Page Three

Scholarships to Kiribati, Solomon Islands good until end semester

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/24
By: Elaine Hou and Ko Lin

Taipei, Sept. 24 (CNA) Despite the severance of diplomatic ties with Kiribati and the Solomon Islands,

MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou

Taiwan will continue to provide scholarships to students from these countries until the end of this semester, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday.

According to MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安), there are currently 110 students from Kiribati studying in Taiwan, 50 of whom are recipients of scholarships provided by the foreign ministry, while 14 are on an international scholarship program offered by the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), a government- funded agency based in Taipei, Ou said.

On Sept. 20, Kiribati became the second diplomatic ally lost by Taiwan to China in a just few days, after the Solomon Islands made the same decision earlier that week.    [FULL  STORY]

Derailment investigation to expand

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 25, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) plans to spend another year reviewing data it hopes

Cars from Puyuma Express No. 6432 lie next to the tracks after the train derailed near Yilan County’s Suao Township on Oct. 21 last year.
Photo: Chang Yi-chen, Taipei Times

will identify the cause of the Puyuma Express derailment on Oct. 21 last year, and it plans to conduct an accident simulation once it has completed its data collection.

Since the board was established two months ago, it has been reviewing the Executive Yuan’s accident investigation report, as stipulated by a Legislative Yuan resolution, TTSB Chairman Young Hong-tsu (楊宏智) said.

That report covered railway track alignment, the speed at which the train derailed and whether the train’s tilting device was functioning normally at the time, and it said that the train did not encounter any foreign objects, had an unreliable power output and was operating with a malfunctioned pump compressor, he said.

The board has decided that it should examine evidence in six more categories, in accordance with the Transportation Occurrence Investigation Act (運輸事故調查法), Young said.
[FULL  STORY]

“Asian Flush”: Taiwan ranks first in the world in enzyme deficiency

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 23 September, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

Stanford study:Taiwanese have highest prevalence of “Asian flush”

Taiwan ranks first in the world in the prevalence of “Asian flush” – or alcohol flush reaction. It’s a phenomenon where people turn red when they consume alcohol, because of an enzyme deficiency that affects 47% of the population in Taiwan.

The “Asian flush” is not just a physical response to drinking alcohol, it’s a sign of an enzyme deficiency.

People who lack the ALDH2 enzyme cannot metabolize alcohol. This results in flushed faces, respiratory problems, nausea, vomiting and possibly diseases.

Nearly half of the people in Taiwan have this deficiency.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Activist’s Wife Calls on China to Allow Him Home For Funeral

Radio Free Asia
Date: 2019-09-23

The wife of Lee Ming-cheh, a Taiwanese rights activist and NGO worker currently serving a prison

Lee Ching-yu, whose Taiwanese rights activist and NGO worker husband Lee Ming-cheh is currently serving a prison sentence in China for “subversion,” travels to China to visit her husband and inform him of his father’s death, in an undated photo.

sentence in China for "subversion," has called on the authorities there to grant him a temporary release to attend his father's funeral.

In a statement on Monday, Lee Ching-yu said she would be traveling to China to visit her husband and inform him of his father's death on Aug. 17.

She cited Chinese law as saying that convicted criminals serving sentences are permitted to attend the funerals of their parents.

Lee said she would be willing to remain in China "as a hostage" if the authorities were to allow Lee Ming-cheh home on leave to attend the funeral.    [FULL  STORY]

SW Taiwan predicted to suffer most flooding due to global warming

1.2 million people in SW Taiwan could be displaced by flooding due to global warming by 2050

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/23
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(Tainan City Government EPA Bureau image)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Southwestern Taiwan, including Tainan City, in particular, is expected to be the region most heavily impacted by global warming, affecting over 1.2 million people, according to the environmental protection group Greenpeace.

On Sunday (Sept. 22), Greenpeace set up an 250-centimeter-tall ice sculpture inscribed with the Chinese characters "climate crisis" in Taipei's Ximending area, reported CNA. Greenpeace representatives at the exhibit said that if action is not taken quickly, 310 square kilometers could be submerged in Tainan by 2050.

Through the melting of the ice sculpture, Greenpeace activists hoped to raise awareness of global warming and demanded that Taiwan's 2020 presidential candidates propose sustainable solutions. They said that government leaders should actively respond to the crisis with a new energy policy.

