The China Post
Date: October 6, 2016
By: Yuan-Ming Chiao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — People First Party Chairman James Soong thanked President Tsai Ing-wen Thursday

for appointing him as the country’s APEC envoy, calling it a great responsibility and saying he intended to present Taiwan’s wish for world peace at the November summit.

Revealing that Tsai first approached him about the role on Aug. 4, Soong said during a press conference that he had initially feared the prospect and requested time to consider his decision.

He later told the president that he was willing to accept the challenge, he said, but warned her that it would require substantial preparation.

Discussing the possibility that he would be shunned by the Chinese delegation at the summit in Peru, Soong said his selection as representative was an indication of goodwill by the Tsai administration — one that he hoped Beijing would appreciate.     [FULL  STORY]

The lawyer of the man who killed four people on the Taipei subway in 2014 is bracing himself for more ‘random killings’ in Taiwan.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/10/05
By: Edward White

Everyone in Taiwan knows the name Cheng Chieh (鄭捷).

The 23-year-old was executed on May 10, two years after he killed four and injured 22 in a stabbing spree on the Taipei subway.

The murders, known locally as the “random MRT killings,” sent shockwaves through Taiwan.

“This was the first case of its kind in Taiwan, but it is not going to be the last of its kind,” says Leon Huang (黃致豪) the attorney who led Cheng’s defense.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Chiayi Airport was closed for about three hours Wednesday due to an incident

involving an F-16 fighter jet, the Air Force said.
Taiwan has 115 F-16 jets bought from the United States in order to bolster its defenses against China.

At 10:49 a.m. Wednesday, one of the jets returning from a routine training mission shook uncontrollably during landing and ended up on one side of the runway, reports said.

An investigation revealed light damage to the aircraft, with a loosening of the main left wheel in the landing gear being blamed, reports said. Nobody was injured during the incident, according to the Air Force.

Because the jet was left in its original position by the side of the runway, Chiayi Airport was closed down until after 2 p.m.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 06, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) yesterday blasted Beijing for blocking Taipei from

attending several international events, saying such relentless suppression has hurt the feelings of Taiwanese and is far from conducive to mending cross-strait relations.

At a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Lee said recent developments regarding this year’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly in Canada and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) suggested that Beijing’s suppression of Taipei in the international arena has become more blatant.

Lee then drew attention to China’s increasing sway over international organizations due to its occupation of significant positions within the agencies, adding that the international community has noticed Beijing’s disregard of global welfare in its efforts to block Taipei’s international participation.

“The responsibility to resolve the current cross-strait divergence falls on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Beijing’s behavior is neither beneficial to the development of cross-strait ties, nor do they conform to its claims of promoting peace,” Lee said.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 6, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Fury erupted inside and outside the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday as the

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) pushed through committee a controversial workweek law that some fear will undermine workers’ rights.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ying, just minutes after convening the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, ended discussion of the Cabinet-proposed bill and called a vote.

The DPP’s majority carried the bill over the objections of opposition lawmakers.

The bill — which mandates one day off every week and another “flexible” day off, for which employees must be paid overtime wages if they work — will now enter cross-party negotiations.

Its passage triggered strong protests from opposition lawmakers in the committee, as well as from protesters gathered outside the Legislative Yuan.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 5, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — As lawmakers geared up for a legislative committee review of the “one flexible day

off” bill, opposition parties and labor activists came out to criticize the policy, Tuesday.

Lawmakers from the Kuomintang (KMT) said the conflict between workers and employers must defused through consensus, slamming attempts by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) majority to force through the legislative review.

The KMT said such a forceful approach would only deepen the rift between the parties. “If the DPP’s Health and Welfare Committee head fails to show up, that’s entirely acceptable for us,” the KMT’s Chiang Chi-chen said.

The remark was a reference to DPP Legislator committee head Lin Shu-fen’s no-show during the last legislative session.

Local media recently reported that Lin was fined NT$30,000 by the DPP for failing to appear to lead legislative review of the amendments to the Labor Standards Act — the official name of the “one flexible, one fixed day off” policy.     [FULL  STORY]

Singaporeans say a Taiwanese TV show has ‘defamed’ their country’s judicial system and that caning is crucial in maintaining social order in Singapore.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/10/04
By: Yuan-ling Liang

Taiwan variety show “Super Follower” (小明星大跟班) held a mock debate on Sept. 21 discussing several social issues. One of the topics was whether or not Taiwan should adopt caning in criminal law.

At one point during the program, Ma Xi-ping (馬西屏), a regular on the show, said, “No country aside from Singapore uses caning as a form of punishment.”

“There are plenty of ways to improve order in a society and caning is one of the worst,” Ma said. “It is regarded by international organizations to be the cruelest and most inhumane penalty.”

Wang Rei-de (王瑞德), another regular on the show, said caning was a human rights violation.     [FULL  STORY]

BETRAYAL:The NPP and the SDP also expressed their disapproval, saying that the legislature is not a ‘rubber stamp’ and questioned the lack of supporting measures

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 05, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文)

directive to the legislature to “ram” through a proposed five-day workweek with “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” (一例一休) was a betrayal of workers.

Tsai on Monday instructed the Executive Yuan and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus at the first weekly High-Level Policy Coordination Meeting to push through a draft amendment to introduce a five-day workweek with two days off before the end of the year.

The KMT caucus said that Tsai’s changing of the phrase “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” to “two days off weekly” (周休二日) was an attempt to obfuscate the policy’s goals, as it still does not meet workers’ demands for “two fixed days off.”

KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) said that changing the policy’s name is like putting old wine in a new bottle.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-04
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Prosecutors on Tuesday applied for the detention of former Mega Financial

Holding Chairman McKinney Tsai following the overnight questioning of tycoon Samuel Yin, while seven government officials were referred to the Control Yuan amid an escalation in the scandal surrounding the state-owned financial group.

Mega International Commercial Bank, which Tsai also chaired, has been at the center of allegations of money laundering since New York State’s Department of Financial Service fined its New York branch US$180 million last August 19 over a number of suspicious transactions with a Mega office in Panama.

In the latest development, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office reportedly found out that Mega handed out NT$26.8 billion (US$853 million) in loans to Yin’s Ruentex Group, while Tsai joined an affiliate of the group as chairman after he retired from the state-run company earlier this year.

Monday evening, the investigators began questioning 18 people, including Yin, who was allowed to return home as a witness a 4 a.m. Tuesday. However, the prosecutors announced later they wanted Tsai and Mega’s former chief secretary, Wang Chi-pang, detained for a strong suspicion of violations of the Securities and Exchange Act, reports said.     [FULL  STORY]