told the Central News Agency (CNA) in an interview that Hupan is a college designed not for high-ranking managers but for first-generation entrepreneurs and their successors.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s new ban on euthanizing stray dogs will lead to more dogs left on the streets if adoption rates don’t pick up, animal welfare workers fear.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/04/07
By: Rosemary Chen

There are signs that animal shelters are struggling to keep up with the number of stray

dogs in Taiwan, just months after the government banned the euthanasia of animals at its shelters.

Animal shelters have experienced an influx of animals since the “no kill” policy was introduced on Feb.4, and more dogs are being left on the street, says Zhang Hui-min (張慧敏), founder of New Taipei City New Life Pet Shelter Association.

“I have noticed more dogs in the shelters so I often adopt more than I intend to because the environment is so horrible in there. I cannot leave them inside only to die from a disease,” Zhang says.    [FULL  STORY]

Draft bill proposes many new incentives to lure foreign professionals such as new visas, tax breaks, and health insurance

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/07
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The government is considering a number of incentives aimed

at attracting foreign talent such as new visas, residence, health insurance, and tax breaks said Taiwan’s Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), CNA reported.

Hsu announced the proposed bill after Premier Lin Chuan (林全) met with legislators from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to discuss the proposed “Foreign Talent Recruitment and Employment Law.”

The draft bill would relax restrictions on work permits and the length of time foreign professionals from countries other than mainland China can stay in Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/07
By: Liu Kuan-ting and Lilian Wu

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) A total of 136 local and overseas human rights groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have joined a petition drive to call for China to immediately release detained Taiwanese human rights and pro-democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), according to a rights group on Friday.

Lee, a former Democratic Progressive Party worker, a staff member at Wenshan Community College in Taipei, as well as a volunteer at the local NGO Covenant Watch, was detained by China after entering the mainland’s Zhuhai city via Macau on March 19.

China confirmed 10 days later that Lee has been detained on suspicious of endangering national security. But it has yet to disclose where he is being held or any details about his alleged violations.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: April 8, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Chiayi Coast Guard rescued over 300 passengers off of a

flooded Kai Shiuan Number 3 turbo passenger ship late on Friday.

The ship was making its usual route from Penghu Islands’s Magong to Chiayi County’s Budai when it reportedly started to fill with water about 8 nautical miles away from its destination, local media stated.

Reports say an engine failure had led to the ship wobbling and filling with water.

At that point, the ship’s captain asked all 346 passengers to put on their life vests, while some passengers reportedly immediately jumped into the lifeboats.
[FULL  STORY]