Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/24
By: Elaine Hou and Emerson Lim

Taipei, Aug. 24 (CNA) Taiwan's government has requested the country's allies speak up for its cause of seeking to be included in the United Nations and its system, at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly, and will continue to push for inclusion, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

The 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly will open on Sept. 17 at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, with the annual general debate scheduled for Sept. 24 to 30.

Due to China's objections, Taiwan is not allowed by the United Nations to attend the annual meeting, as Beijing objects to any treatment of the island as a country, insisting the two sides are a part of one China.

In a press conference on Friday, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kelly Hsieh (謝武樵) told reporters that Taiwan will continue to push for its inclusion in the U.N. system, focusing on the promotion of its role as an important partner for U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
[FULL  STORY]

Wages in Hsinchu County 4 to 5 times higher than in Vietnam

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/24
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

NIA inspectors found illegal workers and their employers in Hsinchu County. (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Vietnamese woman paid a total of US$15,000 (NT$471,500) to enter Taiwan and find illegal work twice after already having been deported once, the NIA said Saturday (August 24).

Her latest arrest would result in her transfer to a detention center in Nantou County to await deportation, the Central News Agency reported.

The woman, surnamed Mai, 33, reportedly arrived in Taiwan in July to work in Hsinchu County, where she was one of 23 illegal workers and four employers picked up by the NIA on Friday (August 23).

The inspection covered industrial areas in Zhubei and Hukou, small restaurants and rented apartments, according to CNA.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: .23 August, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

Agricultural researchers in Taiwan hope to make planting taro easier for farmers.[/caption] In Taiwanese cuisine, taro is a key ingredient. But growing taro involves back-breaking work. Taiwanese researchers have now come up with an invention they hope will ease taro farmers’ workload.

Taro is a beloved part of the Taiwanese diet. The purple root vegetable is everywhere here, used not only in savory dishes but also as a flavoring for desserts. Growing taro is difficult, though. The planting process alone is labor intensive and involves many steps.

Now, though, agricultural researchers in Taichung are trying to at least make this first step a bit easier. They have developed a tractor-like taro planter that mechanizes the planting process. It’s perhaps no surprise this invention comes from Taichung- the city’s Dajia District is especially well-known for its taro.    [FULL  STORY]

Voice of America
Date: August 23, 2019
By: Associated Press

BEIJING – China “will not sit idly by” if the U.S. proceeds with a sale of advanced F-16V fighter jets to Taiwan, a Chinese general said, while warning of other potential countermeasures in addition to punishing foreign firms involved in the deal.

Beijing considered the sale a violation of previous U.S. commitments to China regarding the island it considers its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary, Maj. Gen. Chen Rongdi, chief of the Institute of War Studies at the Academy of Military Sciences, said. He did not elaborate on what additional measures China might take.

“China will not sit idly by,” Chen said Thursday at a forum sponsored by China’s official journalists’ association. “Of course, we don’t rule out additional measures.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/23
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei (CNA) A port call by U.S. naval research vessel Sally Ride to Taiwan is unrelated to the F-16V sale recently notified by the Trump administration to U.S. Congress, according to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).

The R/V Sally Ride, which arrived at Taiwan's Keelung Port Aug. 22, will stay until Sept. 2 to carry out exchanges with Taipei-based National Taiwan University (NTU) and replenish supplies, according to a press release from Taiwan's Maritime Port Bureau (MPB).

As the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress Tuesday of a possible sale of 66 F-16V fighter jets to Taiwan, some Taiwanese media had related the visit of the research vessel to the possible military deal, which the AIT denied.

"I can tell you that it's definitely not related to the F-16 sale," said AIT spokeswoman Amanda Mansour Friday.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/23
By: Han Ting-ting and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Aug. 23 (CNA) The New Taipei-based maker of Apple Sidra has launched a recall of 2-liter bottles of the soda from the domestic market that were determined as substandard after consumers complained of foreign substances being seen in the beverage.

Oceanic Beverage Co., Inc.'s management division chief Hsieh Cheng-sheng (謝政成) told CNA on Friday that the company received such a complaint on Aug. 14, and retailer PX Mart informed it of also hearing of substances spotted in 2-liter bottles of Apple Sidra.

The company is trying to find out what caused the problem, said Hsieh, who estimated that about 80,000 of the 2-liter bottles of the drink could be problematic.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 24, 2019
By: Yang Mien-chieh and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Elderly people, especially those with signs of dementia, should wear tracking bracelets, which boosts

the probability that they will be found if they go missing to 99 percent, the Federation for the Welfare of the Elderly said on Thursday.

Since its inception in 2001, the federation has collaborated with the Ministry of Health and Welfare in searches for 7,701 elderly people.

Of those, 1,350 did not have tracking bracelets, the ministry said, adding that 341 of them have not been found.

The ministry estimated that it finds 75 percent of those it is tasked with finding.
[FULL  STORY]