Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/24
By: Chen Chao-fu and S.C. Chang

Kaohsiung, May 24 (CNA) Up to 81 fishing boat crewmen from Southeast Asian and African

(Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung Prosecutors Office)

countries were resettled from abhorrent living quarters Tuesday in this southern Taiwan port city during an investigation by prosecutors into suspected trafficking of Vietnamese workers.

Officials of the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office said the 81 workers, from Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Tanzania and Mozambique, were locked up and guarded in two locations in the city’s Qianzhen and Xiaogang districts.

In one of them, more than 10 workers slept on the floor in a jammed room, while in the other, up to 60 workers were living in a space of just 20 pings (66 square meters), according to the officials. No air conditioners were found in either place, they added.

The living conditions of the workers were horrible, and safety measures such as fire exits were “worrisome,” a clear indication that their employers were keeping them in an “unreasonable” environment, said the officials, quoting prosecutors Chan Mei-ling and Liu Mu-shan, who were in charge of probing the case.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: May 24, 2016

Taiwan participates in the World Health Assembly based on the principles of professionalism

Taiwan’s Health Minister Lin Tzou-yien (second right) attends the World Health Assembly meeting in Geneva May 23.

and pragmatism and with the goal of contributing to the global health system, said Health Minister Lin Tzou-yien, who is currently heading a delegation to the 69th WHA in Geneva, Switzerland May 23-28.

Taiwan has been invited to attend the annual meeting of WHA, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, as an observer under the name Chinese Taipei every year since 2009.

Delegation members are invited to offer their views on health promotion, health care systems, and the prevention, monitoring and control of contagious diseases. On the sidelines of WHA, Taiwan delegates have held bilateral talks with their counterparts from more than 20 countries and international organizations to exchange views, explore cooperation opportunities and solicit support for Taiwan’s participation in future WHO conferences.

“Taiwan’s participation in WHA helps to ensure global health security and is vital in the fight against the spread of infectious diseases,” Lin said in a commentary published May 23 by The Diplomat, an online international news magazine.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/24
By: Tai Ya-chen and Lilian Wu

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/22
By: Yang Shu-min and Lilian Wu

Taipei, May 22 (CNA) The government will spend NT$1.9 billion (US$58.03 million) over the

(CNA file photo)

next three years to help improve animal shelters in Taiwan, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Sunday.

The announcement came in the wake of an apparent suicide by the head of a shelter in Taoyuan earlier this month who could no longer bear to put dogs and cats in the shelter to sleep as her job required.

Wang Chung-shu (王忠恕), deputy director of the COA’s Department of Animal Industry, said COA chief Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻) felt sorry about the death of Chien Chih-cheng (簡稚澄).

Chien passed a veterinarian certification test after graduating from National Taiwan University and volunteered to work at the animal shelter in a remote part of Taoyuan along the city’s coast in 2010.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: May 22, 2016
By: Edward White

A former US diplomat says Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration speech may be a new starting point in cross-strait relations.

Tsai on Friday, in a speech mainly focused on domestic policy, said both sides “must set aside the baggage of history and engage in positive dialogue.”

China’s state-owned Xinhua reported officials as saying Tsai’s comments were “an incomplete answer sheet” and noted that she did not explicitly recognise the 1992 Consensus and its “core implications” [the idea there is one China].

Tsai had acknowledged the fact that a meeting took place in 1992 between Taiwanese and Chinese officials.

Richard Bush, who led the American Institute in Taiwan for nearly five years, says Beijing’s reaction to Tsai’s speech “is not as bad as some people thought it might be.”     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-22
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) on Sunday found the body of a humphead wrasse, a protected species at Taiwan’s outlying Green Island, after the news of the fish killing by a bed-and-breakfast operator stirred outcry from conservationists and islanders.

News spread online that the humphead wrasse was taken from the sea after it was killed by a spear gun. An investigation launched by the CGA led to a bed-and-breakfast operator, who at first denied he was responsible but later admitted that he took the fish onshore after he spotted it surface from the sea. CGA personnel brought the alleged fish killer back to Taitung on Sunday afternoon for further investigation.

As the incident had incited public indignation, the alleged fish killer felt pressured and hurriedly buried the fish near the Green Island Prison, CGA personnel said, adding that they had uncovered the body of the fish, which they said didn’t look like having any parts being cut and cooked.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/22
By: Amy Huang and Elaine Hou

Taipei, May 22 (CNA) A mass pilgrimage of the city god, a local deity, around outlying Kinmen County, was the highlight of an annual religious cultural festival that came to an end over the weekend, according to the organizers.

As part of this year’s Wudao festival, the “Welcoming the city god” parade took place Wednesday, drawing crowds of followers who participated in hopes of being blessed.

The centuries-old pilgrimage is the largest religious activity in Kinmen, and the city god is believed by local people to be a guardian of their city.

Statues of city gods from other temples in Taiwan and China were also brought to Kinmen to take part in the pilgrimage.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/22
By: Flor Wang

(From the Central Weather Bureau website)

Taipei, May 22 (CNA) A magnitude 4.6 earthquake rocked the Liouguei District in Kaohsiung City on Sunday, making it the third trembler to have hit the area since the early morning, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

The earthquake, which occurred at 10:06 a.m., was centered 28.5 km northeast of the Pingtung County Hall at a depth of 15.7 km, the bureau said.

The magnitude was detected in Pingtung’s Sandimen and Kaohsiung’s Chiahsien townships at 3.

Two previous temblors, measuring magnitude 5.2 and 3.6, respectively, took place at 4:51 a.m. and 4:56 a.m. and shook the same areas in Kaohsiung and Pingtung.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, but two small landslides on Provincial Highway 24 block the road and rockslides also occurred in Sandimen.     [SOURCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/22
By: Wang Shwu-fen and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, May 22 (CNA) A magnitude 5.2 earthquake shook Kaohsiung and Pingtung County in southern Taiwan early Sunday morning, causing two small landslides on Provincial Highway 24 and rockslides in the mountainous townships of Sandimen and Wutai in Pingtung.

The epicenter of the earthquake, occurring at 4:51 a.m., was situated in Kaohsiung’s Liouguei District, 29.4 kilograms northeast of Pingtung County Hall at the depth of 16.5 km.

The highest magnitude was recorded in Pingung’s Sandimen township at 5. In Kaohsiung’s Qishan, Pingtung City, Taitung’s Chulu, Tainan’s Xinhua, and Chiayi’s Liaojiao areas, the magnitude was at 3.

According to the Pingtung County Bureau of Fire and Emergency Services, there was a small scale landslide on the 8.5km marker of Provincial Highway 24, but it did not affect traffic.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-21
By: Poor Luis, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

The new holders of the two most important diplomatic positions for Taiwan, Frank Hsieh as

The photo shows Frank Hsieh (right) and Stanley Kao (left), new holders of the two diplomatic positions as representatives to Japan and the United States respectively.

representative or ambassador to Japan and Stanley Kao as representative or ambassador to the United States, shows the clear differences in their background, personality, professional career and working experience.

Hsieh and Kao were both born in Taipei City’s Yanping area, and the education they received before their university years was similar, as they were both living under the high-pressure authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang.

However, their careers, work and development after graduation built up two completely different personalities. Hsieh became an attorney, election candidate, mayor, party chairman, vice presidential and presidential candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party. In the new government, there are only few who can boast of a more impressive pedigree. As such, it was only natural that what one could call his excessive self-confidence led him to announce himself which new position he would occupy.

On the contrary, Kao received long-term training as a diplomat, so he had to keep a low profile to fulfill the conditions for a diplomatic career.     [FULL  STORY]