Taiwanese athletes at the Paralympics wore the emblem of Taiwan’s opposition party after China piled pressure on international sport administrators.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/20
By: Hsu Chia-yu

Taiwanese athletes at the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics were forced to change the emblem on their

uniforms after pressure from China.

Chinese Taipei Paralympic Committee (CTPC) chair Chen Lee-chou (陳李綢) said that two weeks before the Paralympics opened, Chinese authorities protested against the emblem on Taiwan’s uniform — the 12 white spokes of a sun touching the rim of a blue circle — and requested it be changed to the version of the sun used by Taiwan’s Beijing-friendly opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), in which the 12 spokes do not connect with the rim.

Chen, speaking this morning, said the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) then sent a letter to Taiwan, which competes under the name Chinese Taipei, requesting the emblem be changed before the games started.

The committee, concerned that athletes may not be eligible to compete, subsequently decided to cover the national emblem on the athletes’ uniforms with stickers using the KMT version of the emblem, she says.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-20
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Taiwanese tourist was taken to hospital in Paris with severe injuries after

being dragged along a train by an attacker suspected to be from Eastern Europe, reports said Tuesday.

The Taiwanese man and two friends were involved in a dispute with four presumably Eastern European men around 11 p.m. Sunday on the suburban train network known as RER, according to the French newspaper Le Parisien.

The Taiwanese had boarded the C Line train at Pont de l’Alma station, and as the four insulted them and shouted at them, they chose to leave the train at the next station, Champ de Mars, near the Eiffel Tower.

However, as the train was leaving, one of the suspects spit at a Taiwanese man, put his arm through an open window and grabbed him, dragging him along with the train. After a few meters, the Taiwanese tourist fell into the gap between the train and the platform, causing serious multiple fractures, Le Parisien reported.     [FULL  STORY]    

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/20
By: Tang Pei-chun and Elaine Hou

Taipei, Sept. 20 (CNA) A Taiwanese tourist who was attacked after quarreling with other passengers on

a train in Paris is in stable condition after undergoing surgery on Monday, a Taiwanese foreign affairs official said Tuesday.

The assaulted man was traveling with two friends in Paris when they boarded a train at Pont de l’Alma Station on the RER C line on Sunday night and quickly got into an argument with four other passengers, believed to be Eastern European, said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲).

When they got off at the next stop of Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel, they continued the argument with the four people, who remained on the train, Wang said.

One of the passengers grabbed the arm of one of the Taiwanese and dragged him as the train started moving. The man fell to the tracks after the train pulled away and fractured a bone in his arm, according to Wang.     [FULL  STORY]

Beijing is seeking to undermine the authority of Taiwan’s central government by creating bilateral dependencies and sowing division within society. It has been going on for quite a while.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/19
By: J. Michael Cole

Top representatives from eight municipalities in Taiwan controlled by the pan-blue camp visited China at

the weekend for talks with Chinese officials and to promote tourism and agricultural produce as Beijing shows Taipei the cold shoulder for its refusal to acknowledge the so-called 1992 consensus.

Besides belonging to the same camp — six of the eight city and county government heads belong to the Kuomintang (KMT) and two others are blue-leaning independents — all eight representatives have stated they recognize the “1992 consensus,” which an inflexible Beijing has set as a precondition for cross-Strait exchanges.

Having frozen most (albeit not all) the official communication mechanisms between the central governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Beijing is now accelerating its efforts to bypass the central government in Taipei and rewarding local governments that agree to say what it wants. In return, the heads of those eight municipalities hope to reap the benefits of Chinese tourism and better market access for their produce. In other words, they are agreeing to form a clientelistic relationship with China.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-19
By: Wendy Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

More Taiwanese employers have put workers on unpaid leave, as the number of furloughed workers has increased by 118 from the second half of August, according to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Labor (MOL) on Monday.

As of September 15, the ministry reported a total of 662 workers on furlough, up 118 from 544 in the last two weeks of August, the statistics showed.

Most of the companies that imposed furloughs were small firms with fewer than 50 employees, according to the ministry.

