Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-22
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Several wagons of a passenger train derailed near Ruisui in Hualien County Wednesday afternoon, resulting in at least two injured and in a cut of rail services along Taiwan’s east coast.

The last three carriages of the Tzu-Chiang Express train from Kaohsiung to Hualien left the rails at 2:49 p.m. in an area close to Fuyuan Junior High School, reports said.

Footage appeared online of two carriages lying on their side close to a cemetery in the countryside.

The two injured passengers, both women from China, had been traveling in the last wagon, reports said. Both were transferred to the Veterans General Hospital in Fenglin. One of them, aged 46, had injuries to her face and legs, but neither was in danger, doctors said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-22
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – With the anniversary of the fatal color dust explosion at a New Taipei City water park approaching, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an objection against the temporary asset seizure of NT$500 million (US$15.5 million) demanded by 39 plaintiffs.

On June 27 last year, the ignition of colored cornstarch dust thrown over a crowd at the Formosa Fun Coast water park in the Bali district injured almost 500 people, with 15 victims succumbing to their injuries over the following months.

A total of 39 of the injured demanded the temporary seizure of the money from the park management in order to safeguard future compensation, but the company filed appeals against previous rulings in the victims’ favor. Wednesday’s Supreme Court rejection of the park’s objection was final, reports said.     [FULL  STORY]

‘COMPLICATED’:Aboriginal legislators criticized the review for leaving out alternative versions that would have addressed the historic injustices against their communities

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 23, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming, left, yesterday raises his hand

during a review of the transitional justice bill at a meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee in Taipei. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times

Draft legislation for promoting transitional justice yesterday passed out of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, but after a sharp debate, the final draft left out a proposal covering the restoration of historic Aboriginal rights.

Yesterday was the first day of line-by-line review, which concluded when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators walked out of the meeting late in the afternoon after losing votes to expand the scope of the draft legislation to include Aboriginal issues, along with a range of other historic injustices and controversies.

The draft legislation proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus focuses on the human-rights abuses perpetrated by the KMT government during the Martial Law era, calls for the establishment of a special committee to investigate abuses and proposes legislation on issues such as opening government files, rectifying unjust verdicts and removing symbols of authoritarianism.     [FULL  STORY]

Eye On Taiwan
Date: June 22, 2016
Translated By: Erixon Chen

Summer break is coming soon. The Taipei children’s amusement park(兒童新樂園) will be free every Monday from 1st July to 28th August.. The park’s business hours are from 9am to 8pm during the Summer break. According to the management group, Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC).

Every Monday is usually the park’s maintenance day but during Summer break it will be open. It’s the first time the park will run on Monday. Not only children but also adults can visit for free. The business hours will extend to 8pm.

Also, the TRTC Company said that low-income households who live in Taipei city and who provide the related documents may buy half-price tickets (15NTD/each) and can get 4 tickets for free. Taipei citizens to must bring their ID card to the park on Wednesday (or 30 people or more in a group) can reserve advanced tickets for free. Regular visitors who enter the park after 4pm are free too.

The TRTC Company said that they assumed that during the summer break attendance would increase by a great number of visitors. The staff might control the amount all depending on the amount of visitors in the park at the time.

The China Post
Date: June 22, 2016
By: CNA

CNA — A Shiba Inu nibbles at a friendly finger at an animal shelter in Hsinchu City on Tuesday, June 21. The Hsinchu City Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office uncovered an illegal dog breeding business in Hsinchu and found 62 Shiba Inus at various ages. The office will put the dogs up for adoption.     [FULL  STORY]

‘DESTINED TO FAIL’:Lin Chuan was speaking in response to remarks by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office minister. Lin was also questioned over food from northeastern Japan

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 22, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff Reporter

Premier Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday denied that the new government’s “new southbound policy”

aims to “bypass China” and reiterated that a good cross-strait relationship would require both sides’ effort and sincerity.

People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) at a legislative question-and-answer session yesterday asked how Lin views China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Minister Zhang Zhijun’s (張志軍) remarks that the new southbound policy “is destined to fail when [the Democratic Progressive Party government] aims to replace Taiwan’s [investment in China] with it.”

Lin said the new policy is not an attempt to counter China.
“We also look forward to an improved cross-strait relationship and friendly interactions, which are no impediment to our exchanges with other regions,” the premier said.

He denied that the southbound policy is meant to “bypass China,” saying: “You would not stop making other friends just because you already have one,” and reiterated that improving cross-strait relations requires goodwill from both sides of the Strait.     [FULL  STORY]

At a time where Taiwanese prisons are overpacked with people serving drug-related sentences, a newer, more tolerant approach is gaining popularity.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/06/21
By: Hélène Belaunde

In March, Yahoo News Taiwan posted a piece titled “Man suspected of consuming hallucinogenic

drugs slaughters a little girl: the drug addiction time bomb is on the verge of explosion” (疑吸毒幻覺殘殺女童 毒癮未爆彈瀕臨引爆點). The article referred to the gruesome murder of a four-year-old who was beheaded in front of her mother. According to the police, the man who conducted the act had a history of mental illness and had been previously treated in a psychiatric hospital. Rumor has it he was also a drug addict, although this has yet to be confirmed. The murder sparked outrage and intense discussions around two controversial issues: the death penalty and Taiwan’s drug problem.

The author of the article paints a sinister picture of the situation, stating that Taiwan’s drug problem is “spiraling out of control” and that drug users have become a “time bomb” that could detonate at any moment, destroying society. His tone is clearly accusatory: according to him, neither the government nor the people are paying enough attention to the issue.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-21
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Earlier this month, forty-two Taiwanese nationals, who were deported by Turkey after being investigated on suspicion of fraud, arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Cambodia canceled its plans to send 17 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China Tuesday afternoon, according to the Ministry of Foreign Relations.

The individuals were only the latest group of Taiwanese arrested overseas threatened with deportation to China. Earlier this year, Kenya was the first country to allow Taiwanese suspects to be put on a flight to China, causing uproar in Taiwan. The Ministry of Justice sent a delegation to China and received the promise of cooperation, but the suspects remained there. A similar response was forthcoming in the case of Taiwanese suspects from Malaysia.

As in the previous cases, Cambodia argues that since all the victims of the alleged scam were citizens of China, that is where the suspects should be sent.     [FULL  STORY]