Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-26
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Most Taiwanese lost their virginity at the age of 18.9, according to a recent study by Durex’s Face of Global Sex report.

The study looked into the average age people first engage in sexual intercourse across 44 countries around the world, among which Iceland’s citizens ranked the youngest, losing their virginity at an average age of 15.6 years, while Malaysians lost their virginity relatively late, after age 23 on average.

According to the study, youth in other Scandinavian countries including Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland all had their first sexual experience at the age of 16.

Taiwan came in 14th place with an average of 18.9.     [FULL  STORY]

PERSECUTED?The Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation survey found that doubts about the fairness of Chen’s corruption trials persist like a ‘specter haunting Taiwan’

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 25, 2016
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

A recent poll found that close to half of Taiwanese believe that former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)

did not receive fair trials, but more than half do not think he was a victim of political persecution, the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation said yesterday.

Chen served more than six years of a 20-year prison sentence for several convictions on corruption charges before being released on medical parole in January last year.
While 45.9 percent of respondents said Chen was not given fair trials, 37.8 percent said he was.

Asked if former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was responsible for the improper prosecution of Chen, 45.7 percent of respondents said he was not, while 43.2 percent thought that he was.

Asked if Chen was a victim of political persecution, 56.5 percent said he was not, while 35.1 percent said he was.

“The poll results show that doubts persist over Chen’s cases, which are like a ‘specter haunting Taiwan,’” foundation chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆) said.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 25, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Taiwanese sailor released after being held captive by Somali pirates for over four

years will take a flight from the Kenyan capital Nairobi to Guangzhou, before returning to Taiwan, announced China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) on Monday.

TAO spokesperson An Fengshan (安峰山) said the 26 survivors of the hijacking have been safely rescued, among which the nine mainland sailors and one Taiwanese sailor will be brought to China, attended by China’s foreign ministry officials.

The Taiwanese sailor, Shen Jui-chang (沈瑞章), will take the same flight as mainland China sailors to Guangzhou “according to the personal will of Shen and requests from his relatives,” where he will be “received by relatives and return to Taiwan together,” said An.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC, 陸委會) said since Shen’s family members requested him to first fly to Guangzhou, the council will respect the will of his family and the arrangements made by concerned international organizations, but will provide necessary government assistance.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-24
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A Calgary man who suffered extensive injuries after he was hit by a car in Taiwan earlier this month is now in stable condition, but is still not responsive as his injuries might leave him permanently paralyzed and brain injured. His family and friends are raising funds to bring him back to Canada for treatment.

The 31-year-old John Kelly, who has been teaching English in Taichung for the last three years, was walking home from his job when a car plowed into him on the street.

Doctors at the Taichung veterans hospital have told his family that he needs to go back to Canada as soon as possible for treatment.

His family has to foot all the medical bills accumulated so far, which his father said is about 25,000 Canadian dollars. The family wants to fly their son back to Canada for treatment in order to avoid more bills piling up, and have launched a campaign to raise $50,000 to pay for his medical bill.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/24
By: Tai Ya-chen and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) praised overseas compatriots as an extension of Taiwan’s national power, and for working to make Taiwan a better country.

Tsai made the comments in an address to the first meeting of the Cabinet-level Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission (OCAC) since she took office and the new government was inaugurated on May 20.

“Taiwan represents the roots of overseas compatriots and they in turn are an extension of Taiwan,” Tsai said as she welcomed OCAC members who returned to Taiwan for the meeting.

The 2016 OCAC congress opened Sunday in Taipei with nearly 200 members from 38 countries in attendance.    [FULL  STORY]

‘The Taipei Biennial 2016 not only fails to live up to its claimed aims, but in and of itself, does not cohere as an exhibition.’