The activists said that if Taiwan and the world do not take measures to actively reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, an estimated 1,398 square kilometers of Taiwan's southwestern coastal areas could be flooded, the equivalent to 5,377 Da'an Forest Parks, according to the report. The environmental organization estimates that over 1.2 million people in Taiwan could be displaced by this flooding, with Tainan City the most heavily impacted area.    [FULL  STORY]

‘Detention’ box office 3rd highest among domestic films since 2011

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/23
By: Chen Pin-hung and Elizabeth Hsu

Photo courtesy of 1 Production Film Co.

Taipei, Sept. 23 (CNA) The locally produced psychological horror film "Detention," adapted from a horror video game of the same name, has grossed NT$67.7 million (US$2.18 million) at the box office since it hit theaters across Taiwan on Friday, the film company said Monday.

It was the third highest take at the box office gross of any domestic film in the first three days of screening at cinemas since 2011.

The only two films with higher grosses in their first three days were the two parts of epic film "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale" directed by Wei Te-sheng (魏德聖), both screened in 2011 — "The Sun Flag" (NT$88 million) and "The Rainbow Bridge" (NT$85 million).

The box office of "Detention" was also the highest for any domestic film in Taiwan so far this year, said 1 Production Film Co., which produced the film based on a popular survival horror adventure video game developed by Taiwan-based Red Candle Games for the video game digital distribution platform Steam.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei to require ramen chains to reveal ingredients

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 24, 2019
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it soon plans to require all ramen stores with two or more shops in the city to register their ingredients to ensure food safety and disclose information about food products to the public.

Established in 2013, the city’s food ingredient registration Web site — Food Tracer Taipei — contains results from the health department’s food inspections, as well as data posted by stores and restaurants about the ingredients that they use.

There were 10 major categories of food establishments that need to register ingredients — including chain beverage and iced dessert stores, chain coffee shops, fast food restaurants and chain breakfast shops — and the health department announced that it has opened two new categories: chain Japanese ramen stores and traditional markets.

Fourteen Japanese ramen brands have already registered 95 types of products on the platform, including 682 ingredients, department section head Chen Yi-ting (陳怡婷) said.    [FULL  STORY]

Video: Typhoon brings giant eel into Hualien fisherman’s net

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 20 September, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

A giant eel caught off Hualien County in eastern Taiwan.

A giant eel caught off Hualien County in eastern Taiwan.[/caption] A Hualien fisherman got a lucky catch last week after a typhoon swept past. Rare as this haul may be, it’s likely that catches of this size are only going to become rarer as environmental conditions change.

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Fishermen in Hualien, on Taiwan’s Pacific coast, are used to big catches after typhoons blow past. But a giant eel caught in the area last Saturday came as a surprise, even to the experienced fisherman who caught it.

The eel measures 145cm and weighs in at close to 25kg. The fisherman who caught the eel says it’s been around ten years since he last caught an eel of comparable size. He says he has not yet decided what to do with the eel: he may continue to raise it or give it to someone else.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan fortifies patrol vessels against collisions

Safety At Sea
Date: September 20, 2019
By: Martina Li, correspondent

A retrofitted Taiwan Coast Guard vessel. Credit: Taiwan Coast Guard

Due to frequent encroachments of Chinese fishing vessels in the Taiwan Strait and recent incidents involving Chinese naval ships, the Taiwan Coast Guard will install anti-collision systems on 17 newly built patrol vessels.

The Taiwan Coast Guard announced on 19 September that in light of past collisions between its patrol ships and Chinese vessels, it had studied Japan Coast Guard’s patrol vessel large-class (PL) vessels, which feature anti-collision systems.

While the Japanese PL vessels range between 1,000 and 3,000 gt, the Taiwanese vessels are much smaller, at 100 gt.

The glass fibre hull of the Taiwanese Coast Guard vessels means that any collision poses danger to the personnel, as well as obstructing their duties.    [FULL  STORY]

Chinese fishing fleet catches yellow fish in Taiwan territorial waters

Coast Guard moved ships from Taiwan main island to Kinmen

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/20
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A Chinese fishing boat. (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A massive fleet of over a hundred Chinese vessels showed up near the offshore island of Kinmen recently, leaving the only Coast Guard ship in the area unable to act, reports said Friday (September 20).

Following complaints by local fishermen, the Coast Guard said it was calling in support from Taiwan’s main island in order to handle the problem, with the intent of leveling fines against violators, the Liberty Times reported.    [FULL  STORY]