Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/30
By: Wang Shu-fen, Wei Shu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, June 30 (CNA) Pilot error is to blame for a TransAsia Airways plane crash in Taipei last year, according to a final report released Thursday by Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council (ASC).

Accident investigators have pinpointed the two TransAsia flight GE235 pilots’ failure to follow flight procedure and a series of mistakes made due to ineffective communication between the two pilots as the main cause of the aviation accident that killed 43 people.

Flight GE 235 crashed into the Keelung River on Feb. 4, 2015 less than three minutes after takeoff from Taipei Songshan Airport, which is located some 5.4 km to the west of the crash site.

The flight, operated with a 10-month-old ATR 72-600 aircraft, was going from Taipei to the outlying island of Kinmen with 53 passengers and a five-member crew on board. There were 15 survivors.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-29
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Working more than six days in a row will become illegal beginning in August, the Ministry of Labor announced Wednesday.

The measure was the latest decision in the discussion surrounding working hours for the island’s labor force. A total of 8.5 million employees falling under the Labor Standards Act could benefit from the new measure, reports said.

Employers breaking the new rule could face fines ranging from NT$20,000 (US$619) to NT$300,000 (US$9,280). The MOL decision will end a practice rooted in a 1986 ruling by the Ministry of Interior, which said there should be one day off for each seven working days, but which allowed 12 working days to be pooled, with the free days coming before and after that period.

Recently, an employee of the 7-Eleven convenience store rebelled against a management requirement for him to work eight days in a row, and he made the news by asking a police officer to take his place. The employee accused his employer of violating the Labor Standards Act by making him work so long without any days off.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/29
By: Tien Yu-pin and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, June 29 (CNA) Hotai Motor (和泰汽車), the local distributor for Toyota vehicles, said Wednesday that more than 12,000 Toyota cars in Taiwan will have to be recalled because of possible defects in the airbag inflators and emissions control systems.

The recalls over the airbag issue will total 4,981 units, 1,413 of which are the Prius models and 3,568 the Lexus CT200h, the distributor said.

However, Hotai said, it will have to wait for a notice from Toyota on when the related parts will be ready, before it can fix the problem.

Meanwhile, 12,740 Toyota cars –3,540 Prius and 9,200 Lexus CT200h — will have to be recalled in July because of a problem with their emission control units, Hotai said, adding that it will take about three hours to repair each unit.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: June 29, 2016

President Tsai Ing-wen was awarded a Paraguayan national honor by President Horacio Cartes

during a reception at the presidential palace June 28 in the capital Asuncion.

Tsai, who is visiting Republic of China (Taiwan) diplomatic allies Panama and Paraguay on a nine-day trip, received the Marshal Francisco Solano Lopez Honor Medal following an in-depth meeting with Cartes. The trip is her first abroad since taking office in May.

“The medal is a great honor and symbolizes Paraguay’s sincere friendship with Taiwan and the value it places on bilateral relations,” she said. “The two countries have forged deep ties and considerably intensified exchanges over the years.”

According to Tsai, Taiwan’s and Paraguay’s industrial structures are complementary, and expanding bilateral economic and trade cooperation is important to both sides. “Given that Paraguay is a founding member of Mercosur, the South American trade bloc, and boasts a wealth of natural resources, we look forward to the public and private sectors of the two nations working together and capitalizing on the potential-laden Southern Common and Asian markets,” she said.     [FULL  STORY]

COMMON OBJECTIVE:Tsai said that whichever party is in power, Taiwan wants peace and stability in the Strait, while a flight attendant was arrested over a bomb hoax

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 30, 2016
By: Reuters, Asuncion

The government will continue to look for ways to maintain dialogue with China, President Tsai

Ing-wen (蔡英文) said during her state visit to Paraguay on Tuesday, several days after Beijing said that it had halted a regular communication mechanism with Taipei.

“No matter what party is in government in Taiwan, we always have a single, common objective: to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Tsai told reporters during a visit to Paraguay, the nation’s sole diplomatic ally in South America.

“We will continue the dialogue with mainland China, as even though, probably at this moment official negotiation channels have been temporarily interrupted, there still exist other options for communication and dialogue,” she said, speaking through an interpreter.

Premier Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday said that the government’s hope was for positive interactions with China to continue, based on the existing foundations.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: June 30, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

In the final stretch of her first state trip abroad, President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday signed an

air transport agreement with Taiwan’s only South American diplomatic ally and vowed to increase Taiwan’s import quota for Paraguayan beef.

The Air Transport Agreement will allow the two countries to lay the foundation for air transport cooperation, Tsai said.

The signing ceremony was overseen by Tsai and Paraguay President Horacio Cartes, while Taiwan’s Foreign Minister David Lee (李大維) and his counterpart Eladio Loizaga inked the pact.

She went on to say that the agreement not only reaffirmed the two countries’ diligence in maintaining economic and trade ties, but would also support their collaboration in the technical and education sectors.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-28
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Hundreds of taxis packed the road in front of Taiwan’s law-making body, the Legislative Yuan, on Tuesday to put pressure on the government to crack down on Uber, which is engaging in illegal transportation practices in the country.

The Directorate General of Highways (DGOH) said that it had joined hands with six municipalities in the country beginning from June to step up enforcing the ban on Uber. The enforcement will only continue and not back down, the DGOH added.

According to DGOH statistics, accumulative fines imposed on Uber since September 2014 have reached a total of more than NT$55 million.     [FULL  STORY]