The News Lens
Date: 2016/10/23
By: Brian Hioe

THE TAIPEI BIENNIAL 2016, running until Feb. 6, 2017, is somewhat of a hodgepodge. This year’s exhibition is the tenth one, featuring both local and international artists and curation by Corinne Diserens, director of the Ecole de Recherche Graphique. Although the Taipei Biennial began in 1998 and is one of the oldest international biennials in Asia, with Taiwan’s inability to compete with larger, more well-funded biennials in Asia or elsewhere, the scope of the 2016 Taipei Biennial is decidedly modest in nature. Notably, the Taipei Biennial is not organized by an independent body, but by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.

Although Diserens apparently did not know much about Taiwanese art beforehand and only travelled to Taipei three times to prepare for the Biennial, the 2016 Taipei Biennial features more Taiwanese artists than any other past biennial with more than 34 out of 76 artists being Taiwanese. This is part of the scaling down of the Biennial, which has an inability to host international artists and thus a greater focus on local artists.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-23
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

As vegetable prices have been high with no signs of falling, the National Police Agency (NPA) on Saturday issued an order to all local police stations in the country requiring assignment of personnel to cooperate with district prosecutor offices and local governments to monitor whether there were practices of price gouging and hoarding of essential commodities in their jurisdiction.

The NPA said police are responsible for helping authorities to investigate and clamp down on practices violating Fair Trade Act.

The NPA said it issued an official letter on Sep. 14 to all police stations to investigate whether price gouging and hoarding of consumer, agriculture and industrial goods had taken place in their jurisdiction and referred offenses to authorities.

As the vegetable prices have remained on the high side in recent months, the NPA on Oct. 21 issued another order to all local police stations to assign personnel to join hands with district prosecutor offices and local authorities for efforts in investigating the aforementioned illegal conducts.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/23
By: Wang Shu-fen and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Oct. 23 (CNA) A hunger striker protesting the Kaohsiung City government’s demolition of a local

community for a city renewal project was hospitalized after fainting from dehydration Sunday, his fellow protesters said that day.

Tseng Wei-tang (曾維堂) passed out after a 33-hour hunger strike, and his place was immediately taken over by Yang Feng-kuang (楊豐光), another protester, said Lin Chih-yu (林致宇), spokesman for the Residents Self-Rescue Association fighting for a reasonable resettlement of long-time residents of a market place on Shiquan Road.

The city’s Agriculture Bureau called on the protesting residents to be rational and stop their hunger strike, noting that over the past year numerous meetings have been held with local residents, with only six households yet to vacate for the reconstruction project.

But over 20 members of the self-rescue association said the city government “refused to talk” with them and started a hunger strike on coffins a day earlier, vowing to protect their homes and their human rights.

The market relocation project has been delayed for decades, Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said, adding she could have chosen to do nothing as her predecessors had, but, for the sake of city development and public interest, she must finish the project to solve the problems of flooding, traffic snarl and building a modern fruit and vegetable market in that area.     [SOURCE]

VITAL:The president said Taiwan’s advanced healthcare capabilities and experience in providing aid make it a critical piece of the global disease control ‘jigsaw puzzle’

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 24, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday announced plans to boost the nation’s international profile by

increasing cooperation with the international community in the areas of disease control and medical aid, while encouraging students from Southeast Asian countries to receive medical training in Taiwan.

Tsai made the remarks in her speech at the two-day Global Health Forum in Taiwan, which has been jointly organized annually by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Welfare since 2005 with the stated aim of increasing the nation’s international profile through its advances in medicine and public health.

Referring to the theme of this year’s forum, “Toward 2030,” Tsai laid out several goals for the nation, one of which is to step up its international cooperation.

“One can imagine that, in the world of 2030, there will be a lot more cross-border movement of people and goods. This means that communicable diseases will represent a bigger challenge. Accordingly, all nations bear a joint responsibility to share information and work hand-in-hand to fight against new types of communicable diseases,” she said.

Tsai said that as Taiwan has advanced healthcare capabilities and abundant experience in providing medical aid, the exclusion of the nation from the global health system would cause the “jigsaw puzzle” of worldwide disease control to miss a vital piece.    [FULL  STORY]