The ministry noted that in order to provide assistance for furloughed workers and help them develop skills needed for job success, it has allocated a total of NT$20 billion for the Employment Stability Fund, and launched a “Recharge and Restart Training Program,” which provides training courses for individuals to learn new job-related skills and further stabilize employment.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/19
By: Huang Kuo-fang and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Sept. 19 (CNA) The Alishan Forest Railway in southern Taiwan will continue its suspension of

runs on its main line Tuesday because of the difficulty and slow pace in removing rocks that blocked the tracks during landslides caused by heavy rain.

The administration of the forest railway announced the suspension of services Monday, saying that its staff overseeing repair work on the forest railway discovered the debris at the main line’s 44.7 km-mark the previous day during an early morning inspection.

The railway administration said it decided immediately to close the railway and take steps to fix the problem.

Because of the rough mountainous terrain, it was difficult to get machinery to the blocked tracks, the administration said. Also, the fallen rocks are big and hard, which slowed the work of breaking them down into smaller pieces, it added.     [FULL  STORY]

PROMOTING TAIWAN?A visit by KMT and independent heads of governments pushed for cross-strait exchanges and improving the quality of trips to Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 20, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration

to refrain from being jealous over a recent meeting between Chinese cross-strait officials and a delegation of predominantly KMT local government heads, saying the delegation was merely trying to find a way out for their nation.

KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hu Wen-chi (胡文琦) said the group, made up of six KMT members and two independents, made three requests during their two-day visit to Beijing, during which they met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Yu Zhengsheng (俞正聲) and Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍).

“They hope that Beijing will continue to purchase Taiwan’s agricultural products; that cross-strait tourism and cultural exchanges will be expanded; and that platforms will be established between Beijing’s tourism bureau and Taiwan’s local governments to promote high-quality tours, protect the safety of travelers and increase the quality of Chinese visitors’ trips,” Hu said.

None of the requests were aimed at selling out Taiwan or were detrimental to the nation’s sovereignty or dignity, he said, urging the Tsai administration not to have “sour grapes.”

The China Post
Date: September 20, 2016
By: Christine Chou

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Hundreds of Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower, 台電公司) employees Monday reached the

end of a 15-day march protesting proposed Electricity Act amendments that they say would result in a staggering increase to energy prices.

Protesters claimed the proposed amendments infringed on people’s right to energy, causing a massive hike in electricity bills for households and small- and medium-sized businesses while enriching large enterprises.

A spokeswoman for the protesters, Tseng Yue-huey (曾玥惠), told media that the bill aimed to liberalize the power market but created room for private companies to manipulate prices.

If passed, the first phase of changes would see electricity prices rise by 1.42 times, Tseng said.

“Some costs that are now absorbed by Taipower today may be transferred to consumers after the policy change. It’s impossible to predict how much (prices) may rise in the future,” Tseng said, calling for more public awareness of the bill.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 19, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung will replace Tung Chen-yuan as Cabinet

spokesman Oct. 1, the Executive Yuan announced Sunday.

According to the Presidential Office, Tung will serve as National Security Council advisor.

Tung is an expert on cross-strait affairs and trade and economic issues, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang said.

He had also served as deputy mainland affairs minister, Huang said, adding that Tung’s expertise will serve the country well in his new post as national security advisor.

National Taiwan University Hospital physician Chiu Tai-yuan will assume the Legislative Yuan post left vacant by Hsu.

Hsu is a former lawyer, teacher and Taipei City councilor. He ran on the DPP’s ticket as legislator-at-large for his second term in the Legislative Yuan this year. Hsu became a political pundit on television talk shows after his term in the 6th Legislative Yuan ended.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-18
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Working holiday has become a fad among Taiwan’s young people in recent years, with more than

190,000 person-time participation as of the end of last year. However, the Examination Yuan (EY) found that related measures to safeguard young people working overseas under the working holiday program were not enough and called for authorities to tighten up the program.

To broaden international view of Taiwan’s youth, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has signed working holiday agreements with 15 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and France.

However, the EY found that domestic authorities have not done enough to educate young people working overseas under the program on related subjects. For example, some of them did not get overseas medical or accident insurance coverage, and were not able to pay for expensive medical bills in case of an accident; while some others who were ignorant of local regulations were exploited by their employers, the EY said.     [FULL  STORY]