Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/16
By: Tang Pei-chun and Christie Chen

Taipei, July 16 (CNA) Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Saturday issued a red

travel alert for Turkey as the country is roiled by its military’s attempt to seize control of the country in a coup.

The situation in Turkey remained in flux and many people have taken to the streets to protest, MOFA said, cautioning Taiwanese businesspeople and tourists in Turkey to be aware of their safety and avoid visiting places with big crowds.

Under the MOFA’s four-color system, the lowest level is gray, followed by yellow, then orange and finally red.

A red alert is the highest warning level and advises people to refrain from traveling to the region in question.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 17, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI — Premier Lin Chuan (林全) has said that actors and actresses should be allowed to act

in movies without “political factors” getting in the way, in response to an incident in which a Taiwanese actor lost his place in a Chinese film over his “vague” political views about China.

Actors and actresses should be judged only by how well they act, Lin said, adding that he hopes the case involving Taiwanese actor Leon Dai (戴立忍) being dropped from the Chinese film over his political stance will not become a regular occurrence.

Dai, the lead actor in the film “No Other Love” (沒有別的愛) directed by Chinese actress Zhao Wei (趙薇), was booted from the production by its investors for his vague positions on whether “Taiwan is part of China” and whether he believes he “is Chinese.”

In a post on his Sina Weibo account Friday, Dai said he had “never joined any political party nor any political organization” and he had “never supported Taiwan independence.”     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: July 15, 2016

Taiwan bananas now feature in the lunch programs for the 10,000 students and teachers at the

six elementary and four junior high schools in the city of Gotemba in central Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture on one day each month under an agreement signed between Taiwan’s Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture and the Japanese city July 12 in Taipei.

According to COA, four other cities in Shizuoka Prefecture plan to add Taiwan bananas to their lunch programs in the near future, while the council is also in talks with related authorities in Akita, Aomori, Ishikawa and Kanagawa prefectures on similar pacts. If all the deals are sealed, COA estimates Taiwan’s total banana exports to Japan would reach about 10,000 tons per year.

When the project was implemented on a trial basis July 6, some students brought home their bananas, with one pupil writing in their diary: “Grandma shed tears at the taste of the banana, saying only sick people had the privilege of eating this kind of fruit when she was little.” The anecdote was featured in Japanese media reports about the school lunch initiative, drawing considerable local attention to the arrangement.     [FULL  STORY]

An employment dispute involving the treatment of an HIV-infected migrant worker in Taiwan has sparked controversy.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/07/15
By: Yuan-ling Liang

Liu Shuan-shuan (劉萱萱), who hired an HIV-infected migrant worker, has stirred up a

controversy online after she wrote a post on Facebook detailing the Taiwanese government’s handling of an employment dispute.
Liu says that after discovering that her employee was HIV-positive she and her family sought advice from the Ministry of Labor.
She posted a photo of the reply from the government, instructing her to find a new employer for the worker.
“Can you, Minister of Labor, accept migrant workers that are HIV-infected and pregnant taking care of your parents and patients at home?” Liu wrote. She also said that some shelters for migrant workers refuse to take in people with HIV.

The Ministry of Labor issued a statement on July 15 clarifying that it did not encourage the employer to find a new employer for the worker. Given that HIV transmission is clearly understood, the disease should not have an impact on employers, the ministry said. The statement added that any discrimination against HIV-infected workers was unacceptable.
At the time of writing, Liu’s post had seen thousands of reactions online. Many people, who say they also employ migrant workers, replied to the post complaining that employers face an unfair situation. Some say that migrant workers bring major social problems to Taiwan. Others go so far as to say that HIV-infected workers should be deported.     [FULL  STORY]

Lin says he acted alone: reports

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-15
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – For the first time since the July 7 train explosion, investigators were

able to question the chief suspect in hospital, reports said Friday.

Lin Ying-chang, 55, was one of 25 people who were injured when a crude home-made device exploded on a train shortly before its arrival at Taipei Songshan station in the evening.

As Lin was one of the most severely injured victims, he spent the first week in hospital linked up to machines to receive oxygen and food, making it impossible for investigators to question him, until Friday.

Taipei Medical University Hospital ruled him fit to be questioned, and interrogators reportedly arrived on the scene at 4 p.m. Friday. He reportedly admitted that he had acted alone, while his motive, according to media reports, was that he wanted to “become famous.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/15
By: Chiu Chun-chin and Kay Liu

Taipei, July 15 (CNA) Some 350,000 households in southern Taoyuan were without water Friday

after a major pipeline broke during a maintenance operation, Taiwan Water Corp. (TWC) said.

The accident occurred around noon at the Sankeng water pump station in Taoyuan’s Longtan District, where a new pump was being installed, the TWC said.

The new pump fell while it was being hoisted by a crane and smashed onto an 800-millimeter pipeline, rupturing it, according to the TWC.

To avoid flooding in the area, the Northern Region Water Resources Office ordered Shihmen Reservoir to shut off the water supply to the station for at least 24 hours, the TWC said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/14
By: Chu Che-wei and Elaine Hou

Taipei, July 14 (CNA) Taipei police said Thursday they were looking at the possibility that an international organized crime ring was involved in the recent hacking of First Bank’s automatic teller machines in Taiwan.

The police said they were tracking down the six suspects, most of whom were from Eastern Europe. Currently, there are no Taiwanese on the list of suspects who hacked into 38 First Bank ATMs over the weekend, getting the machines to spit out a steady stream of bills that amounted to more than NT$83 million (US$2.6 million), the police said.

The mode of operation was similar to another heist several years ago that was carried in Europe out by an international organized crime ring, the police said, adding that there is a possibility of a link between the two cases.

In Taiwan, the ATMs were robbed by groups of no more than three people who traveled mostly by taxi, although they had a rental car, the police said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: July 14, 2016

The Taiwan-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Strategic Investment Partnership Forum was

held July 13 at Taipei International Convention Center, with more than 600 officials and business representatives from Taiwan and ASEAN countries meeting to promote investment between the two sides.

“ASEAN nations have abundant resources and great market potential. The establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community in December last year not only captured global attention but demonstrated that member countries have entered a new era in terms of their economic models and development,” Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua said at the opening of the event. “In response, Taiwan’s government is actively promoting its New Southbound Policy to foster comprehensive partnerships with ASEAN member states through increased two-way trade, investment, cultural, talent and tourism exchanges.”

The one-day event featured an address by James C. F. Huang, director-general of the New Southbound Policy Office under the Office of the President and a keynote speech by Izuru Kobayashi, chief operating officer of the Jakarta, Indonesia-headquartered Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia.    [FULL  STORY]