Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-08
By: Sophia Yang, , Staff Writer

Despite Beijing’s relentless pressure to hamstring Taiwan’s effort to join the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN specialized agency that regulates the standards and practices for civil aviation, many allies and political leaders of European nations still voiced support for Taiwan to attend the ICAO assembly. The government of Taiwan expressed its deep gratitude for their generous support Saturday and vowed to continue the country’s efforts to participate in other UN specialized agencies and other aviation-related organizations.

Despite the U.S., Japan, and other countries lobbying for Taiwan’s inclusion at the ICAO assembly in Montreal, the country was still blocked from attending. Taiwanese journalists were also kept out of the event.     [FULL  STORY]

‘UNBELIEVABLE’:Netizens were quick to respond to an online post about the visit, with one person likening the police action to a new version of the White Terror era

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 09, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

Controversy over a police visit to the parents of labor rights campaigner Lu Chyi-horng (盧其宏) erupted

Labor rights campaigner Lu Chyi-horng attends a forum on Taiwan’s approach to the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Taipei on July 28 last year. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

yesterday, with Premier Lin Chuan (林全) promising to investigate after the incident sparked widespread criticism.

The Workers Struggle Alliance, with which Lu is closely affiliated, late on Friday posted online messages that Lu said he had received from his father telling him that police had stopped by his parents’ home earlier in the day because they wanted to “understand” the cause of Lu’s “dissatisfaction” with the government.

“Be careful! The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) might be starting to take actions which will be disadvantageous to those of you who are singing a different tune,” the message said. “What can you do if they decide to take forceful actions? For your own safety, do not keep pushing things.”

The police action followed a protest outside President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) private residence on Dunhua S Road in Taipei on Wednesday, which saw Lu wield a microphone as protesters clashed with police.

Tsai earlier this week directed the DPP’s legislative caucus to prioritize passage of controversial amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), which passed out of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee shortly after Wednesday’s protest.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 9, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A boulder weighing more than 100 tons rolled down a hill amid heavy rains and hit a

A homeowner points to damage from a boulder that rolled down a hill in Hualien, Saturday, Oct. 8. (CNA)

house Hualien Friday night, but no one was injured, Central News Agency reported Saturday.

An elderly woman escaped injury as she had just left the house in Shoufeng Township to stay with her daughter, after getting a feeling that “something wrong” would happen, CNA said.

The boulder came crashing down a 500-meter-high hill at about 10 p.m. when the woman’s son, surnamed Wu, was working in the front yard, according to CNA.

Wu said he had heard loud banging sounds and assumed it was thunder, only to realize later that the huge rock had smashed into his house.

The boulder landed on a road, rolled forward and crushed a storage room built with metal sheets before crashing into a wall of the house, knocking down an air conditioner from the wall and leaving pieces of rocks and chunks of concrete on the elderly woman’s bed.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/07
By: Chao Li-yen and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Oct. 7 (CNA) Taichung Prison authorities said Friday they need more information to decide if it

CNA file photo

is appropriate to allow former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to attend the celebration of the Republic of China’s National Day in Taipei on Oct. 10.

Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), Chen’s son, said he submitted an application to Taichung Prison on Thursday to allow his father to make the trip after receiving an invitation to the National Day ceremony from the National Day Celebration Organizing Committee.

The former president has been on medical parole since January 2015 while serving a 20-year prison term for multiple convictions on corruption charges.

After a meeting on Friday afternoon, Taichung Prison said it needed more information from the celebration’s organizing committee to evaluate Chen’s application, because Chen’s medical team was not clear about the ceremony’s venue, its facilities and equipment and whether it will be a safe medical environment.

The prison said it will hold another meeting to consider the issue on Saturday or Sunday.

The junior Chen, who lives with his parents in Kaohsiung, said his mother Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) is not likely to attend the ceremony, since she has been not well recently.

The China Post
Date: October 8, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen has broached the possibility of launching talks over Taiwan-Japan maritime

President Tsai Ing-wen speaks during an interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest circulated newspaper, on Thursday, Oct. 8, in this photo provided by the Presidential Office.
(Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office)

affairs this month, according to the Presidential Office on Friday.

Tsai was speaking to a reporter from the Yomiuri Shimbun — Japan’s largest circulated newspaper — in her first interview with Japanese media since she took office in May.

During the Yomiuri Shimbun interview, which was held at the Presidential Office on Thursday, Tsai covered topics including the possibility of launching a maritime dialogue between the two countries.

Tsai said that while a specific date had yet to be set, she did not rule out the possibility of holding the talks this month.

Despite friendly relations, fishing resources surrounding the waters of Japan-claimed Okinotori atoll in the Pacific remain a touchy subject between the two nations.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post/Asia News Network
Date: October 7, 2016

TAIPEI – The wife of former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou reportedly plans to leave Mega Bank

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou lits down with senior regional correspondent Li Xueying for an exclusive interview at the Presidential Palace in Taipei. The 65-year-old exited the political stage on 19 May 2016.

after more than three decades.

Former first lady Chow Mei-ching is reportedly expected to resign from her posts at Mega Bank and its financial group on Friday, where she has worked in a variety of roles for over 30 years, the local media reported on Thursday.

Chow’s intention to resign, reported by the local United Evening News, is expected to be reviewed at a board of directors meeting discussing the financial group’s charitable foundation, at which Chow is a high-level official.

The company said it had not received any information indicating Chow’s intention to resign.

Chow’s possible decision comes as Mega Financial Holding Co. became embroiled in a money laundering scandal in the United States, in which regulators slapped a $180 million fine on its New York branch.     [FULL  STORY]

NEW BAIL RECORD:Prosecutors have alleged that the company’s president might have made illegal profits of about NT$358m and requested an overriding bail figure

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 07, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Gobo Group (國寶集團) president Chu Guo-rong (朱國榮), detained in relation to allegations of

Taipei Dsitrict Court staff yesterday stack bundles of cash delivered by the family and lawyer of Gobo Group president Chu Guo-rong to pay his NT$400 million bail. Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times

embezzlement in the CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金) case, was yesterday released on a record-setting NT$400 million (US$12.74 million) bail.

Former CTBC executives Wu Feng-fu (吳豐富) and Chang Yu-chen (張友琛) were also released after a bail hearing at the Taipei District Court. Wu’s bail was set at NT$35 million, while Chang’s was NT$1.5 million.

The court set conditions on Chu and Wu’s release, with restrictions on their movement, including staying in their own residences, not leaving the nation and reporting to their local police station every day.

The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division on Wednesday indicted Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) and seven others, including CTBC and Gobo Group executives, for allegedly embezzling company funds and other illegal financial dealings, and contravening the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and the Insurance Act (保險法).    [FULL  STORY]