Taipei Times
Date: Aug 29, 2016
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

Trees Party Chairman Sheng Yi-che’s (冼義哲) car was yesterday allegedly vandalized in Penghu by

supporters of legalizing gambling in the outlying county ahead of its second casino referendum in October.

Sheng, a vocal opponent of a plan to allow casinos in the county, said his grandmother found the car painted with the words: “More opposition [brings] death to the whole family,” which he said is aimed at the party’s campaigning against a casino.

“I take any threat to my family very seriously, but such a move will not affect our beliefs or actions,” Sheng said. “The Trees Party and I will not surrender to violence and will continue to campaign against plans for a casino.”

Police have launched an investigation, he said, urging police to increase patrols and prevent violence.

Gambling is illegal in Taiwan proper, but in January 2009 the legislature passed an amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例), allowing outlying islands to establish tourist casinos if their residents agree to it in a referendum.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 29, 2016
By: John Liu

Labor groups staged a demonstration on Ketagalan Boulevard Sunday, asking the government not to

annul the seven-day statutory national holidays, and to ensure a fair work environment in Taiwan.

Event organizer Labor Struggle (工鬥) — a coalition of labor unions — said it was making the “sternest suggestion” to the government not to axe the public holidays.

The protest was staged at a time when the new government is contemplating removing the requirement for seven national holidays from the Labor Standards Act.

The move towards changing the act has however garnered support from business, who believe the increase in the number of working days will enhance competitiveness.

Labor Struggle said President Tsai Ing-wen ought not to be “the most able communicator” when facilitating requests from business, and that it should not abandon laborers who have long been exploited by their employers.

The move has stirred passions, with one protester holding aloft a sign with the message “To President Tsai: protect labor rights and don’t axe the seven national holidays” daubed in blood.

The activists said their suffering in unfair work environments had already produced many “blood stains,” and that slashing the holidays will only worsen the situation.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 28, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI — A “golden” mailbox in front of the Jinguashi post office of New Taipei City has become an

attraction to many visitors, including foreign tourists who flock to Taiwan’s northeastern coastal area to see the scenic area, according to post office officials.

The Jingquashi post office is located inside New Taipei City’s Gold Museum, which exhibits relics from Taiwan’s prosperous gold mining past when many workers dug for gold for a living in the mountainous area.

The mailbox has an additional gold bar-like part on the top, although it is not gold-plated. It is placed above a gold-mining cart to show the hilly area’s memorable past.

Lin Chun-ya, head of the museum’s promotion division, said that more and more foreign tourists, including backpackers from Europe, like to stop in front the golden mailbox. South Korean visitors have become frequent visitors as well, Lin added.

Lin said that the existence of the golden mailbox aims to boost the visibility of the Jinguashi post office by taking advantage of tourism resources in the popular hilly area in New Taipei. She said that the golden mailbox has become a unique attraction of the post office and even of the museum.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Ministry of Transportation and Communications was confident about the safety of the Mass Rapid Transit system linking Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport with Taipei City, even though the requested time needed for the journey would be reached later, reports said Saturday.

Completion of the line has been postponed six times, and trains have reportedly been unable to make the entire journey within the 35 minutes required by the contract.

The MOTC reportedly considered opening the line before the end of this year as planned, but allowing more time for the 35-minute requirement to be reached. Recent tests had already cut travel time from 37 to 36 minutes, reports said. Direct trains reached a speed of 57 kilometers per hour, even though the contract demanded 60 kph, reports said. The gap between trains, 3 minutes, had also still not been achieved.

The transportation minister who took office last May, Ho Chen Tan, formed a special taskforce to review work on the airport MRT project. The aim of the group was to provide the ministry with independent and objective suggestions for improvements, with Saturday set as the day for the presentation of its final report.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 28, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

A man died in a paragliding accident in Puli, Nantou County on Saturday, with initial investigations

pointing to a failed takeoff.

The paraglider took off from Puli’s Hushan — a popular location for the sport — spiraling to heights of up to 200 meters before crashing to the ground below, reports say.

One side of the paraglider’s wing snagged while the man surnamed Lu, who was about 50 years old, was in the air.

Before Lu could attempt to resolve the problem, he plummeted to the ground, crashing into a mountain slope used by local paragliders for takeoff.

Other reports suggested that Lu had glided into turbulent air space, leaving him unable to completely open the wings of his paraglider. Eyewitnesses reported seeing Lu rapidly spiraling in the air before falling.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 27, 2016
By: Joseph Yeh

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Friday denied lawmakers’ accusations that

it had been negligent in the handling of a case involving a Turkish envoy who left Taiwan amid accusations of sexual harassment.

Turkish Trade Office in Taipei (TTOT) deputy representative Halil Ibrahim Dokuyucu, who was arrested last month for allegedly groping a woman at a Taipei bar, left Taiwan on Aug. 18.

Both ruling and opposition lawmakers have accused MOFA of failing to apply stronger pressure on Turkey and to keep a close eye on the envoy — negligence that resulted in the envoy leaving Taiwan before local prosecutors could investigate complaints against him.

MOFA spokeswoman Eleanor Wang told The China Post that the ministry and its representative office in Turkey had done their best to pressure their Turkish counterparts over the envoy’s case, to no avail.     [FULL  STORY]

Ma Ying-jeou says the move is ‘unsuitable.’ The group also plans to nominate Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/08/26
By: ZiQing Low

Former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) this morning turned down a suggestion by his

former national policy advisors that he be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, saying the move was “unsuitable.”

The move to nominate Ma was announced at a press conference held by a group of his former national policy advisors today. Former legislator Liu Shen-liang (劉盛良) and former Examination Yuan secretary general Lin Shui-chi (林水吉) were part of the group, which reportedly also plans to nominate Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). If they proceed as planned, the nominations will be submitted by the end of October.

Lin said the move to nominate Ma was intended to promote peace. The group is looking for members of parliament and city councils, as well as university professors, to back the nomination, the pro-Beijing China Times reported.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-26
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Chang Hsiu-hsiung, 74, has wiped clean 82,000 reflectors along highways in metropolitan Taipei, New Taipei and Taoyuan cities, including mountainous areas, in the past five years for free.

Chang said he is willing to do an almost full-time job of wiping reflectors clean for nothing because he had witnessed tragic traffic accidents. He began the self-motivated volunteer work five years ago after he retired.

But it is not totally for nothing as Chang will be given a special contribution award by the Directorate General of Highways (DGOH) in the Golden Road Awards ceremony on Aug. 30.

For the past five years, Chang went out for the cleaning work at 4 a.m. each working day and came home around noon. He has prepared a ladder and wiping cloth and taken note of the routes he has covered and the progress. He wiped clean all the reflectors on the routes for about a half year and then repeated the whole process all over again.     [FULL  STORY]