Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2016-07-27

Over 300 experts and officials have attended a global workshop on the prevention of

human trafficking hosted by Taiwan. Participants in Wednesday’s workshop came from eleven countries including the US, England, Switzerland, and Australia.

President Tsai Ing-wen organized anti-trafficking efforts in Taiwan when she was vice premier in 2006. Taiwan has seen much progress in stopping human trafficking since. On Wednesday, Vice President Chen Chien-jen said that Taiwan has signed agreements with 16 countries on working to fight human trafficking. He called on people and nations to work together in this effort:

“I’d like to call on the countries of this world to strengthen prevention of human trafficking and to support the United Nations International Anti-Human Trafficking Day on July 30,” Chen said. “We also hope every nation will accept Taiwan as a member of international organizations so that Taiwan can contribute more to international society.”

The US State Department has given Taiwan a “Tier 1” ranking in its latest trafficking in persons report. A Tier 1 ranking indicates the greatest efforts in the fight against human trafficking. This is the seventh year in a row Taiwan has received a Tier 1 ranking. Chen said that Taiwan has become a model in Asia in terms of prevention, investigation and protecting the rights of victims.      [SOURCE]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/07/27
By: Chang Shin-wei

Labor rights issues, the South China Sea ruling, and the accidental launch of a missile

are believed to have contributed to the wavering trust in the Tsai administration.

The Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation on July 27 released its latest survey on the approval rates for the Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration. While almost 56% of respondents said they were pleased with how Tsai has dealt with important issues in Taiwan, the results were 14% lower than when took office in May.

You Ying-lung (游盈隆), chairman of the Foundation, said this was a warning of escalating dissatisfaction with Tsai.

Accodding to You, the South China Sea ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague earlier this month, the accidental launch of a missile by the Taiwanese navy on July 1, and Tsai’s decision to restart operations at the First Nuclear Power Plant have undermined public trust in her administration.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/27
By: Sophia Yeh and Romulo Huang

Taipei, July 27 (CNA) The Presidential Office on Wednesday promulgated an order by

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) that abolished the Red Cross Society Act of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

The Red Cross Society Act was a special law that allowed the organization to seek donations without prior application and exempted it from oversight.

On July 12, the Legislative Yuan revoked the law, which had been in effect for more than 60 years.

The motion to scrap the law was introduced by Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) of the opposition New Power Party.

The Red Cross Society of the ROC will now be governed by the Civil Organizations Act.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Legislative Yuan announced a break until Thursday morning after a member of staff was taken to hospital Wednesday evening as a voting session about budgets for state corporations entered its 27th hour.

After a marathon session Monday which culminated in the approval of guidelines on ill-gotten party assets, the opposition Kuomintang was seen as striking back by filing more than 1,600 items and amendments to the 2016 budgets for the state-run enterprises.

As a result, the Legislative Yuan decided to hold a non-stop day-and-night voting session from Tuesday evening until the end of Friday.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/27
By: Huang Li-yun, Huang Chiao-wen and Elaine Hou

Taipower said the peak electricity consumption was recorded at 35.821 million

kilowatts at 1:46 p.m., which was 261,000 kW higher than the previous record of 35.56 million kW set July 6.

The percentage of operating reserves fell to an alarming 4.31 percent, it said.

Taipower considers that it has sufficient electricity supplies when the operating reserve ratio stands at 10 percent or above.

Wednesday’s record power consumption was set as hot weather remained all over the country, with Taipei recording 38.5 degrees Celsius, the second-highest in the capital city for the month of July.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: July 27, 2016

President Tsai Ing-wen was included in an article showcasing eight women to serve as

national leaders published July 24 by U.S.-based newspaper The Washington Post.

“Women steering the ship of state: They’re just about everywhere (except here)” introduces Tsai as the “first female president of Taiwan,” winning the nation’s top job with 56 percent of the vote. Her background as a former professor and trade negotiator holding degrees from Cornell University and London School of Economics is also highlighted.

Tsai is in the esteemed company of the late Indira Ghandi, former prime minister of India; Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, ex-president of Argentina, Theresa May, prime minister of Britain; the late Golda Meir, former prime minister of Israel; Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany; the late Margaret Thatcher, ex-prime minister of Britain; and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia and the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner.     [FULL  STORY]

NANOPOWDER:Prosecutors said former employees of a nanotech company cost the firm NT$2.6bn by stealing the technology and starting a firm based in China

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 28, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Judicial authorities yesterday said that they have charged

five men who allegedly stole intellectual property from a Tainan nanotechnology company and set up competing nanotechnology plants in China with breaching the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法).

The Second Special Police Corp, under the National Police Agency, announced details of the investigation yesterday, saying it is the first investigation and prosecution under the act since it was implemented in 2013.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 28, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A marathon special legislative voting session was halted Wednesday to open

the way for bipartisan negotiations on state-owned business budget proposals, amid reports that a parliament staffer fainted.

Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) called a halt to the voting session, which had been going on for over 20 hours, citing the heavy burden on Legislative Yuan personnel.

Cross-party negotiations are to commence today.

A Legislative Yuan employee reportedly fainted in a restroom from low blood pressure Wednesday night.

The staffer was sent to a local hospital for medical attention.

Following the incident, the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) caucus criticized the majority Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus over the debacle.

The Legislature called a recess Wednesday morning around 5 a.m. and resumed at 8 a.m.

It was to continue until a special session closed on Friday night.

Earlier, the KMT claimed that it was cooperating with the DPP to hold the session throughout the night, a claim refuted by DPP lawmakers, who claimed that the minority KMT had refused offers to negotiate.

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-26
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – After a day which saw lawmakers vote on guidelines for ill-gotten party

assets, the Legislative Yuan faced a non-stop voting marathon lasting more than 80 hours, this time on the budgets of state enterprises, reports said Tuesday.

The 113-member body spent most of Monday voting on a controversial project to review allegedly illegally acquired assets by the Kuomintang, with the opposition trying to block the passage of the bill by adding as many amendments as possible.

A similar tactic was being deployed Tuesday as 2,419 items were added to the budget review of the state corporations, not all of the proposals came from the KMT, reports said.

While a total of 1,668 were filed by the main opposition, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party also presented 818 motions. According to various calculations mentioned in the media, voting on all the proposals would take between 15 and 30 days even if the lawmakers worked 24 hours a day as four rounds of voting were possible for each item.     [FULL  STORY]