Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/19
By: Shine Chen and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Aug. 19 (CNA) Most people in Taiwan think China is the most threatening Asian

economy to Taiwan’s economic development but they also see China as the most helpful economy to Taiwan, according to a survey released Friday.

The poll showed that 61.9 percent of Taiwanese view China as the most threatening economy in Asia to Taiwan’s economic development, 43.3 percent named South Korea, 13.8 percent Japan, 6.4 percent Vietnam, and 4.8 percent Singapore.

However, China was also identified by 25.8 percent of the respondents as the economy that is most helpful to Taiwan’s economic development, followed by the United States (23.4 percent) and Japan (12.0 percent), in the poll commissioned by the Association of Foreign Relations (AFR), a non-profit organization that promotes Taiwan’s foreign and cross-strait relations.

In light of the Taiwan people’s complex and ambivalent attitude toward China in economic terms, the Taiwan government should try to join both the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), said AFR Secretary-General Huang Kwei-bo (黃奎博).     [FULL  STORY]

‘SAVING TROUBLE’:Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said that the city government will request that a former army vehicle maintenance site be turned over to it for free

Taipei Tims
Date: Aug 20, 2016
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

Taipei would be able to save up to NT$40 billion (US$1.27 billion) if the central

government agrees to provide land to build public housing or take part in joint housing development projects, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.

Ko made the remarks while accompanying Premier Lin Chuan (林全) to inspect Xinlong Public Housing buildings in Taipei’s Wenshan District (文山), where Lin was briefed on the buildings’ “smart” power systems and the city’s timetable for public housing projects in the area.

Lin praised the city’s progress in promoting public housing and told Ko that he plays a “pivotal role” in realizing President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) goal of building 200,000 public housing units by 2024.

The mayor said that his administration has made some progress on public housing projects after taking office more than a year ago.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 20, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Labor Ministry Friday assured unions that legal allowances for

more than six consecutive days of work will not become the norm, but said that given the nature of some professions, exemptions to the six-day workweek policy must still be allowed.

Premier Lin Chuan (林全), Labor Minister Kuo Fong-yu (郭芳煜) and other Executive Yuan officials on Friday sat down with labor union representatives and employers ahead of a discussion about who, if anyone, should be exempted from the six-day workweek policy.

The six-day workweek policy is an amendment to the Labor Standards Act that guarantees employees one day off every seven days.

Employers protested against the amendment on the grounds that under some extreme scenarios, workers in certain professions cannot avoid working more than six days in a row.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/19
By: Cheng Che-fon and Jay Chen

Taipei, Aug. 19 (CNA) The death toll of an accident involving an Army tank earlier this

week has risen to four with the death of Lt. Wu Te-wei (吳得瑋), the tank commander, Kaohsiung Armed Services General Hospital said early Friday.

Wu died of multiple organ failure late Thursday night and was pronounced dead in the presence of his family and girlfriend, the hospital said. He was 25.

The officer had been kept on life support since Tuesday, when he was pulled from his overturned CM-11 tank that crashed into a swollen river in rural Pingtung County, southern Taiwan.

Three other crew members died shortly after the crash of the armored vehicle occurred as it came down a slope. They include non-commissioned officers Chen Shih-kun (陳世坤), Chen Ping-yi (陳秉逸), the gunner, and Pte. Chang Chih-wei (張志偉), the loader.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/08/18
By: ZiQing Low

A video of a plastic straw being extracted from the nose of a sea turtle pushed Cheng Wang-tung to design an award-winning foldable paper straw.

Taiwanese student Cheng Wang-tung’s (鄭王棟) foldable paper straw design has won a prestigious international design award.

Cheng, a National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) student, won Bronze at the 2016 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) held at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan on Aug. 17.
Shocked by video footage of a plastic straw being extracted from the nose of an Olive Ridley sea turtle in Costa Rica, Cheng came up with the idea for an environmentally friendly paper straw.

Cheng, a master’s student with NTUST’s Department of Industrial and Commercial Design, says as many as 3 billion plastic straws are used in Taiwan annually. He adds that the cost of recycling plastic straws is very high, and that plastic is not compostable.     [FULL  STORY]

RADICAL:DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng called for changing the ROC title and the national flag, as they cannot be used to represent the nation in the international arena

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 19, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

The government will not pursue UN membership and will instead continue to push for the nation’s meaningful participation at UN-related agencies, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) said yesterday.

“With regard to the UN issue, the government will undoubtedly continue our meaningful participation [at UN-related organizations], but will not promote Taiwanese membership in the global body,” Lee said.

He made the remarks one day after Taiwan UN Alliance president Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) reportedly visited him to urge President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration to “toughen up and honor more than 80 percent of the public’s demand” that the government should strive to join the UN.

Michael Tsai reportedly told Lee that the government should refrain from constantly making compromises because of the “China factor,” as Beijing would only take more actions detrimental to Taipei.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 19, 2016
By: Yuan-Ming Chiao

Premier Lin Chuan (林全) announced Thursday that the proposed 2017 annual budget

includes increased funding for education and social welfare.

Speaking at a press conference at the Executive Yuan, Lin said that the increases were necessary to implement government plans to expand social housing, institute elderly care, enact food safety measures and combat illicit drugs.

The premier characterized the budget as adhering to principles of financial stability.

Statistics released by the Cabinet-level Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (主計處) put social welfare expenditures at NT$477.3 billion (US$15.2 billion), a 3.6-percent increase from 2016.

A hefty NT$17.8 billion was allocated to elderly care, compared to NT$6.7 billion budgeted for 2016.     [FULL  STORY]