Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/13
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Dec. 9 (CNA) Migrant workers took to the streets of Taipei on Sunday, calling for equal treatment of long-term caregivers in Taiwan and marching to the campaign headquarters of Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to hand her a petition.

The protesters are calling for the scrapping of the current private brokerage system in favor of a direct nation-to-nation hiring system to allow migrant workers to change employers freely, the organizers said.

The migrant workers also want to see the end of a rule that requires them to leave Taiwan for at least one day after the expiration of their standard three-year work contract, according to Chuang Hui-ling (莊惠玲), a migrant worker representative and head of Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN-Taiwan).     [FULL  STORY]

DISPERSION OPENING?A group led by professors said that because of stock dispersion, Chinese investors could control a Taiwanese firm if they owned even 10% of it

Taipi Times
Date:  Dec 14, 2015
By: Liu Wan-chun  /  Staff reporter

A petition initiated by academics opposing Chinese capital being invested in

Taiwan’s integrated circuit (IC) design industry had garnered 143 signatures in two days as of yesterday, following the announcement on Friday that China’s Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd (清華紫光) is to buy a 25 percent stake in Siliconware Precision Industries Co Ltd (矽品精密) — the world’s third-largest chip packager and tester — and in its subsidiary ChipMOS Technologies Inc (南茂).

The campaign was launched by an alliance formed by National Chiao Tung University professor Lin Ying-dar (林盈達), National Taiwan University professor Lin Tsung-nan (林宗男) and National Cheng Kung University professor Li Jung-shian (李忠憲), which opposes the inclusion of the information and communications industry in a proposed cross-strait service trade agreement.

The petition says that Chinese investment in the IC design industry has huge implications for the survival of Taiwanese firms, as well as national security.     [FULL  STORY]

The Star
Date: 12 December 2015

TAIPEI: Hundreds of Taiwanese took to the streets to protest the acquittal of a

tycoon accused of selling tainted cooking oil, in a string of food scandals that has sparked widespread anger.

Mr Wei Ying-chung, former chairman of Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co., was found not guilty last month along with five others by a district court in central Taiwan. He could have faced a 30-year jail term if convicted.

Prosecutors have appealed the ruling, as a fresh wave of public outcry against the company surfaced with consumers boycotting its products.

“It is unacceptable that Wei was acquitted. We want Ting Hsin to close business and the government to know people’s anger at its failure to ensure food safety,” said Ms Monica Lo, an organiser of the protest.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-12
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Thousands of citizens wearing gray clothes took to the streets of Taipei Saturday to call for stronger measures to protect food safety while expressing their outrage at the not-guilty verdict for former Ting Hsin International Chairman Wei Ying-chung.

On November 27, the Changhua District Court pronounced the tycoon and several other defendants not guilty of having used animal feed-grade oil from Vietnam to produce cooking oil for human consumption.     [FULL  STORY]

LOW STANDARDS:The allegations against Tsai Ing-wen over land speculation made by Alex Tsai and Chiu Yi have proven to be inaccurate, but they said Tsai is lying

Taipei Times
Date:  Dec 13, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英

文) yesterday called on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to “stop before going too far” with allegations that she was involved in real-estate speculation.

“The facts are clear, it is recorded in official documents, yet the KMT is still making baseless allegations,” Tsai said in response to reporters questions on the sidelines of a rally for the DPP legislative candidate Lu Sun-ling (呂孫綾) in New Taipei City’s Taishan District (泰山).

“There is no need to continue [the dispute], this issue was proven to be false and a lot of [KMT] remarks have crossed the line, it should stop before going too far,” Tsai said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/11
By: Yang Shu-min and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) Seeing cartons of fresh milk returned by anti-Ting Hsin

activists demanding a refund soon after they purchased them in a controversial boycott campaign, a dairy farmer of an award-winning agriculture production and marketing group in Changhua County said on Friday: “It hurts the heart.”

Being a dairy farmer, it is not suitable for him to comment on an issue concerning commercial operations and stock shares, said Huang Te-jen (黃德仁) of the milk production and marketing group in Fuxing Township, Changhua in central Taiwan.

The group was selected and awarded as one of Taiwan’s 10 best agriculture production and marketing groups in 2015 earlier in the day.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: December 11, 2015

President Ma Ying-jeou presented the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy’s Asia

Democracy and Human Rights Award to Kathmandu-based Shakti Samuha Dec. 10, praising the organization for its humanitarian work in Nepal.

“Shakti Samuha is a champion in safeguarding those at risk of human trafficking in the South Asian nation,” Ma said. “Its globally recognized efforts also won the organization the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2013.

“In honoring Shakti Samuha for sheltering female human trafficking survivors, the TFD award underscores Taiwan’s commitment to promoting democracy and human rights protection.”

The president made the remarks while handing over the award and a grant of US$100,000 to Shakti Samuha President Sunita Danuwar in Taipei City.     [FULL STORY]